The Cite is Right – repeat workshop

Clueless about citing and referencing? Think it is a lot of hassle and don’t quite see the point?

If you missed the first ‘Cite is Right’ workshop, why not come along this repeat session to find out more?

We’ll cover what it’s all about, when you need to do it (and when you don’t), why you might want to take the time to get to grips with it (e.g. how it can help in avoiding PLAGIARISM) and how to make the whole thing a bit easier.

Venue: Anderson Room, Top Floor, Library
Date:  Thurs 5th November (repeat of Wed 14th Oct session)
Time: 12.15-13.15 (optional additional half hour for questions at the end)

No need to book. Just come along. You can bring your lunch and we’ll provide the tea and coffee.

For more information on this and other workshops see with Libary Workshop Programme webpage

Marion Kennedy
Subject Librarian

search50 – using search results

With search⁵⁰ you can select the areas you want to search in, and define your search much like a CompartheMarket.com for library resources. Instead of cheaper car insurance you are presented with lists of search results from different resources.

The results page displays results in the order they are returned. The activity bar on the right hand side of the screen indicates if the search is completed, but you can interact with the search results as soon as the first list is displayed. Search results are displayed in sets. You can click on the database name in the list below the activity bar to go to the first set of results returned from that resource. You can click on Next Set… for more results. At the top of the results page you have the option to reorder the results returned by Author, Title or Date.

For more information on a search result, click on View. This will be displayed in the resource that result was returned from. You can also link directly to the full-text of a journal article, where it is available, from the results screen. It’s not uncommon to search an online database only to find that you do not have full-text access to the article you find. In most instances this is because the Library does not maintain the necessary subscription.

If there is no Full-text or PDF View link, the seven thousand online academic journals and 150 online databases we do subscribe to can be found on the Databases and Journals pages on the Library website. It is also possible to order articles located through search50, but unavailable in online full-text, through inter-library loan. There’s an icon on the resource list in search⁵⁰ indicating whether access on a particular resource is to full-text, partial full-text, or in the case of library catalogues, no full-text.

You can select all results returned from a specific resource, or make your own selection. This information can then be printed out, emailed to your choice of email account or saved. There are various options for the format in which you can save results, whether as a text file or for use with EndNote or other bibliographic software. You also have the option to export directly into EndNote or RefWorks.

For more information or assistance with any aspect of online searching or support for EndNoteWeb contact the Library, browse through some of our previous postings on this blog, and look out for our information skills workshop sessions.

Iain Young
Resources Manager

How to use EndnotWeb – Library workshop 15th October

Are your reference notes in a mess?  Do you find citing and referencing a bit of a chore?  This could be the session for you!

Come along to find out how EndnoteWeb can help you:

• collate, annotate and organise your references
• create reference lists and add citations in your text automatically
• cite-while-you-write, saving time and effort

If  you’re jotting down details of sources you read for your course work on scraps of paper that get lost or if you often can’t find the page number of the really good quote you want to use, EndnoteWeb can help.

This session could be useful if you don’t want to spend 3 days typing up your reference list!

Venue: Anderson Room, Library top floor
Date: Thurs 15th October OR Wed 11th November
Time: 12.15-13.15 (optional additional half hour for questions afterwards)

No need to book. Just come along. You can bring your lunch and we’ll provide the tea and coffee.

For more information on the Library’s workshop programme see our programme webpage.

Marion Kennedy
Subject Librarian

search50 – tips for searching

search⁵⁰ lets you complete a keyword search that returns information from a variety of different online sources, much as you would expect from Google. Just enter your chosen search terms in the box and click Search. You can be as general as you like with the terms chosen, but if you’re searching across a wide range of resources you should expect a long list of results, again like Google. Try to focus your search by using the subject categories.

There are some basic steps you can take to conduct a more effective search, and to make sure you retrieve more relevant results.

You can use the drop-down menus to select where search terms appear in your results. The default is Keyword searching, but select All and your results list will include records where your search terms appear anywhere within the record. You can be more specific and look for search terms within defined parts of the record, the Title, Author names, words from the article Abstract or Subject terms.

You can also decide how the search terms are linked together. Select And, Or or Not from the drop-down menus for Boolean Searching. Quite simply, selecting And returns results which include both terms, Or returns results which include one or other of the terms, and Not returns results which include one term but not the other. The default is And.

It’s also possible to truncate, or shorten, your search terms using a question mark – ?. Search for “manag?” and your results will include records containing the words manager, management, managed or managing. You can use the ? within words as well. Search for “organi?ation” and your results will include records containing organization or organisation. search⁵⁰ will also, on occasion, offer you alternative suggestions for search terms on the results page through Did you mean. This can be useful to correct spelling mistakes.

If you need assistance or advice on any aspect of online searching contact the Library, browse through some of our previous postings on this blog, and look out for our information skills workshop sessions.

Iain Young
Resources Manager

search50 – subject based online searching

The Library subscribes to over seven thousand online academic journals and 150 online databases to support learning and teaching, and research at the University. Little wonder knowing which resources to use is a challenge, not to mention how time-consuming it can be to search them all individually.

When you are working on an essay or assignment, or conducting a literature search, search⁵⁰ will let you combine a selection of the Library’s full-text journals, online resources and the Library Catalogue and find lots of different resources online with just one Google-like search.

It’s unlikely that you would ever want to search across all 50 resources, and we wouldn’t recommend it as a search strategy, so we have made it easy for you to select those most relevant to your subject. Check the box next to a subject category and all resources covering that subject will be selected for searching. It’s possible to combine subjects if required. You can also click on the subject category and be taken to a page listing only those resources relevant to that subject.

Where we see the true benefit of search⁵⁰ is as an excellent starting point, especially if you don’t know where to begin searching for a topic. If you know which resources you’ve found most useful in the past you can check the box next to them in the resource list and define your own combinations. For more sophisticated and flexible searching you’ll want to go through the individual database interfaces. You can do this by clicking on the resource name in the list. We will continue to support our Databases and Journals pages on the Library website for information on, and access to, the full range of resources available from the Library.

If you need assistance or advice on any aspect of online searching contact the Library, and look out for our information skills workshop sessions.

Iain Young
Resources Manager

search50 – searching across online resources

 

A new service from the Library will make it easier to search our electronic resources. Now you can search across the most useful 50 online resources, and be provided with a merged list of results, through search⁵⁰

search⁵⁰ provides coverage of all subjects taught in the University, and resources have been selected by our Subject Librarians for their relevance. You can select from 50 resources, and search either individually or by subject category. It’s important to realise that not all databases are included in search⁵⁰.  Whilst search⁵⁰ doesn’t offer the sophisticated and flexible searching available through the individual database interfaces, it’s an excellent starting point, especially if you don’t know where to begin searching for a topic.

search⁵⁰ is available both on and off campus. You will be prompted to log-in using your University ID and password, just as you would log-in to HW Webmail. Links can be accessed from results displays to take you directly to full text articles, where these are available. Search results can also be printed, or saved directly into EndNote.

If you have any questions or comments regarding any aspect of search⁵⁰ please contact the Library. We will continue to refine and improve this service and would welcome your input. More information on search⁵⁰ will be posted here on spineless? through the week.

Iain Young
Resources Manager

Library Workshop slides available

Library Staff have so far presented two sessions as part of the Lunchtime Workshop Programme.  If you want to view the PowerPoint slides from either of these sessions, these are now available.  If you missed the session and/or have any further questions regarding the information presented, please get in touch with the presenter.  The slides and contact details are available from the Library Workshops page.

If you have attended one of the lunchtime workshops and didn’t complete our short feedback form, we’d very much appreciate your comments – please use our feedback form and return by email or hand in to Library Sttaff.

Sarah Kelly
Subject Librarian

Ten science search engines – update

It’s almost exactly a year since the post Ten Science Search Engines appeared on this blog.  I can tell from the stats that that post has been amazingly popular, so maybe it’s time for an update.

The initial list of science search engines remains the same:

• Scirus
• Scitopia.org
• Science.gov
• Science Research
• Scitation
• WorldWideScience.org
• Science Accelerator
• TechXtra
• search.optics.org

But of course, there are only nine listed above.  Suggestions for the tenth, via comments on the original post, include GoPubMed (a search engine for the life sciences), VADLO (for biomedical and life sciences), novo|seek (for biomedical literature), and IEEE Xplore (for electrical engineering, computer science, and electronics).  IEEE Xplore is not free, but Heriot-Watt University Library subscribes to it.

Of the original nine science search engines in the list:

• Scirus now indexes the journal collection from three more publishers and has added 27 new institutional repositories to those searched.
• Scitopia.org now provides an alerting feature and has a browser plug-in.
• Science.gov now searches over 40 databases and 1,950 selected websites, offering 200 million pages of U.S. government science information, including research and development results.
• Science Research now reckons to be the world’s most comprehensive Deep Web science search engine, providing a single point of access to over 400 high-quality publicly searchable science and technology collections.
• Scitation has some quite detailed news items about its content.
• WorldWideScience.org has just expanded its coverage by adding Environment Research Funders’ Forum (ERFF) Research Database to its list of databases searched.  Other recent additions include KoreaMed and The International Science and Technology Center (ISTC).
• Science Accelerator has an archive of news about the service.
• TechXtra made numerous improvements to its service, including the addition of full text indicators to search results pages in an attempt to show the likely availability of full text.
• search.optics.org now has a toolbar you can download for Internet Explorer.

More searchable databases are listed on our Databases and other electronic resources pages.

Roddy MacLeod
Senior Subject Librarian 

Try this first for…

Business Information: EbscoHost

Chemical Engineering: Compendex

Chemistry: CSA Illumina

Civil engineering: Compendex

Company information: OSIRIS

Computing: Compendex

Construction: ICONDA (International Construction DAtabase)

Economics: Econlit (via CSA Illumina)

Electrical Engineering: Compendex

Languages and Linguistics: Linguistics & Language Behavior Abstracts (via CSA Illumina)

Life Sciences: CSA Illumina

Mathematics: MathSciNet

Mechanical Engineering: Compendex

Offshore and Petroleum Engineering: Compendex

Physics: Web of Knowledge

Textiles: World Textiles

More services for finding articles, reports, standards, and more can be found on our Databases and Other Electronic Resources page.

Roddy MacLeod
Senior Subject Librarian

The Write Stuff (how to write essays and other things)

© Alaska Teacher Flickr.com

Would you like to know -

• what kind of essays get good marks?
• how to plan, develop and write a good argument?
• what to do when writer’s block hits?

Why not come along to the Write Stuff  to get some answers?  This session will cover -

• the main stages of essay writing
• how to analyse titles
• how to organise the material you collect
• what to look for when editing your drafts

The session is run by Isabelle Pottinger, Effective Learning Advisor/Academic Counsellor

The Write Stuff
Thurs 12th Februrary, 12.15-13.45
Anderson Room, Library top floor

Coffee and tea (and biscuits) provided but bring your own lunch.

More information on this and other Library lunchtime workshops

Marion Kennedy
Subject Librarian