How not to reinvent the wheelor Literature Searching for ENCH400

2012

Literature review on a topic Proposal Lots of research Mass balances – calculations Look for different processing routes Oral presentation and report Experiments Report

Our mission is…

We already know...

We get information from: Internet – Google, Wikipedia People – Lecturers, mentors, other students Library resources:

Textbooks MultiSearch ScienceDirect Google Scholar Journals (browsing by subject)

How to find papers Structure and layout of the literature review What to include and what not to include How do you know if it’s a good article or not? Methods to include the information without

directly copying

We need to know...

The Literature

You

The Research Process

Define your topic

What information do you need?

Who would have written about it? Where?

Find information

Judge it – is it reliable? relevant?

– does it point in new directions?

– is it enough? or do you still need more?

Analyse and synthesise

Cite all sources!

Key reference material

Compendex aka Engineering journal/conference articles“who’s cited who”, review articles

SciFinder Chemistry journal articles & data“who’s cited who”, review articles

Web of Science aka General science/engineering articles“who’s cited who”, review articles

Scopus General science/engineering articles“who’s cited who”, review articles

MultiSearch Searches widely * Off-campus, log-in via top bar

Google Scholar Searches widely, “who’s cited who” * Edit Settings -> Library Links

Key databases

What criteria do I use in choosing keywords to search for?

• Choose the main words from the initial question

If not enough results:

• Use fewer words (or broader synonyms)

• Use the root of words – eg magnetic*, produc*

If too many results:

• Use more words (or more specific synonyms)

• Exclude subjects – NOT methanol (Google Scholar uses -methanol instead)

• Search for a phrase with quotes eg “lysine production”

Choosing keywords

accurate?

up-to-date?

relevant?

basic/advanced?

Is it… and...

Who is it written for?

What kind of research is it?

How far along is the research?

What questions haven’t they answered yet?

Evaluating resources

How do I refine/filter the search results to get useful and reliable resources?

• Read the title

• Read the abstract

• Check the keywords – can use these in new searches

• Check the article’s reference list for older articles

• Check who else has cited the article for newer research

• Use the “Refine” column to narrow by subject, author, year, document type (eg “review” articles for an overview of the state of research)

Filtering results

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