FOR PROFESSIONAL OR ACADEMIC PURPOSES September 2007 L. Codina. UPF Interdisciplinary CSIM Master Online Searching 1

Structure of the module First day: Academic databases 1. Characteristics of academic databases 2. Demonstration of search process and information retrieval 3. Case study Second day: Academic search engines 1. Presentation of results of case study 2. Academic databases: 1. Google Scholar 2. Scirus 3. Live September 2007 L. Codina. UPF Interdisciplinary CSIM Master 2

Academic Databases - I September 2007 L. Codina. UPF Interdisciplinary CSIM Master Content specializations Humanities and Social Sciences Science and technology Multidisciplinary Context At the heart of the cyclical process of academic research and publishing Document typology. References or full text of: Journal articles of peer review journals Reports, books, patents and theses, etc. Users: Researchers (Universities) and engineers and developers (Corporations) University students and professors In general: authors of academic journal articles, reports or books Access: Not free. In fact they are extremely expensive Access only by subscription or by pay per view (pay per document) Only subscribed to by universities or corporations (not by private persons ) 3

Academic Databases - II September 2007 L. Codina. UPF Interdisciplinary CSIM Master Main protagonists: Scientific publishers of journals or books: Elsevier Springer … Independent producers: Universities Private companies … Distributors of tens or hundreds of different databases: Ebsco Dialog … Authors: Researchers and developers University students and professors Authors of journal articles or books So… authors are both users and contributors 4

The Process of knowledge production September 2007 L. Codina. UPF Interdisciplinary CSIM Master 5

The Peer Review Journals September 2007 L. Codina. UPF Interdisciplinary CSIM Master The most respected kind of scientific journals and the typical content of the academic databases Process: Author submits their papers to a peer review journal. The journal asks the opinion of at least,two experts in the field. If approved, and only if approved, by the experts, the article will be published, probably with corrections and additions suggested by the experts. The whole process is anonymous: the author is unaware of the identity of the referees (evaluators) and vice versa. 6

The Search Process September 2007 L. Codina. UPF Interdisciplinary CSIM Master 1. Identification of the information need of the user and the keywords that express the main concepts of the information need. 2. Occasionally, identification of the proper names (persons, corporations, countries, etc.). 3. Identification and selection of the most suitable database. 4. Selection and execution of the query (basic or advanced search). 5. Review of the references in the database results page. 6. Occasionally, refinement of the query and obtaining new keywords to repeat the process. 7

Main interdisciplinary international databases September 2007 L. Codina. UPF Interdisciplinary CSIM Master ISI Web of Knowledge: the most influential database in the world. Provides access to tens of thousands of the most important international journals (Thomson). Science Direct: the database of the most important scientific publisher of the world. Access to one thousand two hundred journals (Elsevier). Wiley Interscience: the database of one the most important scientific books and journals publisher (Wiley). 8

International databases by specialization Computers (but related with Art, Society and Humanities) ACM Technology and computer engineering IEEE Xplore Humanities Humanities Index Arts and Humanities Citation Index Social Sciences JStor September 2007 L. Codina. UPF Interdisciplinary CSIM Master 9

And in Spain… September 2007 L. Codina. UPF Interdisciplinary CSIM Master Multidisciplinary: CSIC: The most influential in Spain and one of the most important in Spanish speaking countries. Provides access to all peer review Spanish journals. Other databases by specialization: News: EfeData and MyNews Online Law: Aranzadi 10

To access databases in UPF September 2007 L. Codina. UPF Interdisciplinary CSIM Master To access academic databases via UPF: > Library > Databases > Alphabetic list: Example: > Library > Databases > Alphabetic list > A > ACM Digital Library 11

Off Campus September 2007 L. Codina. UPF Interdisciplinary CSIM Master 12

Off Campus (II) September 2007 L. Codina. UPF Interdisciplinary CSIM Master 13

Database List September 2007 L. Codina. UPF Interdisciplinary CSIM Master 14

ACM Digital Library September 2007 L. Codina. UPF Interdisciplinary CSIM Master 15

Exercise: Case Study - I 1. Select a set of keywords 2. Select a database 3. Make tests with the set of keywords in selected database 4. Write a report about the database with this the elements indicated in next slides September 2007 L. Codina. UPF Interdisciplinary CSIM Master 16

Exercise: Report content Database name Content description: topics covered by the database and typology of documents (journal articles, books, proceedings, patents, etc.) Tip: See the help page, or the about us page, etc. Main search facilities (only a list of the two or three main options). Possible relevance of the database content in relation to the student topic of interest: is the content relevant, is the information up to date, is there enough information about the topic?, etc. Subjective user satisfaction: does the database have friendly user interface? are the search and navigation options understandable? is the overall system usable?, etc. Annexes: The list of the keywords used by the students to test the database. One screenshot of the search page of the database. One screenshot of the database results page after a search with one of the keywords of the student list. September 2007 L. Codina. UPF Interdisciplinary CSIM Master 17