This document provides an overview of how to effectively search for and evaluate information sources for geology assignments. It introduces bibliographic databases as the primary means of finding relevant journal articles, and emphasizes techniques like Boolean logic and truncation for effective keyword searches. Finally, it stresses the importance of critically evaluating information sources, and provides resources and contacts for research assistance.

1. Finding Valuable Information
for Your Geology Assignments
Feb 2009
Gareth J Johnson
David Wilson Library
gjj6@le.ac.uk

2. Today’s Session
• Aims to:
– Introduce you the information searching tools
– Introduce useful searching techniques
– Suggest alternative resources and
approaches
– Highlight the importance of critical evaluation
– Suggest ways to save you time and effort

3. Session Outline
1. Why do literature searches?
2. Sources of information
3. Searching for research information
4. Keyword and author searches
5. Refining your results
6. Improving your internet searching
7. Critical evaluation of websites
8. Review and questions

4. Literature Searches – why?
• “A few months in the laboratory can save
a few hours in the library.”
- Westheimer's Law
• To supplement lectures & textbooks
– Helps to acquire a broader appreciation and
understanding of geology
• For projects and field work
– Need to know what research has already been
done
– So you can build on that research

5. Information Sources
• Lecture Notes
– Good starting point for assignments
• Books
– Text books are good sources of background information
– Specialist books go into greater depth on particular topics
• Journal Articles
– Good source of information on latest research
– Provide more detailed and up-to-date information than books
• Conference Papers
– Lectures delivered at professional events
– Quick route for research dissemination
– Often available in advance of journal articles

6. Information Sources
• Geological Surveys
– For geological data on a particular area
– Other maps and charts in Geography/Geology dept library
• Websites
– Can provide useful information
– Need to evaluate website before using
• Reports/Grey literature
– Produced by institutions, societies, government or independent
bodies
– Not reviewed so Risk of bias so consider when reading
– If not on web can be hard to obtain

7. Accessing Resources
• All accessed via Library Webpage
– Library Catalogue
– Leicester Digital Library
– Leicester e-Link
• Nearly all available off campus too
• Each indexes a different range of
material
• You will need to be familiar with them all

8. Leicester E-Link & Digital Library
• Leicester E-Link
– Searchable list of all e-journals available
– Links to subscribed full text journals
– Most available on or off campus
• CWIS login required from off site
• Digital Library
– A-Z of all databases and access information
– Additional help and support
– Access to subject room for Geology

9. Finding Books – A Recap
• Library catalogue:
– Should be familiar by now
• Brumbaugh, D. S. 1999. Earthquakes: science and
society. Prentice Hall.
– Use the ______________________ search
Author/Title
• Books by Philip Kearey
– Use the ______________________ search
Author
• Books on volcanoes
• - Use the ___________________ search
Word or Phrase
– Or subject search

10. Why Use Journal Articles?
• Because they are the most up to date reliable
resource
– Journals are issued regularly (weekly/monthly etc)
– Primary information sources through which research is made
known to the geological community
• Because they more detailed than books
– Articles are more in-depth and single issue focussed
• Because they are high quality resources
– Most scholarly journal articles are refereed/peer-reviewed
– Quality assured by the research community
• University buys a lot but not all of them
– Majority available online and on/off campus

11. Science Journal Types
– General journals
• Devoted to news, opinion, comment and
articles for non-experts
• e.g. Geology Today
– Scholarly journals
• Devoted to original research contributions
• e.g. Journal of Geology
– Review journals
• Devoted to original contributions taking an
overview of the published literature
• e.g. Trends in Ecology and Evolution

12. Recognising Journal Articles
• Bohaty, Steven M., Zachos, James C,
2003. Significant Southern Ocean
warming event in the late middle Eocene.
Geology, 31(11):1017-1020.
• Look for whether it has
Article Title Journal Title
• An ____________ & a _____________
Volume Number Issue Number
• A ______________ & an ___________

13. How do you Find Articles?
• Need to search bibliographic databases
– Often just called databases
– An online way of searching for journal articles
• Each indexes bibliographic information for
various publications
– Such as books and journal articles
– Some overlap in coverage
• Bibliographic information normally comprises:
– Author, title, source (journal title), year, volume, page
numbers & abstract summary
– Enough to find the items

14. Key Databases
• GeoRefs
– Geology and Earth-Sciences coverage
– Includes journals most other resources don’t
– http://firstsearch.uk.oclc.org/athens/
• Scopus
– General Science coverage
– http://www.scopus.com
• Web of Knowledge
– Multidisciplinary coverage
– http://wok.mimas.ac.uk

15. How Can I Search?
• Keyword/subject search
– When you are looking for material on a particular subject
– Ensures accurate results
– May need background research to identify correct terms
• Author search
– When looking for material published by important geologists
– Identified in lectures, books, review journal or other articles
• Citation search
– When looking for newer articles citing (referencing) key papers
– Available on a few databases (Scopus/WoK)

16. Keyword Searching (1): Concepts
• Question: Find out about ore deposits in
the UK
– Identify the important concepts and words in
the question:
• Ore
• Deposits
• UK

17. Keyword Searching (2):
Variants
• Think about variations of the keywords
you’re using:
• Ore
– Ores, Orebody, Mineral, Minerals…
• Deposits
– Deposit, Deposition…
• UK
– United Kingdom, Britain, England, Wales,
Scotland, British Isles…

18. Keyword Searching (3): Truncation
Ore
Ores Ore*
Orebody
•Saves typing!
•Picks up multiple terms from foreshortened
word-stem

19. Keyword Searching (4): Boolean
ore or deposit
broad
search, many
results
ore and deposit
focussed search,
fewer but more
specific results
focussed search
results
ore not deposit
omitted useful results?

20. Many
Keyword Searching (5):
Broad
Search Strategies
• ore and deposits
– Okay for the catalogue, too basic for databases
– Will miss many, many useful articles
• (ore* OR mineral*) AND deposit*
– Good quick search
– Will find more papers
((ore* OR mineral*) AND deposit*
AND (uk OR united kingdom)) NOT
hematite
– Quite a sophisticated search Few
– Inclusive and well focussed
Focussed

21. Keyword Searching (6)
Truncating & Parenthesis
• Truncation/Wildcards
– Substitutes for part of a word or letters
– Good for finding plurals or alternative spellings
• E.g. ore* finds ore / ores / orebody
• E.g. minerali?ation finds mineralization and mineralisation
• Brackets ( )
– Allow Boolean logic to function correctly
– Order of priority NOT > AND > OR
ore* OR mineral* AND deposit* AND uk OR united
kingdom NOT hematite 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
((ore* OR mineral*) AND deposit* AND (uk OR united
kingdom)) NOT hematite 

22. Author Searching
• Use if already aware of key authors
– From own knowledge, background reading or
tutor recommendations
• To find articles by Dr Gawen RT Jenkin
– Search on Jenkin G*
• Truncate
– Author may or may not publish with middle initials
– Journals may or may not other initials
– Should find even if not primary (first) author

23. How can I Refine my Results?
• Search strategies may need refining
– Rarely run perfectly first time
• Can also use limits/filters to narrow results
– E.g. by date or publication type
– Can include before or after a search
– Different tools have different options
• Helps avoid potentially overwhelming
levels of results
– Easier to chose the pick of the crop

24. Open Access to Research
• A move from academics annoyed over journal
prices
– No passwords, subscriptions or access restrictions
• Researchers make articles available for free
(outside of journals)
– Held in online repositories
– Still include peer-review elements
• Can easily be searched using OpenDOAR
– http://www.opendoar.org/search.php
– Reliable and high quality
– Allows access to full text

25. Improve your Internet Searching
• Use the Intute Earth Sciences Portal
– Peer-reviewed quality websites only
• Use more than one search engine
– Use different searching algorithms
– Will find different results
• Use the advanced search features in Google
& Yahoo
– Phrase searching
– Search a specific field e.g. title or URL
– Limit by language, file type, domain
• Use the options for specific media
– e.g. images, groups, news

26. Google Scholar
• “Search specifically for scholarly literature”
– No definition as to what Google classify as scholarly!
– Can be some odd gaps/omissions
• http://scholar.google.com
• Often links to full text but might not link to the version
of the full text available to the University
– On-campus it will give you an e-link option to check whether
you can access the full text for free
• Good first place to see what is available and what
keywords to use
– But use bibliographic databases in your subject too!

27. Evaluating Websites
• Intended Audience
– Is the site aimed at researchers or the general public?
• Authority and Reputation
– Is the resource well known?
– Is it an academic site?
– Is it factual or opinion based?
– Does the information have a basis in research and is a
bibliography provided?
• Subject Coverage
– Is the site an overview or does it cover the subject in-depth?
• Currency –
– Has the site been recently updated?

28. Session Review
• Literature searching is necessary to find quality geology
information
• Access resources from the Library webpages
• Articles in journals are the primary source of quality
information
• Bibliographic databases are how you identify journal articles
of interest
• Boolean logic, truncation and brackets are needed for
keyword searches
• Limit and filter to refine your results
• Use open access searches to track down hard to find articles
• Evaluate and use free-web sources carefully

29. Help & Assistance
• For searching/database support
– Gareth J Johnson (Physical & Biological
Sciences)
– gjj6@le.ac.uk
• For general enquiries (password
problems, off site access etc)
– libdesk@le.ac.uk
– 0116-252-2043
Questions?

30. Slides
Available online at: