Physics Library Literature and Research Sources

PHYS 227February 18, 2009

Elizabeth Brown

ebrown@binghamton.edu

(607)777-4882

Outline

BU Libraries Information Web of Science INSPEC/Compendix Google Scholar

Physics Scientific Literature

Primary Literature: original research results and data. Journal articles, dissertations, patents, research reports, journal article

supplementary material Dissertations & Theses @ Binghamton University

Secondary Literature: analyzed, summarized, synthesized data Indexes and abstracts of scientific literature – INSPEC/Compendix, Web of

Science

Tertiary Literature: collections of previously published material, data, and ideas Examples: textbooks, review articles, handbooks, encyclopedias.

Locating Journals

infoLINK Library catalog: search journal titles Many articles pre-1990 – at the Library Annex.

Annex request forms available Use ILLiad Interlibrary Loan for items not at BU.

Plan ahead: ILL can take a week or more!

metaLINK Physics and Astronomy Subject Resources Materials Science Subject Resources

metaLINK: Search e-journals

Web of Science

All fields of research included 1983-2009 8,600+ journals total

Physical and Life Sciences – 6,100 Social sciences – 1790 titles Arts & humanities – 1125 titles

Contains journal articles, conference proceedings, book

and product reviews Tutorial:

http://scientific.thomson.com/tutorials/wos8/

2004

Cited References

20001998

2001

1993

2003Times Cited

Related Records

2003

2004

1999

2002

1994

2004

Citing

From just a single record within the Web of Science,

expand your search by simply following the links designed

to drive discovery.

… moving Backward in time via Cited References, Forward in time via Times Cited,

and through Related Records.

What Is Inspec?

Multidisciplinary Database produced by IEE Subject covered:

Physics Electrical & Electronics Engineering Computing & Control Engineering Information Technology Manufacturing, Production &

Mechanical Engineering Wide range of cross-disciplinary topics

Overview of Inspec Database

The INSPEC database includes: Over 8 million records Over 400,000 records are added every year 1969 to date Over 3,740 journals 3,000 other publications

Searching Inspec on Engineering Village – Step 1

A list of all available Inspec fields

Key words to be searched

Type in key words and select the fields that you would like them to be searched in.

Searching Inspec on Engineering Village – Step 2

Limitations include document type, treatment type and

discipline*

* Document type includes journal articles, conference proceedings etc. Treatment type includes application, historical, literature review etc. Discipline includes physics, electrics etc.

Search resultsGo back to refine

your search or begin a new search

Use the results manager to view,

email, print, download or save selected

records.

The search string shows the number of records in the set, key words and fields

limitations.

Save search, create an email alerts or RSS

feed

Refine your search using facets

This facet corresponds to Inspec classification.

Controlled vocabulary corresponds to terms

found in Inspec thesaurus

Search History Use search history to combine, re-run or save searches as well as set up email alerts.

*** Remember that search history is available as long as you are in an active session. If you leave your computer for 20 minutes or more, your search history will not be saved.

RE-run a search Save search or

Create an email alert

Combine searches

Google Scholar

Search across Peer-reviewed papers Theses and Dissertations Books Journal Article abstracts and articles

academic publishers professional societies commercial publishers

Preprint repositories Universities, Scholarly organizations, websites

http://scholar.google.com/intl/en/scholar/help.html

Searching Try author name in quotes: “Lewis GN” “JH

Smith” Try article title in quotes Google Scholar Preferences:http://scholar.google.com/scholar_preferences Advanced Search:http://scholar.google.com/advanced_scholar_search

Search Results

Literature Questions

1. Which University of California, Davis Physics Department author has the most journal articles? How many do they have?

INSPEC

Web of Science

Google Scholar

Literature Questions

2. For this author, find the journal article with the most number of citations. What is the title and journal information?

INSPEC

Web of Science

Google Scholar

Literature Questions

3. Do any faculty in this department have any patents? If so, write down a patent title and patent number that you find.

INSPEC

Web of Science

Google Scholar

Hint: this question may require using something other than Google Scholar. Try looking at the entire list of Google applications:

http://www.google.com/intl/en/options/