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The Literature Review

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Title: The Literature Review


1
The Literature Review
  • Finding Evaluating Information Resources for
    Industrial and Systems Engineering
  • P.L. Alford, D.V.M., M.S., M.S.
  • Jane Stephens, M.L.I.S.

2
Electronic Resources One-stop shopping? Not
Yet ?
  • Catalogs vs.
  • Indexes/Databases vs.
  • Web Directories vs.
  • Web Search Engines
  • DIFFERENT RESOURCES NEEDED FOR DIFFERENT TYPES
    OF CONTENT

3
Catalogs
  • Physical location and status of the holdings of a
    specific library or libraries, e.g., LibCat
  • Formal subject headings (usually 2-5) applied to
    content of entire work (Library of Congress or
    National Library of Medicine)
  • Smaller entities within the work, like book
    chapters or conference papers, not indexed
  • Search by title, author, subject, format,
    publisher more recently, keyword search may
    include abstracts or Tables of Contents

4
Indexes/Databases
  • Not tied to holdings of a specific institution
  • Indexing and abstracting of information in a
    particular discipline, e.g., education, medicine,
    or engineering or in a particular content or
    format, e.g., newspapers, data, films or from a
    particular publisher, e.g., Elsevier or U.S.
    government
  • Hundreds of databases, some free, most are
    subscription, restricted to TAMU users

5
Indexes/Databases, ctnd.
  • Indexing may cover full-text of articles at a
    minimum most DBs search and/or index title,
    abstract, assigned keywords, source title,
    publisher, and date of publication
  • Subject-specific DBs usually assign subject
    descriptors using formal vocabulary browsable
    indices or searchable thesaurus available to map
    common search terms to the formal language of the
    discipline

6
Indexes/Databases, ctnd.
  • Some DBs contain full-text articles (may or may
    not contain graphics) within the database or have
    links to the full-text articles
  • Some DBs have SFX (Find Text_at_TAMU) link to
    retrieval options
  • Some DBs no links to full-text or local holdings
    must check LibCat, E-Journal Search, or use
    deliverEdocs.

7
Choosing a Database/Index
  • Consult subject or class guide http//library.tamu
    .edu/subject-guides http//library.tamu.edu/class-
    guides
  • Browse electronic resources by subject
  • Ask a librarian (Evans Reference 845-3826 WCL
    845-2111 live chat link library home page)

8
Additional finding aids
  • Bibliographies
  • Specially-prepared subject bibliographies (search
    catalog for these)
  • Bibliographies in reference books, textbooks, and
    journal articles
  • Consult major professor, other mentors
  • Having identified an important article, follow
    cites to it in Citation Index (ISI)

9
Choosing Indexing ResourcesFour Cs to
Consider
  • Content What types of publications indexed?
    Numbers/Source list of titles?
  • Credibility How authoritative is the content?
  • Currency How current is the content, how
    frequently updated?
  • Coverage Years of content indexed? Changes in
    indexing through the years?

10
Content the Three Rs
  • Research reports (current studies)
  • Review articles and monographs (books)
  • Reference material
  • Data
  • Statistics
  • Methodology
  • Tools
  • Different indexing/finding aids for different
    content

11
Hierarchy of Credibility
  • Peer-reviewed
  • Additional rankings of journals within
    profession, and by citation analysis (ISI impact
    factor, citation half-life, etc.)
  • Academic publishers
  • Government agencies
  • Reputable trade consumer publications

12
Information Currency
  • Preprints, Periodicals most current
  • Be aware of lag time in scholarly publishing
    cycle takes time for research in hot topics to
    appear in scholarly literature
  • Lag time of year or more for information in books
  • Often difficult to evaluate currency of Web sites

13
Choosing Indexing Resources Other Considerations
  • Advanced search capabilities?
  • Specialized, controlled vocabulary for indexing
    also accessible by end-user?
  • Integration with citation manager programs?
  • Good online help, intuitive interface?
  • Ability to set up custom search alerts?

14
Accessing Current Research
  • Pre-print Sources, e.g. Directory of Mathematics
    Preprint Servers www.ams.org/global-preprints/
  • Indexes to current periodicals, conference
    proceedings, theses, and dissertations (next
    slide) and indexes to industry and trade
    publications for industry news reports

15
Accessing Current Research
  • Multidisciplinary databases for searching the
    latest research
  • Current Contents
  • ArticleFirst
  • PapersFirst
  • Essential Science Indicators
  • Lexis-Nexis (conference news coverage)
  • Proquest Dissertations and Theses

16
Theses and Dissertations
  • ProQuest Dissertations and Theses
  • Doctoral-level theses, many full-text online
  • Order through deliverEdocs (subsidized
    acquisition)
  • Use LibCat to search for TAMU theses (masters and
    doctoral) e.g., keyword search engineering
    education AND thesis
  • TxSpace digital repository for recent TAMU theses
    (http//txspace.tamu.edu/)

17
Scholarly IS Engineering Resources (alphabetic
order)
  • ACM Digital (computer science)
  • Business Source Complete (Ebsco)
  • Compendex (Engineering, all types)
  • CSA (EconLit, Engineering, High Tech., Materials
    Science)
  • IEEE (Electrical eng and computer sci)
  • INSPEC (applied theoretical)
  • SIAM (Industrial applied math)
  • Wilson Applied Sci Technology

18
Indexes/Databases for Business Content
  • ProQuest ABI/Inform (trade/industry publications)
  • Ebsco Business Source Complete (trade scholarly
    publications)
  • Expert help business resource locator
  • http//lib-edit.tamu.edu/refstats/wcl/Expertindex.
    htm

19
Indexes/Databases for Mathematics / Applied Math
  • Directory of Mathematics Preprint and Eprint
    Servers http//www.ams.org/global-preprints/
  • MathSciNet
  • SIAM

20
Indexes/Databases for Social Sciences Periodicals
Content
  • Ebsco multiple sub-databases
  • CSA multiple sub-databases
  • Web of Science
  • Wilson

21
Indexes/Databases for Technical Reports
  • NTIS
  • GPOAccess
  • Science.gov
  • STINET

22
Indexes/Databases for Patents and Intellectual
Property Info
  • Patents subject guide http//library.tamu.edu/pate
    nts
  • USPTO www.uspto.gov (Patent searching)
  • www.pat2pdf.org  (Obtain a pdf copy of patent
    when you know patent )

23
E-Resources for ReferenceEncyclopedias other
E-Books
  • Type encyclopedia in Search for Database
    search term box to see listing of electronic
    encyclopedias
  • E-book packages (databases) include eBrary,
    netLibrary, EngNetBase, Knovel, Safari, Science
    Direct, Springer, Wiley Interscience

24
Statistical Data Resources
  • Lexis-Nexis Statistical Universe
  • FedStats www.fedstats.gov
  • United Nations http//unstats.un.org
  • www.nationmaster.com
  • U. No. Tx. Gov. Info. Connection
  • www.library.unt.edu/govinfo/browse-topics/statisti
    cs

25
Government Publications
  • GPOAccess www.gpoaccess.gov
  • Lexis-Nexis
  • Federal Gateway www.firstgov.gov
  • Google Unclesam www.google.com/unclesam
  • Keyword search in LibCat with Set Limits
    Location to Government Documents

26
Legal Resources
  • Campus Research (WestLaw)
  • Lexis-Nexis
  • Wilson Index to Legal Periodicals
  • Cornell Legal Information Institute
    http//www.law.cornell.edu/

27
Finding the important journals in my field
  • Set limits in LibCat to type serial and search
    by keyword
  • Search Ulrichs Periodical Database
  • Do searches of interest in major databases and
    see which journals have the most articles of
    interest to you
  • Evaluate journals for their rankings in Journal
    Citation Reports (ISI)

28
Overview of mechanics of finding and retrieving
journal articles
  • Identify articles of interest by searching an
    indexing database
  • Options for retrieval
  • Full text or Find Text_at_TAMU link when available
    OR
  • Search Now for electronic subscription (e-journal
    search)
  • Search LibCat or Chiron for print subscription
    (journal title search, not article title)
  • Order from deliverEdocs service

29
Tips for Managing Your Literature Cites Reprints
  • Make your literature review strategy and search
    histories a part of your research notebook
  • Use a bibliographic/citation manager such as
    EndNote, Reference Manager, RefWorks
  • Keep backups of the electronic files of your
    reprints

30
EndNote Information Links
  • http//library.tamu.edu/help/help-yourself/citing-
    sources/endnote
  • Endnote Basics Video Tutorial http//endnote.com/t
    raining/tutorials/EndNote_Basics/EndNote20Basics.
    html

31
Citation Styles Formatting
  • Citation Guides http//library.tamu.edu/help
  • Consult journals publisher web sites for
    instructions (manuscript, authors, contributors
    instructions, etc.)
  • U. of Toronto Eng. Comm. Manual -- Documentation
    section www.engineering.utoronto.ca/about/programs
    /communication/Online_Handbook.htm

32
Helpful Links
  • Thesis office http//thesis.tamu.edu/
  • Writing Center http//writingcenter.tamu.edu/
  • Library Research Support Pages
  • http//library.tamu.edu/subject-guides
  • http//library.tamu.edu/class-guides
  • http//library.tamu.edu/help

33
For Additional Help Contact
  • Jane Stephens, M.L.I.S. jstephen_at_tamu.edu
  • Patricia L. Alford, D.V.M., M.S. palford_at_tamu.edu
  • Evans Reference Desk, first floor Evans,
    845-3826 West Campus Lib 845-2111
  • Chat virtual reference (live chat and email),
    link on library home page
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