Finding Information for Foundation Degree in MVCO (DL) Students

Finding Information for Foundation Degree

in MVCO (DL) Students

Gareth Johnson

[email protected]

Sat 19th Apr 2008

http://www.le.ac.uk/li/distance/

Session Outline

10:30 - Part I– Overview of services, help, resources and

accessing information

11:15 - Tea break 11:45 - Part II

– Creating effective searching strategies, worked examples and explore for yourself

12.40 - Lunch


Part I: Details

Services– An overview of services available from the

Distance Learning Service Resources

– Introduce key subject information resources available

Accessing– Explain access to physical and electronic

information Time for questions


Services: Your Key Contacts

Hywel Williams (Education Librarian)– ([email protected])– Tel: (+44) 0116 252 5048

Distance Learners Enquiry service– [email protected]– (+44) 0116 252 5051



Services: Essential Things

Your library number is on your student card under the barcode 075…

Your PIN is a 4 digit number– Emailed or from an enquiry point

Your CFS username and password– Once registered with the Computer Centre– https://register.le.ac.uk/


Services: Library Website

Provides a lot of online information– Contact information– What support and help is available– Information resources & catalogue– Leicester e-Link for journals– Passwords for off-campus access to resources

Distance learning support– Dedicated section– Details of all services open to you


Resources: Library Catalogue

Accessible globally without a password– Offers simple and more advanced searches– Links to other library services– Access your library record on-line

Tips– Use author/title search when you know an item

E.g. drennan risk management– Use subject search to find books on specific topics

Advanced searching options– Boolean logic & Truncation $

e.g. educat$ for education, educated etc

Demo


Resources: Bibliographic Dbs

To find specific articles in journals– Need to search bibliographic databases

Each one indexes lists of bibliographic information for publications

– Such as journal articles, reports, theses and some books– Some overlap in coverage

Bibliographic information normally comprises:– Author, title, source (journal title), year, volume, page

numbers & abstract summary– Not full text of articles


Resources: Journal Articles

Prince, John (2004) Keeping the conversation going: voluntary associations in the public sphere. Media International Australia 111 (May) p145-158

Look for whether it has An ____________ & a _____________ A ______________ & an _________________

Article Title Journal Title

Volume Number

Issue Number/month



Three major education bibliographic databases– British Education Index (BEI)– ERIC– Australian Educational Index (AEI)

Each one specifically covers literature – In the field of education and training – Overlaps to a degree with each other– Use all for comprehensive searching– Can search all three at once



Web of Knowledge– Covers all subjects– Sophisticated but easy to learn interface– Very useful filtering tools– Best when researching cross-disciplinary areas

PsycINFO– Indexes educational psychology articles

ASSIA– Indexes social sciences articles, including some

aspects of education



Demo!– Education Indexes– Web of Knowledge

Subject Rooms– Lists other useful databases– Portal to trusted educational resources on the

web– Includes guidance, tutorials and contacts


Resources: Open Access

A move from academics annoyed over journal prices– No passwords, subscriptions or access restrictions– Full text (not just abstracts) in most cases

Researchers make articles available for free – Outside of journals and held in online repositories– 100,000s of articles – Still include peer-reviewed materials– Very useful when journal not available

Can easily be searched– OpenDOAR Search or BASE– Demo!


Accessing: Information Resources

Off Campus access (ATHENS)1. Start at Library Home Page | Digital Library

2. Login to Athens (https://adas.le.ac.uk/adas/)

3. Use your CFS ID and password

From an information resource homepage1. Click Alternative Login

2. Search for Leicester

3. Click University of Leicester & follow link

4. Takes you to local Athens Login page

More information– www.le.ac.uk/library/digital/authentication.html


Accessing: Journal Articles

Use Leicester e-Link to check if journal is available– Links on Library Web page, Catalogue and from databases

If articles are not available via Leicester e-Link– Try finding an Open Access version– Check the library catalogue to see if available in print– Request a photocopy through Document Supply

Limits– 20 requests a year paid for by Library– Additional ones may be purchased (£7.30-£57.30)– No more than one article from a single journal


Accessing: Books (Worldwide)

Search Library Catalogue to see if we have the text– We welcome suggestions for purchase!

Postal Loan Service– Up to 4 books by post on loan for 6 weeks– You are responsible for postage costs incurred

when returning– Short Loan and Reference items cannot be

borrowed by post– Alternatively individual chapters (or 5%) of texts

can be photocopied for you


Accessing: Other Libraries

Take advantage of access schemes– SCONUL Access scheme– Application form on Web site

Tips1. Check opening hours before you go2. Search online catalogues beforehand3. Have your Leicester ID or library card with you4. If unsure contact Leicester Enquiry service5. Take money (for photocopying)6. Remember – their rules bind you not ours!

Questions?


And now…

Searching for Journal Articles

Part II


Part II: Details

Searching– Introduce successful approaches to searching

Systematic Searches– Explore Boolean logic and truncation

Refining – Examine refining and limiting search results

Next Steps– Review searching the Web and evaluating sites– Hands-on time for yourself

Time for questions


Searching: Types of Search

Author Search– When you are looking for material published by key names

in a field Identified in lectures, books, review journal or other articles

– Question: To find an article by Dr Gawen RT Jenkin– Search on Jenkin G*

May or may not publish with middle initials Journals may or may not other initials

Keyword/Subject Search– When you are looking for material on a particular subject– Need to be systematic in your searches – Ensures accurate results and avoid information-overload


Searching: Planning a Strategy

Step by step process– Step 1 Consider resources– Step 2 Identify keywords– Step 3 Build search– Step 4 Test search– Step 5 Refine results– Step 6 Evaluate– Step 7 Locate and read!

Revise search


Searching: Concepts

Question: Find out about Managing Voluntary and Community Organisations – Identify the important concepts and words in the

question: managing voluntary, community organisations

Use general resources to help– Thesaurus, dictionaries, encyclopedias – Text books– Wikipedia (with care!)


Searching: Keywords & Variants

Think about variations of the keywords you’re using…

Managing– supervising, administrating, overseeing, organise,

direct, control Voluntary/Community

– volunteers, unsalaried, local, neighbourhood Organisations

– group, association, authority, charity, federation Not all of these might be appropriate


Systematic: Truncation

Ore Ores Ore* Orebody

•Saves typing!

•Picks up multiple terms from foreshortened word-stem

Charity

Charities

Charitable

Charitably

charit*

Some resources use other symbols


Systematic: Boolean Logic

Allows more sophisticated searching than keywords alone

AND– voluntary and community <- focuses down

OR– voluntary or community <- broadens a search

NOT– voluntary not community <- eliminates terms – (handle with care!)



AND– This is used to combine search terms to narrow your

search

voluntary and community

voluntary community



OR– This is used where various terms might describe the same

object

voluntary community

voluntary or community



NOT– This is used when you wish to exclude a word from your

search

voluntary community

voluntary not community

Eliminated articles ofpossible interest


Systematic: Parentheses ()

1. management and voluntary or community– Is NOT the same as

2. management and (voluntary or community) Order of precedence (mathematical)

– Generally (first-last) NOT AND OR – Search 1 = 16,249 results (broad, inaccurate)– Search 2 = 104 results (specific, focussed)

Parentheses isolate elements of searches– Simple rule of thumb OR linked statements

inside brackets


Refining: Revising Searches

management and (voluntary or community) – Simple, will find a broad range of results– Not all will be relevant to the topic

manag* and (volunt* or communit*) – Better, will find more accurate results– May need to limit/refine

((manag* or superv* or administ*) and (volunt* or communit*)) not charit*– Best! But might need tweaking…


Refining: Tools & Filters

You can also use limits/filters – To narrow and focus your search results

E.g. by date, publication type, language etc.

Can include before or after a search– Helps avoid potentially overwhelming levels of

results– Easier to chose the pick of the crop

Available filters/limits– Depend on the database software


Next Steps: Internet Searching

Use more than one search engine – They use different searching algorithms– Results can be quite different

Use the advanced search features (E.g. on Google & Yahoo)– Phrase searching – “Phrase”– Search a specific field e.g. title or URL– Limit by language, file type, domain

Use the options for specific media – e.g. images, groups, news…etc.


Next Steps: Google Scholar

“Searches specifically for scholarly literature” – No definition as to what Google classify as scholarly!– There are some odd gaps/omissions

http://scholar.google.com Often links to full text

– Might not link to the version of the full text available to the University

– On-campus e-link option will show whether you can access the full text for free

Good first place to see what is available and what keywords to use

– But use bibliographic databases in your subject too!


Next Steps: Evaluating Websites

Intended Audience– Is the site aimed at researchers or the general public?

Authority and Reputation – Is the resource well known? – Is it an academic site? – Is it factual or opinion based? – Does the information have a basis in research and is a

bibliography provided? Subject Coverage

– Is the site an overview or does it cover the subject in-depth? Currency –

– Has the site been recently updated?


Next Steps: Top Tips

Explore resources yourselves– Experiment with searches

Get in contact with the library for support– General assistance (e.g. books, accessing

resources and general difficulties) Contact the enquiry service

– Expert advice and assistance with searching information resources

Contact the Education Librarian

If in doubt – ask!


Next Steps: Top Tips

Remember to record– The sources you used– The keywords and searches you used– Full references citations– Keep a back up

Tools to help– Record or import citations using software– EndNote or RefWorks are used on campus– Learn your departmental style


In Conclusion

Library provides access to physical and electronic resources

The library catalogue contains books on broad topics of interest

Use bibliographic databases and other resources when looking for specific subject information

Time invested searching increases the quality of results

Questions?

Finding Information for Foundation Degree

in MVCO (DL) Students

Gareth Johnson

[email protected]

Sat 19th Apr 2008