Information Services and Systems Criminology Dissertation October 2013.

Information Services and Systems

Criminology Dissertation

October 2013


Are you feeling overwhelmed at the prospect of doing a literature search for your dissertation?

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1. Yes 2. No 3. A bit!


How do I begin a literature search?


By devising a search strategy


How do I devise a search strategy?

1. Identify any limitations

2. Think about your topic & identify your keywords


Devising a search strategy: how to tackle it

Limitations?

• Will there be any geographical limits

• Will there be any time limits i.e. how far back do you want to search


Devising a search strategy: how to tackle it

Identifying keywords?

• Think about your topic & select terms/keywords that best describe or express it


Let’s look at an example….

This is our topic:‘Support for families with problems in the UK, specifically Wales’

What terms best describe this topic? What are the key concepts?


Topic: Support for families with problems in the UK, specifically Wales

Concept 1 Concept 2 Concept 3 Concept 4

problems families support UK, Wales


What other keywords/terms could be used….

Think about: • Broader/more general terms• Narrower/more specific terms• Related terms• Synonyms


Topic: Support for families with problems in the UK, specifically Wales

Concept 1 Concept 2 Concept 3 Concept 4

problems families support UK, Wales

conflict parents intervention UK/GB

dysfunction homes conflict resolution Wales/Welsh

disruption children parent training United Kingdom

Domestic violence siblings Great Britain

illness

alcoholism


Don’t worry the snowball effect will occur …..

http://www.flickr.com/photos/brighton/2153602543/


Keep a record


I have a search strategy – what’s next?


To get the best out of a search strategy you need to control how you use your search terms

These search tools will help: • Combining terms using AND, OR, NOT • Using the Phrase Search• Using the Truncation Symbol• Using the Wildcard Symbol


AND Aim Search Examples Results

To focusyour search results

&

Link your terms

problems AND families

dysfunction AND child

conflict AND homes

Only retrieves results containing both

keywords


OR Aim Search Examples Results

To broaden your search results

&

OR will help you to search for related

terms & synonyms

conflict OR problems

intervention OR conflict resolution

Children OR siblings

Retrieves results containing either of

your keywords


NOT Aim Search Examples Results

To exclude a term from your search

Wales NOT Australia

sibling NOT twins

Will exclude records containing the second term


Phase searchUse quotation marks “ ” to keep keywords together

e.g. “child protection”“elder abuse”“British association of social work”


Truncation symbol *

child*

child

children

childhood


Wildcard symbol ?

Behavio?r

Behaviour Behavior


I have received too few results: what should I do?

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1. Use the Boolean operator AND

2. Use the Boolean operator OR

3. Give up!


Too few results?

Try …

• Check the thesaurus; terminology can differ

• Use the truncation symbol

• Combine your keywords with OR


Too many results?

Try …

• adding additional search terms with AND

• use more specific keywords

• use refining/filter menus within the search tool


Do you know what peer-reviewed journals are?

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1. Yes2. No


Choosing the right search tool: where to start?

You can use iFind Research to:

• To locate journal articles if you have the full reference

• To search for articles on a topic

• Select & access key databases & resources for your topic


Do you agree with this statement: “A good literature review gathers information from many sources”

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1. Yes 2. No 3. Don’t know


Sources of information to consider

• Books • Journal articles• Reports• Newspaper articles• Official publications• Statistical information


Where will you search for your information?

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1. Books & Journals2. Academic database3. Library catalogue4. Google5. iFind Research6. All of the above


How often do you use Google to look up information for your Academic work?

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1. All of the time2. Some of the time 3. Hardly ever


Choosing the right search tool

It’s not a good idea to rely on Google

Google has many disadvantages-you will receive an unmanageable number of results-will give irrelevant & inappropriate results-not everything will be free of charge -there is no quality control


Evaluating Web Resources : Key questions to ask : The Five Ws

•Who wrote the information?

•What is the purpose of the site?

•When was the content created?

•Where does the information come from?

•Why is this information useful to me?


Why academic databases are a better choice

• Indexing is entrusted to people not search engines

• They index academic quality publications e.g. Journal articles, Conference papers

• A large proportion of the content is from peer reviewed journals


Further help:

Library Support for Criminology

on Blackboard (under “My Studies”)


Need help? Just ask!

[email protected]

/swanuni.iss @swanuni_iss

http://buseconlib.wordpress.com/

http://www.facebook.com/swanuni.iss

http://www.twitter.com/swanuni_iss

Information Services and Systems Criminology Dissertation October 2013.

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