1. Searching Economic Literature and Information
Christian Matlage ULB Bonn
Winter semester 2016/2017

2. Overview Overview and questions First thoughts
Fundamentals of research
Types of research
Portals and subject databases
Statistical databases
Internet resources and the search for quality
Outlook
Rahmenbedingungen:
1.) Wie viele Studierende kennen das SWS noch nicht? Sollten in Zukunft einige Bilder gezeigt werden?
2.) Bibliothekskarten gibt es im Eingangsbereich der ULB kostenlos.
3.) Gibt es viele erfahrene Studierende, die eine andere Art Einführung benötigen?
4.) Offene Frage für zukünftige Veranstaltungen. 2 2

3. Questions Do you know the Bonn University Library (ULB)?
Do you know the discovery service bonnus? Did you borrow books from the library yet?
Did you install the VPN-Client yet? Information from the computer center
Do you have questions or requests about literature research?

4. First thoughts Before you start your research, you should…
… inform yourself about the subject (with encyclopedia, textbooks, internet resources, Wikipedia etc.) and note down appropriate search terms (german and english). Use a thesaurus e.g. the Thesaurus (STW) for Economics within EconBiz
… determinate the scope of time you want to invest in your project (depent on the available time)

5. First thoughts Creating a realistic timeline with a Gantt chart Tasks
Time (days) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28
Identifying the theses
First research
Specification
Expose
Research
Reading materials
Writing
Correction/Re-writing

6. Fundamentals of research
Some useful terms when you do research:
Index term: words from the title or the name of the autor/editor.
Keyword/Descriptor: is a term that captures the essence of the topic of a document. They are created by qualified personnel.
Classification: is a system (with characters and numbers) by which library materials are arranged according to subject.
Clipping/Truncation : the reduction of a search term combined with a truncation symbol (leads to more search results). Most common symbol is the star *
Boolean/Logical operators:
AND e.g.
OR e.g.

7. Fundamentals of research

8. Types of research
Formal search: research with information about the medium – leads e.g. to shelf marks
Topic search: research with information about the topic – leads to a formal search
Browsing: research without being focused and purposeful

9. Types of research Processing possibilities of a topic search
Citation Pearl Growing Approach or „snowball system“: follow quotations of literature references
Successive Fractions Approach: This strategy is used when searching broad concepts with a large number of records. It narrows the search by applying limiting techniques like Boolean operators
Block Building Approach: Disaggregate the subject in subsubjects and subterms and combine some of them

10. Portals and subject databases: bonnus
Bonnus is a discovery service and includes almost. 1,5 billion enties. Start
The portal includes:
The catalog of the Bonn University Library (ULB) and the Departmental Library (Staatswissenschaftliches Seminar = SWS)
Subject databases like the Social Science Citation Index and Econlit
Statistical databases like the OECD iLibrary
Digital libraries and publisher plattforms like Oxford Journals, JSTOR and Science Direct

11. Social Science Citation Index
Portals and subject databases: bonnus
(Portals/Databases): (Catalogs):
Dependent literature (e.g. articles) Independent literature
Start KVK
Discovery service
bonnus
HBZ
Catalog NRW
KVK
Karlsruhe Virtual Catalog
Library catalogs worldwide
SWS
Econlit
ULB
Social Science Citation Index
Online Contents
Start bonnus

12. Portals and subject databases
Econbiz
Start
Econlit
Social Science Citation Index Start
Online Contents Wirtschaftswissen-schaften
Focus on Business and Economics
Excercise 1
Focus on Economics
Excercise 2
Focus on all social sciences
Excercise 3
Portal with many online resources and the catalog Econis
Thesaurus (STW) for economics (german/english)
Econlit is a part of bonnus
Econlit is the best known database of economics
SSCI is a part of bonnus
Citation reports
journal articles (mostly german) without subject terms
English/German
English
German/English

13. Portals and subject databases
Different points of access to start your research
Search in… Databases DBIS (Data management system – only in German)
Fachgebiet Wirtschaftswissenschaften
(= Subject Economics)

14. Portals and subject databases
Open the page DBIS – Wirtschaftswissenschaften (database management system - economics) und start EconBiz

15. Portals and subject databases
Excercise 1:
Prepare a list with appropriate search terms for your research. Note some synonyms, translations, broader/narrower terms and related terms. Look up some records and note some more useful information. Refine search if applicable.
Hint:
Thesaurus (STW) (in the database EconBiz (above))
= records in EconBiz = records in Econis

16. Portals and subject databases
Excercise 2:
Open the database Econlit and search with your english terms. Use the truncation symbol star * or boolean operators if necessary.
Click on some records. Do you find more keywords or descriptors? Where do they lead?
Use the Find ULB Bonn- button to get the pdf- Fulltext within bonnus
Write down a interesting journal name for your topic (not the name of the article!)

17. Portals and subject databases
Excercise 3:
Open the database Web of Science / Social Sciences Citation Index and search again with your english terms. Use the truncation symbol star * or boolean operators if necessary.
Change the setting from sort by… to „Times Cited – highest to lowest“
Click on the first hit. Do you find more keywords or categories? How often is the article cited?
Open the „eJournals – EZB“ database on the ULB homepage and search the journal from exercise 2.

18. Statistical databases
A statistical database is a database used for statistical analysis purposes and contain aggregate data, which are important in economics. Statistical databases can be found in DBIS (Statistical databases = Faktendatenbank)
Genesis-Online (Germany) Start
Eurostat (EU) Start
OECD iLibrary Start
UN Data Start

19. Internet resources and the search for quality
Recommended search engines:
BASE – Bielefeld Academic Search Engine Start
OAIster – Open Access Start
OpenDOAR – Open Access Start
Google Scholar Start
Working Papers/Discussion Papers/Journal article
Social Sciences Research Network:
Repec:
EconStor: ZBW Open Access
Economistsonline:

20. Internet resources and the search for quality
Autor: Who is the author? Where does she/he work? Is the autor often cited in the context?
Theme: Is this a academic text (reference list, citations etc.)?
Source: Where did you find the text? Academic journal or academic book of a known publisher? Is there a peer review process applied?
Content: Is the text objective? Is it up to date?
Presentation: Is the text readable/ well written? Are there figures and tables/ charts?

21. Die Suche im Web und Qualität
Study „World Wide Wissenschaft“ (2011): Criteria for the relevance of search results for researchers (orange) and students (blue):
Up-to-dateness
Reputation of the journal
Reputation of the autor
Number of citations
Downloads

22. Internet resources and the search for quality
Favorite journals of the ULB in economics (by access):
No.
Name of the journal
Price p.a.
Access online 1
Journal of political economy
605 €
2.278 2
Journal of financial economics
3.178 €
1.606 3
Economics letters
2.998 €
1.473 4
Journal of economic theory
4.634 €
1.401 5
Journal of economic behavior & organization
3.045 €
1.321 6
Journal of monetary economics
2.562 €
1.259 7
Quarterly journal of economics
477 €
1.141

23. Internet resources and the search for quality
Impact Factors (SSCI) in economics

24. Internet resources and the search for quality

25. Internet resources and the search for quality
A wiki is a website that provides collaborative modification of its content (e.g. wikipedia)
Central Characteristics:
Radical Trust and openness
Combination of discours and content is possible
Evolution instead of editorial staff

26. Outlook Reference Manager Citavi
… for structured handling of research results
Videos in english:
Citavi in a nutshell (german subtitles)
Citavi Tutorial 1 to 5 – Part 1:

27. Recommended literature
Academic research and writing:
Bui, Y. N. (2014). How to write a master's thesis (2. ed.). Los Angeles, Calif. [u.a.]: Sage.
Shelf mark: 2014/6533 Book in bonnus
Macgilchrist, F. (2014). Academic writing . Paderborn: Schöningh.
Shelf mark: Allg Ba 9 Book and E-Book in bonnus
Oliver, P. (2014). Writing your thesis (3. ed.). Los Angeles, Calif. [u.a.]: Sage.
Shelf mark: 2014/6537 Book in bonnus
Oregon School Library Information System (2016). Evaluating Websites.
Video auf
Oregon School Library Information System (2016). Using Wikipedia for Research.
Video auf
Oregon School Library Information System (2016). What is a Library Research Database?
Video auf
Writing in english:
Gallagher, J. D., Mackenzie, L., Siepmann, D., & Hannay, M. (2011) Writing in English: A Guide for Advanced Learners (2. ed.). A. Francke.
Shelf mark: 2011/9011 Book and E-Book in bonnus
Skern, T. (2011). Writing Scientific English: A Workbook (2. ed.). facultas.wuv.
E-Book in bonnus

28. Thank you for your attention. I wish you every success in your work
Subject librarian
Christian Matlage, M.Sc., M.A.