IL Step 3:IL Step 3:Using Bibliographic DatabasesUsing Bibliographic Databases

Information LiteracyInformation Literacy 11

Bibliographical DB: Bibliographical DB: OverviewOverview Collection of bibliographical records

► references to scientific publications► in specific disciplines

• e.g., Biological Abstracts► in multiple disciplines

• e.g., Web of Science, Scopus

Information LiteracyInformation Literacy 22

Bibliographical DBs► contain rich information

• Keywords, abstracts, (full-text, citation data)► are mostly proprietary

• Charge usage fees► use English as primary language

• Non-English titles translated to English► may have different record format

• e.g., title vs. original title, author vs. primary author► may offer different search interfaces & options

Bibliographical DB:Bibliographical DB: Coverage Coverage It is important to consider DB coverage before using.

► Document Type• Journals, magazines, books, book chapters, dissertations, etc.

► Publication Type• Scholarly, Popular, Trade, etc.

► Discipline/Subject Area• Math & Physics, Computer Science, Social Science, etc.

► Time Period• 1960-2000, 1990-present, etc.• Update frequency: annually, monthly, weekly, daily, etc.

► Content• Brief description (abstract & references) vs. full-text• Citation metadata

For quality assessment Enhanced search capability (e.g., following the thread)

Information LiteracyInformation Literacy 33

DB Coverage:DB Coverage: ExamplesExamples Web of Science -Tutorial -

► 46M records (1900-present)► 17,594 titles of journals & conference proceedings

• Multi-disciplinary, high impact scholarly publications► Owned by Thompson Reuters

Scopus -Tutorial -► 50M records

• 20M with references (1996-present) & 20M without references (1823-1995)► 20,000 multi-disciplinary titles from 5,000 international publishers

• 16,500 peer-reviewed journals & 3.6M conference papers► Owned by Elsevier (a major publisher of international scientific journals)

JSTOR (Journal Storage) -Tutorial -► 1000+ academic journals from 700 publishers► Full-text publications in humanities, social sciences, & sciences► Operated by JSTOR, non-profit organization

Google Scholar► 500M records► Multi-disciplinary titles in 30+ document types (varying quality)

Information LiteracyInformation Literacy 44

DB Searching: DB Searching: Records & FieldsRecords & Fields DB Record

► Describes information source• e.g., journal article

DB Field► Contains metadata about the information source

• e.g., author, title, subject, publisher, publication date, etc.

DB Searches► Keyword Search – match in any field

• Emphasis on finding as much information as possible► Field Search – search in specific fields

• Focus on finding only desired information General Strategy

► Begin with keyword search • to find everything about a topic• to discover subtopics

► Use field search• To find precise information about specific topics

• on recalling as much information as possible► Field Search

Information LiteracyInformation Literacy 55

red + blue + green

(Tie=red) + (Shirt=blue) + (Hat=green)

DB Searching: DB Searching: Options & ToolsOptions & Tools Wildcards

► To group words with various spellings and forms• e.g., secret* → secret, secrets, secretary, etc.

secret? → secret, secrets Quotation Marks

► Around exact phrases (i.e., exact match)• e.g., “longevity secret?”, “longevity factor?”

Boolean Operators► Connecting words to broaden or narrow a search

• e.g., secret? AND longevity, (secret? OR factor?) AND longevity

Proximity Operators► Connecting words that should appear near one another

• e.g., (secret? OR factor?) NEAR longevity• to prevent happenstance occurrence of words

“Secret of happiness is love. Longevity has noting to do with it.”

Information LiteracyInformation Literacy 66

DB Searching: DB Searching: Options & ToolsOptions & Tools Searchable indexes

► List of searchable terms (words that appear in DB)• e.g., author index, journal index

Thesaurus► Standardized list of keywords► Typically have a hierarchical structure► Each term can have

• Broader term (BT)• Narrower terms (NT)• Related terms (RT)• Equivalent terms (ET)

Related Articles► Tool for finding “more like this” articles.► Offered by some DBs

• Web of Science → articles that cite at least one document cited by current article• Scopus → articles that share same reference, keywords, or authors• PubMed → articles that share same words in title, abstract, MeSH terms (keywords)

Information LiteracyInformation Literacy 77

DB Searching: DB Searching: Search RefinementSearch Refinement Too much information

► Examine non-relevant results• Why were they retrieved? • Modify the query to filter out non-relevant results

Add terms that exclude bad results Use more specific terms e.g. longevity AND secrets → longevity AND secrets NOT myths

► Search in specific fields• e.g., subject, title

Too little information► Eliminate long phrases (i.e., exact match)

• e.g., “longevity secrets” → longevity AND secrets► Use alternative terms

• e.g., “longevity secrets” → longevity AND factors, longevity AND research► Try broader terms

• e.g., “longevity secrets” → “long life”• e.g., “recombinant DNA” → genetic engineering

Information LiteracyInformation Literacy 88