Library Skills Tutorial for Life Science Honours, DBS

1

• Library Skills Tutorial for Life Science
  Honours, DBS Pharmacy Graduate Students
• Conducted by
• Hew Yik Suan
• Manager
• Medical/Science Library
• 23 August 2007

2
Objectives

• Learn how to
• devise effective literature search strategy
• identify and utilize relevant reference databases
• familiarize with the services and resources
  available in the NUS Libraries

3
At the end of this briefing, you would be
able to

• initiate a systematic approach on conducting
  research e.g. how to use Boolean operators to
  construct search strategy
• identify relevant reference databases for your
  research project
• perform the search effectively in the relevant
  reference databases (Web of Science BIOSIS
  Previews)

4
Starting a Research Project
Identify the research topic

Initiate literature search
5
How to initiate a literature search?

• Start with a simple / quick literature search in
  LINC.
• Follow with an extensive search in relevant
  reference databases.

6
How to construct the search statement?
List synonyms for each concept
Identify keywords main concepts
Think of the broader terms for each concept to
get a better perspective on your research topic
7

• Research Topic
• Altruism in Animals

8
Encyclopedia of Life Sciences

• One of the most comprehensive reference sources
  for life sciences
• It comprises of more than 3,000 specially
  commissioned, peer-reviewed articles from 5,000
  contributors from all over the world
• Updated monthly

9
Altruism

• Behavior of an animal that benefits another at
  its own expense
• Selfless concern for the well being of others
• The practice of thinking of the needs and desires
  of other people instead of your own
• Sacrifice, if necessary of life itself, so that
  others, offspring or other genetically close
  younger relatives, may survive or otherwise
  benefit.

10
Search ConceptResearch Topic Altruism in
Animals
11
Search Statement

• Boolean operators
• OR is used to indicate that any of the terms may
  be present
• AND is used to indicate that both terms must be
  present

NOT is to eliminate an unwanted concept or word
in your search statement
12

• Use Boolean operators to formulate
• the search statement
• For example
• (altruis OR unselfish behavi OR selfless) AND
  (animal) NOT (Ant OR Formicidae OR
  Hymenoptera)
• altruism, altruist, altruistic
• behavior, behaviour, behavioral
• animal, animals, animalia (Latin word)

13
Recap

• 1. Identify your research topic
• 2. List the keyword, synonyms broader terms
• 3. Use Boolean operators to construct the search
  statement
• 4. perform the search in the relevant reference
  databases

14
Search Relevance

• How do you know that the search is relevant?
• You may consider the following questions
• Does the item give an overview of your topic?
• Does the item cover one or some aspects of your
  topic?
• Does the item cover the situation in the
  country and place that you are covering?

15
Search Relevance

• Internet Resources
• Is Google search sufficient and relevant for your
  topic of interest and satisfy your information
  needs
• Large amount of irrelevant material.
• Search engines do not search in every part of the
  Internet, esp. into the contents of many of the
  online databases

Google
16
Evaluating Sources

• How good are the sources?
• In evaluating your sources, you may wish to
  consider the following general criteria
• Suitability (Does the source contain the
  information you need?)
• Authority (What are the authors credentials?
  Is it done by the experts in that field?)
• Accuracy (Are the information, data or methods
  reliable? Are you able to contact the author of
  the document to verify details, if necessary?)
• Objectivity (How objective is it? Is it peer
  reviewed? Determine if the document is a mask for
  advertising. If it is, the information may be
  biased.)
• Timeliness (Is the information up-to-date? What
  was the date of last revision?)

17
How do you cite references ? Book Chen, J.F.
1995. Nutritional immunology. Provo, Utah Bright
Ideas Press. Chapter in Book Williams, M.E.
1992. Molecular biology of cytoplasmic male
sterility. In Plant Breeding Reviews, ed. Janick,
J., pp. 23-53. New York Wiley. Journal
Article Shailaia, M.S. 2003. Evaluation of impact
of PAH on a tropical fish, Oreochromis
mossambicus using multiple biomarkers.
Chemosphere 53 835-841. Conference
paper Turner, S. and Somerville, C. 1995.
Analysis of vascular tissue differentiation. In
6th International Conference on Arabidopsis
Research. 93-95. Theses Ng Khee Yew. 1997.
Regulation of photosynthesis and phloem transport
in Oncidium Goldiana. (B.Sc. Hons.) School of
Biological Sciences, The National University of
Singapore. Pp. 126
18

• Question
• Do you think searching one reference database
  is sufficient for your research topic?

19

• Answer
• No.
• Searching one database may not be sufficient.
  Conduct the search in a few other relevant
  databases to get a wider coverage and
  perspective.

20
Abstracts and Indexes

• Biomedical Life Sciences
• Reference Databases in E-Resources
• Web of Science Science Citation Index
  Expanded
• BIOSIS Previews
• PubMed
• Zoological Record
• SciFinder Scholar

21
Web of Science

• Multi-disciplinary databases to search for
  specific articles.
• Covers about 8,700 high impact research journals
• Unique by its citation search
• Coverage begins from 1900. NUS Libraries
  subscribes from 1980 onwards
• Updated weekly

22
BIOSIS Previews

• The important reference database in Biological
  and Biomedical Sciences.
• Coverage also includes traditional areas of
  biology, such as botany, zoology and
  microbiology, as well as related fields such as
  plant and animal science, agriculture,
  pharmacology and ecology
• Interdisplinary fields such as biochemistry,
  biophysics, and bioengineering are also included.
  
• From 1980 to the present
• Updated weekly
• Modules LSM4231 Structural Biology
• LSM4232 Advanced Cell
  Biology
• LSM4241 Functional
  Genomics
• LSM4251 Plant Growth and
  Development
• LSM3253 Plant Physiology

23
Free site http//www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/

• A leading medical database produced by the
  National Library of Medicine
• Covers fields of medicine, nursing, dentistry,
  the health care system and preclinical sciences
• Modules LSM3212 Human Physiology
• LSM4223 Medical
  Microbiology
• LSM3222 Human Genetics Infectious
  Diseases
• LSM4224 Free Radicals and
  Antioxidant Biology
• LSM4213 Neurobiology
• LSM4243 Tumour Biology, etc

24
Zoological Record

• Covers all aspects of zoology including behavior,
  biochemistry, development, ecology, evolution,
  feeding and nutrition, genetics, morphology,
  parasitology, reproduction, systematics,
  techniques, physiology and zoogeography
• Available on the web from 1978 present
• Modules LSM4262 Tropical Conservation Biology
• LSM4252 Animal
  Development Reproduction
  LSM1103 Biodiversity

25
SciFinder Scholar

• The world's largest and most up-to-date
  collection of chemical information, including
  biochemistry, organic chemistry, macromolecular
  chemistry, applied chemistry, chemical
  engineering, physical, inorganic, analytical
  chemistry, agricultural sciences and biomedical
  sciences
• Includes journal articles, patents, books,
  technical reports and conference papers
• Updated daily and contains data starting from
  1905
• Modules LSM3231 Protein Structure and Function
• CM1121 Basic Organic Chemistry
• LSM4233 Chemical Biology
• LSM4242 Protein
  Engineering

26
NUS Libraries Portal

DEMO
http//www.lib.nus.edu.sg
27
NUS Libraries Portal
Show you how to use the resources available in
the NUS Libraries
28
E-Resources Online Guide for Biological
Scienceshttp//www.lib.nus.edu.sg/lion/sg/sc/biol
/biol.html
29
This PowerPoint presentation is available
viahttp//libpweb1.nus.edu.sg/lion/slb/BioSc.ppt

30
Handouts

• 1. Powerpoint notes
• http//libpweb1.nus.edu.sg/lion/slb/BioSc.ppt
• 2. 2-pages guide Web of Science (Basic
  Advanced search)
• 3. 2-pages guide BIOSIS Previews

31
Useful Writing Guides

• Cite right a quick guide to citation styles
  MLA, APA, Chicago, the sciences, professions, and
  more Charles Lipson/ C. Lipson. university of
  Chicago, 2006. (PN171 Foo.Li 2006) (CL Books)
• The concise handbook for technical writing / C.T.
  Brusaw, G.J. Alred, W.E. Oliu. St. Martins
  Griffin, 1996. (T11 Brs) (SC Reference 9)
• A short guide to writing about biology / J. A.
  Pechenik. 5th ed. - Pearson Longman, 2004.
  (QH304 Pec 2004) (MD/SC books)
• A student handbook for writing in biology / K.
  Knisely. W. H. Freeman, 2002. (QH304 Kni
  2002) (SC Reference 5)
• A students guide to writing a scientific paper
  how to survive the laboratory research report.
  /by Alan A. Gubanich. 3rd ed. - Kendall/Hung
  Pub. Co., 1998. (T11 Gub) (SC Reference 9)
• Successful scientific writing a step-by-step
  guide for the biological and medical sciences /J.
  R. Matthews. 2nd ed. - Cambridge University
  Press, 2000. (R119 Mat) (MD/SC Books)
• The write right guide a NUS writing guide / C.
  Low D. Pan. - 5th ed. Singapore Centre for
  Development of Teaching and Learning, NUS, 2003.
  (PE1408 Low 2003) (SC Reference 9)
• Writing and presenting research / Angela M.
  Thody. Sage Publications, 2006. (LB2369 Tho
  2006) (CL Books, HML Books)
• Writing papers in the biological sciences / V.E.
  McMillan. 3rd ed. - Bedford/St. Martins, 2001.
  (QH304 Mcm) (MD/SC Books)

32
Need help ?

• Come to the Information Desk
• Tel [phone]
• Hew Yik Suan (Mrs)
• slbhewys_at_nus.edu.sg
• Tel [phone]

33
Thank you
Please complete the feedback form

• All the best in your research !