Library & Information Services

Handbook for Materials

Postgraduates For alternative formats contact: 01792 295697: englib@swan.ac.uk A pdf version of this guide is available at: http://www.swan.ac.uk/lis/help_and_training/pdf/materials_handbook.pdf

Contents Chapter 1 Introduction p.2

Course objectives Subject team

LIS web pages Chapter 2 Literature Searching – a systematic approach p.3-4 Chapter 3 Reviewing the Literature p.5-6 Chapter 4 Database search techniques p. 7-9 Chapter 5 Resources for literature searching available at Swansea p.10-16 Multidisciplinary databases p.10-12 Subject specific (materials) databases p.12-13 Theses databases p.13-14 Conference Databases p.14

Technical information (standards, patents) p. 14-15 EEVL p. 16

Chapter 6 Keeping up to date p.17

Chapter 7 Obtaining the literature p.18-19 Inter-library loans p.18 DALLAS services (Distance & Lifelong Learners at Swansea) p.18 Access to other libraries p.18-19 Chapter 8 Managing your references p. 20

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Chapter 1 Introduction

Objectives By the end of this session we hope that you will:

• understand how to search for literature in a systematic way.

• be aware of techniques for improving retrieval in a literature database.

• be aware of the sources available to you at Swansea University.

• be able to record and cite your references methodically.

• have some ideas about how to evaluate and review your results.

• be able to keep your research up to date.

Subject Team for Engineering Alasdair Montgomery a.b.montgomery@swan.ac.uk tel. 295042 Susan Glen s.glen@swan.ac.uk tel. 295031 Neil Smyth n.t.smyth@swan.ac.uk tel. 295695 Team e-mail englib@swansea.ac.uk Contact the team if you have any questions about the contents of this handbook or need help using the resources listed. LIS Web pages More information about LIS services and information such as opening hours or computing services can be found on the LIS web pages at: http://www.swan.ac.uk/lis/

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Chapter 2 Literature Searching – a systematic approach

Select search terms ► Form search statement ►Consider limits ►Select sources ►Search ► Evaluate results ►Record results ►Keep up to date These are the steps you need to think about when starting a literature search. In a real search you may not necessarily carry them out in this order but it will help you to do a systematic search if you think about each step.

• Think about search terms - consider whether there are any broader or narrower, more specific terms you could use. Are there alternative spellings which might be used in databases (e.g. aluminum for aluminium). A thesaurus or subject dictionary could help you to think of alternatives.

• Form a search statement which suits the database you are using. Most databases allow you to use techniques such as boolean logic to combine terms and truncation to pick up plurals, etc. Using these techniques can improve the relevance of your results. Chapter 4 looks at search techniques in more detail.

• Consider how you want to limit your search - you may want to limit to particular years, to a particular language or to a particular document type. Most databases provide ways of limiting your search in these ways.

• Find out what sources are available to you - remember that databases have different strengths and weaknesses so you will probably need to use more than one for a thorough search. Chapter 5 lists the relevant LIS resources.

• When you have carried out your search decide how you are you going to evaluate your results to decide what to read? Some points to consider are:

o the availability of the item -chapter looks at obtaining material through LIS.

o the status of the author - are they a member of a well known institution or well known in the field?

o the status of the journal - some journals are more highly regarded than others. You will begin to recognise the most prestigious journals as your research progresses.

o the type of article - it is worth looking out for review articles. These summarise the “state of the art” in a subject in a similar way to the literature review chapter in a thesis. You may also come across letters or communications. These are brief articles designed to get results into print quickly. They are not peer refereed in the same way as a full article which

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will have been checked by other academics. The research may be written up more fully in a later article.

• Record your results. In any piece of academic writing it is essential to make clear when you are citing (referring to) someone else's work in the text, and to include a bibliography or list of references at the end, giving full details of all the works you have referred to. There are several reasons for this:

o It shows that you acknowledge any use you have made of other people's ideas (failing to do this may be interpreted as plagiarism).

o It enables anyone reading your work to follow up your references easily.

o A well-referenced piece of work is easier to read, looks more professional and is more likely to impress an examiner!

If you are doing a longer piece of research and need to handle a lot of references you can use a computerised system. UWS has a site license for EndNote which is available on open access computers and may also be made available on departmental servers. It can be purchased at a special rate for home use - contact the Science & Engineering team for further details.

If you get into the habit of keeping a note of all references as you come across them, you will save time in the long run and avoid last minute panics when you are about to submit your work.

• Keep up to date - usually you will carry out a thorough literature search at the beginning of a project but you also need to keep up to date with any new developments. Chapter 6 looks at some ways of doing this.

This chapter has covered the process of literature searching, actually finding the references you need but you will also need to review the material you find for the literature review in your thesis. The next chapter gives some hints to help you do this.

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Chapter 3 Reviewing the Literature

A literature review is an evaluative report of information found in the literature related to your selected area of study. (“Literature” simply means any source of published information: books, journal articles, theses, etc.) The review should describe, summarise, evaluate and clarify this literature. It should help you determine the nature and scope of your research and place it in the context of the discipline or subject area. It may also outline a conceptual framework or identify a theoretical base for your research.

Depending on the scale of your research the literature review may be carried out in two stages:

1. The first stage is undertaken during the period of deciding on a topic and refining the problem, and ends with the preparation of a preliminary literature review that will be included in your research proposal.

2. The second stage continues from the research proposal and involves a thorough investigation of the literature relevant to the research. This elaboration of the original literature review will be incorporated into your final thesis or dissertation.

A literature review is more than the search for information, and goes beyond being a simple bibliography or list of references. All works included in the review must be read, evaluated and analysed, but relationships between the literature must also be identified and made explicit, in relation to your field of research. The purpose is to convey to your readers what knowledge and ideas have been established on a topic, and what their strengths and weaknesses are.

The review should be focused and concise. Your examiners will know the broad field better than you do and won’t be impressed by pages of irrelevant references. The literature review must be defined by a guiding concept (e.g. your research objective, the problem or issue you are discussing, or your argumentative thesis). Works which are irrelevant should be discarded and those which are peripheral should be looked at critically.

Summarize the relevant literature. As a first step, identify the key contributors who impact on your field and, in particular, on your specific research and its scope. Of all those you have read, you will want to describe most fully the work of those with the most impact on your work.

Synthesize the work of key contributors. This is where you will make sense of your predecessors’ work. You can synthesize along chronological lines, showing how our understanding has arisen systematically from one person’s ideas to the next, or according to key themes or questions.

Analyse the work so far. Comment on the work of your predecessors, revealing their strengths and weaknesses. This is the most useful and interesting part of any literature review and shows your ability to critically evaluate the work of others.

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Put your stamp on it: authorize. This is where you make the vital connection between what the body of knowledge has offered so far, and what your contribution now is. This is where you ask the burning question foremost in your examiners’ minds: “so what?” How is your research going to support or challenge the existing thinking? What will other people learn from what you’ve done? Adapted from Edith Cowan University: Graduate School: HandBook 2002, Central Queensland University: The Literature Review (2000) and Phil Race: 2000 Tips for Lecturers. Kogan Page, 1999.] – AM 7/11/02

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Chapter 4 Database Search Techniques

Although there are many different interfaces to bibliographic databases they usually share the following techniques in some form:

• Truncation • AND (part of Boolean logic) • OR (also Boolean logic) • Limits

Truncation Truncation can be used to increase the number of records you retrieve. You can search for the stem of a word with a symbol to represent any ending. The symbol will vary in different databases but is often an asterisk * or question mark ?. Comput* would find computer, computing, computed, etc. For example: The following results are from a Web of Science search for automotive steel* You can see that both the singular and plural of steel have been retrieved. This search found 41 results. A search for automotive steel found 27 hits and one for automotive steels found 14 hits – the truncated search will have picked up both variations.

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AND And allows you to narrow and focus your search by combining two concepts. For example: These results are from a Web of Science search for automotive and steel. You can see that the two words do not necessarily appear next to each other – a search for automotive steel without and would have missed many of these as it would only find the two words together. OR Or can broaden your search and increase the number of results by including alternative concepts, terms and spellings. For example: The following results were for a Web of Science search for fiberglass or fibreglass, allowing for the American or English spellings.

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Limits Databases usually offer ways of limiting your search. You may need to consult the online help or guide for each database to find out what they offer. Some of the most common ways of limiting are by:

• Language • Document type (e.g. ordinary article, review article, book, conference, etc.) • Date

Applying limits can help you to eliminate material which will be of no use to you.

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Chapter 5

Resources for literature searching available at Swansea The LIS Information Gateway page provides links to the full collection of resources provided by LIS: http://www.swan.ac.uk/lis/information_gateway/index.asp. The resources most useful for materials engineering are highlighted below but it is worth checking the web pages for new and additional resources. Select Information by subject then choose Materials Engineering from the drop down menu – the resulting list covers useful free websites in addition to literature databases. Please note that subscription databases should only be used for academic purposes, not as part of your work for any company. Athens password Many of the databases covered in this list use an Athens password. This is the same username and password as you use to login to Open Access computers. Athens off campus - If you are using a machine off campus you need to put a cookie on your PC. This is a harmless text file which gives a message to the Athens server to help identify you as a member of the university. Once you have this you can use your Open Access password as on campus. Visit our Athens web page at http://www.swan.ac.uk/lis/information_gateway/athens.asp where you will find instructions for downloading the cookie. Voyager Voyager is the library catalogue at Swansea. It can be found on the web at http://voyager.swan.ac.uk. A guide in pdf format can be downloaded from http://www.swan.ac.uk/lis/help_and_training/database_guides.aspor you can pick up a copy in the library. Multidisciplinary Databases Web of Science (via the Web of Knowledge portal) This is a major multidisciplinary database from the Institute of Scientific Information in the US. Note that:

• Although it covers many British and other journals the spelling in abstracts etc. will be American English.

• Web of Science only covers journal articles - you will not find any books, theses or other material mentioned.

• Like most of our databases it provides details and abstracts of articles but not full text. However, it does increasingly provide links to full text services where they are available. Use the Locate it at Swansea University button to check or click

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Go to link directly to our Voyager catalogue ( - only from the full record screen). It is worth double checking Voyager manually if you do not find an online link as the automatic search does occasionally miss a journal which we have access to.

A particular feature of Web of Science is the ability to do citation searching. Here you take a paper which you know to be useful to you and search to find out which other papers have cited it. These papers will often be on a similar topic so should be of use to you. Citation searching is also used by authors to check up on who has been referring to their work. The advanced guide gives details of how to do this. Access at http://wok.mimas.ac.uk/ Guides in pdf format http://www.swan.ac.uk/lis/help_and_training/pdf/wosquick.pdf http://wok.mimas.ac.uk/support/documentation/present_version/newwok101.pdf (Full guide from ISI) Science Direct Science Direct covers a wide range of subjects but only includes journals from a limited number of publishers, particularly Elsevier. It is valuable as it provides articles in full text format but will not give you a comprehensive search on your topic. Access at http://www.sciencedirect.com/ If you are on campus you will not need a username and password to access Science Direct. If you are off campus you need to register your Athens username and password with Science Direct. Click the Athens/Institution login at the top right of the screen, enter your username and password then fill in the resulting online form. Guide Science Direct provide their own user guide at: http://www.info.sciencedirect.com/user_help/user_guides/index.shtml Swetswise Swetswise is another searchable full text electronic journals service. As with Science Direct it covers a group of publishers so does not give access to all the available literature. Access https://www.swetswise.com/ Click on Click here to login via Athens rather than using the initial login box. Accessing individual journal titles Services such as Science Direct and Swetswise can be useful for subject searching. However, if you are interested in accessing a particular journal title electronically, the easiest way to find it is to do a Journal title search in Voyager: http://voyager.swan.ac.uk/There will be a hypertext link to the relevant service if electronic access is available.

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ZETOC

Zetoc is a table of contents database from the British Library covering 1993 onwards. Details of 16,000 conference proceedings are included so it can provide a useful way of tracing this material. The database does not include abstracts but as all the material covered is held by the British Library it should be easy to obtain an inter-library loan if necessary.

Access http://zetoc.mimas.ac.uk

Guide in pdf format http://www.swan.ac.uk/lis/help_and_training/pdf/zetoc.pdf

Subject specific databases (Materials) Metadex This is a database which specialises in metals, covering all types of publication. Unfortunately, our subscription only covers recent years in electronic format but it is useful for finding the latest research. We have a subscription to Metals Abstracts, the printed version of Metadex, which you can find at TM1.M36 in the engineering section of the library. Access http://www.csa1.co.uk/ Click the Athens login link (under the main login box) and login with your Athens username and password.

Guide in pdf format: There is no guide specifically for Metadex but the Ante guide uses the same interface and can be used for Metadex. http://www.swan.ac.uk/lis/help_and_training/pdf/ante.pdf

Inspec Inspec covers physics, computing and electrical engineering but it covers these in a very broad way and in fact includes quite a lot of materials information, for example, it covers journals such as Materials Chemistry and Physics and Surface & Coatings Technology. Access http://arc.uk.ovid.com/ Login with your Athens password then select Inspec from the list of databases.

Guide in pdf format http://www.swan.ac.uk/lis/help_and_training/pdf/inspec.pdf

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ANTE (Abstracts in New Technologies and Engineering)

Ante covers all areas of engineering, although coverage is not as comprehensive as some databases.

Access http://www.csa1.co.uk/ Click the Athens login link below the main login box and login with your Athens username.

Guide in pdf format http://www.swan.ac.uk/lis/help_and_training/pdf/ante.pdf

Theses Thesis (or dissertation) databases can be a useful way of finding out whether someone has done research on a similar topic to yours before. If there is something similar, it should have a useful literature review. Theses from other universities can usually be obtained by inter-library loan. Index to Theses This database covers British theses from 1970 onwards. Later ones include the author's abstract. British theses can usually be obtained from the British Library via the inter-library loans service although this is more expensive than ordering books or articles.

Access: On campus: http://www.theses.com/ Off campus: Username 00130593 Password jello

Guide in pdf format: http://www.swan.ac.uk/lis/help_and_training/pdf/index_to_theses.pdf

Digital Dissertations Digital dissertations includes details of theses or dissertations on all subject areas. Coverage is strongest for US theses although it does cover some material from elsewhere. From 1980 onwards abstracts are included and from 1997 a pdf file of the first 24 pages of the thesis is available. Access http://wwwlib.umi.com/dissertations/gateway Access is only available on campus. Guide in pdf format from: http://www.swan.ac.uk/lis/help_and_training/database_guides.asp

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Using Voyager to find Swansea Theses You can find theses written at Swansea using our Voyager catalogue: http://voyager.swan.ac.uk/

• In the Quick Limit box select Theses - all libraries. • Enter M Res or D. Eng. in the Search For box. • Set the Sort by menu at the top of the results list to Date Published -

latest first to see the most recent theses.

Theses can only be used in the library. Ask at the Information Desk for a thesis to be fetched from the store for you. Conference Proceedings ISI Proceedings (via Web of Knowledge) This database includes conferences from 1990 onwards covering the areas of science and technology whether they were published as books, journal articles, series or reports. It allows subject searching or you can search for details of papers at a specific conference. You can also use the Cross search form link to search this database together with the Web of Science articles database. Access http://wok.mimas.ac.uk/ Login with your Athens password then click the link for ISI Proceedings. Guide The Educational Materials button on the main ISI Proceedings screen gives access to downloadable guides. Technical Information British Standards Online This service gives access to the full text of British Standards, giving technical specifications for many products, tests, services etc. Our license only gives access to 5 people at a time so it is helpful if you carry out your search before logging in - you only need to do this when you have found a document you want to download. Access http://www.bsonline.bsi-global.com/ Click the Athens login link below the main login box to login with your Athens username and password. Guide in pdf format http://www.swan.ac.uk/lis/help_and_training/pdf/bsonline.pdf

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Patent Information Patent information is a huge source of technological and commercial intelligence - about 80% of the information contained in patents is not found elsewhere in the literature. Knowing what has been patented helps to ensure that you don’t duplicate research or find that you cannot do anything with research findings because they have been patented earlier by someone else. A patent is a legal right granted to the applicant, upon fulfillment of certain conditions, which grants them the monopoly on making, using or selling an invention, for a fixed period of time, in the countries in which a patent has been granted. Only original inventions can be patented so the invention must never have been made public anywhere in the world before the date the application for a patent is filed. The invention has to be capable of industrial application and manufacture. Some useful web sites for searching for patent information are:

• Esp@cenet - a database of information about European patents giving bibliographic details, a description and drawings. http://gb.espacenet.com/

• US Patent Office - the full text of US patents from 1976 onwards. http://www.uspto.gov/

• Delphion Intellectual Property Network - this is a commercial site but it is possible to use their catalogue without paying to find details of US, Japanese and European patents. Click Basic registration to register for free searching. http://www.delphion.com

• UK Patent Office http://www.patent.gov.uk/

ESDU Engineering Data We have access to ESDU validated engineering data online until November 2006. This includes hundreds of volumes of data, containing detailed design guides with supporting software and covers subject areas across the fields of structural, mechanical, aeronautical and chemical engineering. Data items include equations and examples, methodologies, software and source code. For some data items you may need additional software. Click Tools at the top of the home page then Configure for details of this. http://esdu.athensams.net/Login with your Athens username and password. (Note that the main ESDU address does not allow access by Athens so you will need to use this url – a link is provided in Voyager)

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EEVL EEVL is a catalogue of internet sites put together by subject specialists for academic engineers. It includes some sites which are not indexed by the standard search engines like Google and the results will all be sites which have some worthwhile content. The site also includes EEVL Xtra which will cross search various electronic journals and technical reports and OneStep searches for industry news and jobs. http://www.eevl.ac.uk/

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Chapter 6

Keeping Up to Date

Keeping in touch with new literature and developments is useful both during academic research and a working career. Some useful sites and services are listed below and a fuller guide is available in pdf format at http://www.swan.ac.uk/lis/help_and_training/pdf/uptodate.pdf

• New books in the library Click the New items option at the top of the Voyager screen. You can check for particular authors or titles or do a call number search to find books on your subject - TM for new materials books. Voyager is available at http://voyager.swan.ac.uk

• New book titles BOOKNews has announcements of the latest books in science, technology and medicine from specialist publishers around the world. http://www.booknews.co.uk/

• ZETOC Alert Zetoc Alert is a current awareness service which emails you the table of contents of your chosen journals. These will be sent on the day the new data is loaded into the database. Zetoc is at http://zetoc.mimas.ac.uk/.A guide is available at http://www.swan.ac.uk/lis/help_and_training/pdf/zetoc.pdf

• Searching databases for recent articles There are several ways to keep up to date with new material entered into databases,ranging from the automatic through to re-running searches manually. Use the Help section from the database you are interested in to see what options are available. The following are common:

o Some databases, Science Direct, for example, offer an e-mail alerting service. You can save your search strategy as an “alert”. The database will then periodically check new records against your search and e-mail any of relevance to you.

o Some electronic databases allow you to save your search so that you can re-run it at a later date.

In other cases, it is possible to limit a search to the most recently added records. For example, the Web of Science Full Search gives you the option to search the latest week. As not all databases allow you to save your search it is useful to keep a record of your search terms.

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Chapter 7 Obtaining the Literature

Inter-Library Loans The inter-library loan service can obtain a wide variety of material including books, journal articles, theses, conference proceedings and patents. A charge is made for each inter-library loan request and we therefore ask that all request forms are countersigned by your supervisor. Request forms are available from the Information Desk and the Inter-Library loans office (Level 2 of the West Wing of the library). An online form is available - see details on http://www.swan.ac.uk/lis/library_services/inter_library_loans/. You still need to print off the form and have it signed by your supervisor before the request can be processed. Inter-library loans usually take about 7 days to arrive although this can vary. You will receive an e-mail message telling you when the item has arrived. If it is a loan item you will need to collect it from the Issue Desk in the Library and Information Centre. Photocopies of journal articles and conference papers can be posted directly to you if you put your address on your request form. DALLAS (Distance and Lifelong Learners at Swansea) DALLAS offers services which aim to save time for students who are studying part time or living at a distance. Students working on placement in industry are able to use these services.

• Photocopy service - Journal articles and extracts from books held in the library can be photocopied for you (subject to copyright law). You can either collect the copies or have them posted to you. You will be charged for the cost of photocopying and postage, if applicable.

• Postal loans - We will post available loanable copies of books to you on request. You will be charged postage (parcel post rates) and can pay this charge by post or next time you are in the library.

• Renew books by phone - you can renew your books by phone on 01792 295178 To contact the DALLAS team for photocopies or book loans call 01792 295023 or email: part.time@swan.ac.uk

Access to Other Libraries Sconul Research Extra This is a borrowing scheme for higher education researchers throughout the UK. You need to complete a form (available from the Issue Desk). You will then be given a card which you can take to any participating library (along with your Swansea ID card) to be given borrowing rights. The amount you can borrow and any restrictions will vary from library to library. A list of participating libraries can be found at http://www.sconul.ac.uk/use_lib/srx/

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UK Libraries Plus This scheme allows part-time, placement and distance learning students to have borrowing rights at the libraries of participating universities. You will need a form from the Swansea Loan Enquiry desk which is countersigned by library staff to confirm that you are eligible for the scheme. Details of participating libraries are available at http://www.uklibrariesplus.ac.uk/ When visiting other libraries: Sconul Research Extra will usually be the best option for Materials postgraduates but the institutions signed up to each vary slightly so in some cases you may need to use UK Libraries Plus. Contact the Subject Team for advice if you are uncertain which is the best approach. If you are planning to travel to visit a particular library, it is advisable to ring first to check their opening hours, whether they have the material you need, etc. Other Library Catalogues The catalogues of most university libraries can be accessed via the web. From our own catalogue, Voyager, click on the Other Library Catalogues link at the top of the screen. This is useful if you are planning to visit another library or need details of a particular book. There is no need to find a particular library when requesting inter-library loans.

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Chapter 8 Managing Your References

In any essay, dissertation, thesis or other piece of academic writing it is essential to make clear when you are citing (referring to) someone else's work in the text, and to include a bibliography or list of references at the end, giving full details of all the works you have referred to. There are several reasons for this:

• It shows that you acknowledge any use you have made of other people's ideas (failing to do this may be interpreted as plagiarism)

• It enables anyone reading your work to follow up your references easily

• A well-referenced piece of work is easier to read, looks more professional and is more likely to impress the examiner!

There are three main methods of citing references:

1. Harvard (author-date) system - in this system when you refer to an author you put their surname and the date in brackets in your text with full reference details at the end of your work in alphabetical order.

2. Numeric – in this system you put a small number in your text when you refer to a piece of work. The full reference details at the end of your text will be in numerical order, the order they appear in your text.

3. Footnote – references are inserted in footnotes. This system is mainly used for humanities subjects so you are unlikely to use it.

Your supervisor will be able to advise you how your department would like you to format references. You can find full details and examples on the LIS bibliographic referencing web pages. Go to: http://www.swan.ac.uk/lis/help_and_training/Click the link to bibliographic referencing in the blue Quick Links box at the right hand side of the screen. EndNote When you start a piece of research, you need to decide on a system for recording the references you use. If you are doing a longer piece of research and need to handle a lot of references you can use a computerised system. UWS has a site licence for the EndNote bibliographic software package, used in a number of UK universities. It is available on the open access network and may also be made available on departmental servers. It can be bought for use on home computers at a reduced rate. You can find information about this on our EndNote web pages. Go to: http://www.swan.ac.uk/lis/help_and_training/ Click the link to EndNote in the blue Quick Links box at the right hand side of the screen. References from many of the databases in this handbook can be imported into EndNote automatically - our EndNote web pages give details of how to do this. EndNote works along with Word to format references correctly as you insert them into a piece of work, saving you from having to type them out in full.

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