for professional or academic purposes september 2007 l. codina. upf interdisciplinary csim master...

FOR PROFESSIONAL OR ACADEMIC PURPOSES

September 2007L. Codina. UPF Interdisciplinary CSIM Master

Online Searching1

Structure of the module

First day: Academic databases1. Characteristics of academic databases2. Demonstration of search process and information

retrieval3. Case study

Second day: Academic search engines1. Presentation of results of case study2. Academic databases:

1. Google Scholar2. Scirus3. Live


2

Academic Databases - I


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

booksAccess:

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 )

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Academic Databases - II


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


5

The Peer Review Journals


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.

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The Search Process


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


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


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And in Spain…


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

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To access databases in UPF


To access academic databases via UPF: www.upf.edu > Library > Databases > Alphabetic list:

Example: www.upf.edy > Library > Databases > Alphabetic list

> A > ACM Digital Library

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Off Campus


12

Off Campus (II)


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Database List


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ACM Digital Library


15

Exercise: Case Study - I

1. Select a set of keywords2. Select a database3. Make tests with the set of keywords in

selected database4. Write a report about the database with this

the elements indicated in next slides


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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.


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for professional or academic purposes september 2007 l. codina. upf interdisciplinary csim master...

Documents

academic databases process

academic purposes

academic search engines

books access

researchers universities

advanced search

information need

developers university