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BSCI 10110Biological Diversity

Mary Lee Jensen

Liaison Librarian for Biological Sciences

330-672-1661 or mjensen@kent.edu

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Session Goals

Introduce you to KentLINK and OhioLINK for finding books and Research Databases to find articles

Introduce searching strategies

Describe the peer-review process

Review the characteristics of primary literature in the sciences

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Library Services

Research Help PERCs (http://www.library.kent.edu/page/10750)

Ask A Librarian (http://www.library.kent.edu/page/10750) 60-Minute Seminars (http://seminars.lms.kent.edu/index.asp?d=lms)

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KentLINK

The online catalog for Kent State UniversityAllows you to find books, reports, videos and other mediaAllows you to locate materials in 6 campus libraries (including Chemistry/Physics) and 7 regional librariesAllows you to renew books you have checked out

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OhioLINK

Group of 84 college and university libraries

OhioLINK Central Catalog allows you to borrow books from any of the libraries

Takes 4-5 days for book to arrive

Keep the book for 3 weeks; renew once

GREAT resource!

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OhioLINK

More than Books!!

Research Databases allow you to find articles that have been published in scholarly journals and in magazines.

Many are full-text – but not all.

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Crafting Effective Research Statements

Features Available in Most Research Databases

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Common Searching Features

Boolean Operators/Connectors

Keyword/Controlled vocabulary

Phrase searching

Truncation

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Truncation: To Get Word Variations

Truncation makes it easier for you to get allvariations of a word.

Some systems use the asterisk * to truncateexample: Academic Search Premier

Some use the dollar sign $ example: Biological Abstracts

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Truncation: To Get Word Variations

fish*

retrieves

fish

fishes

fishery

fisheries

labo$rretrieves

labor, labour, laborer

biolog$

retrieves

biology

biological

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Boolean Operators -- OR

Use OR to broaden a search

The words connected by OR should be synonyms or be alternative ways of saying something

For example:

salmon OR fish

fisheries OR hatcheries

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Boolean Operators -- AND

Use AND to combine two different concepts or ideas

This helps narrow your search

salmon AND fisheries

salmon AND disease

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“Phrase Searching”

This feature allows you to search for words as phrases.

Some databases automatically search words as a phrase; other databases require you to use quotation marks around the phrase

“invasive species”

“biological diversity”

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Cautions about Phrase Searching

Phrase searching in databases is not the same as the WebIf you type the following in Google:

impact of invasive species on ecosystems

you will get 100,000 hits because Google looks for each word separately

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Cautions about Phrase Searching

If you type:

impact of invasive species on ecosystems

in KentLINK or OhioLINK or in a database, you might get zero results, because you are asking the system to look for that EXACT phrase

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Instead use Boolean Logic:

“invasive species” AND ecosystems

loosestrife AND (ponds or lakes)

“zebra mussels” AND “lake erie”

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Revising Your Search:Use Booleans to Your Advantage

Too many hits on your topic?

Add another search term with AND.

Too few hits on your topic?

Add another search term OR.

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Sample search

What impact does salmon farming have on the wild fish population?

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Sample Search - Concepts

Concept 1 Boolean

ConnectorConcept 2 Boolean

ConnectorConcept 3

salmon

AND

farm*

OR

fisher*

OR

hatcher*

AND

wild

OR

ecosystem

OR

disease*

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Sample Search - Strategy

salmon and (farm* or fisher*) and wild

salmon and (farm$ or fisher$) and ecosystem

(fishery or fisheries or hatcher*) and “side effects”

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Primary Literature - Article Format

Introduction or Literature survey

Methodology or Materials and Methods

Data or Results

Discussion or Interpretation

Conclusion

Bibliography

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Primary Literature - Characteristics

Audience Students

Scholars

Authors Scholars (university-based)

Credentials listed and relate to subject of article

Overall Appearance Charts and graphs

Many pages

Few ads; very professional

Documentation Footnotes

Bibliography

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Primary Literature - Characteristics

Purpose Report original research

Discipline-related content

Focus, narrow

Authority Editorial Review Board

Peer-review process

Frequency Often quarterly

May also be weekly

Examples American Journal of Botany

Science

Nature

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Article Indexes/Research Databases

Research Databases

(Alphabetical or Subject)http://www.library.kent.edu/page/10562

Access Science

Biological Abstracts

Academic Search Premier

Biological and Agricultural Abstracts

Electronic Journal Center

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Conclusion

Many resources

Many opportunities for assistance…just ask!