Fall 2010 Earth Sciences 4490 library session at UWO.

1. Earth Sciences 4490:
Tools for literature reviews
Dan Sich
Earth Sciences Librarian
Oct 6th, 2010

2. How do you find journal
articles?

3. Article databases
• Find peer-reviewed (scholarly) journal
articles, conference articles, and review
articles using journal article databases
• SciFinder (chemistry)
• Web of Science or Scopus (citing articles)
• GeoRef (geology) or GeoBase (geog.)

4. What are “peer-reviewed”
journal articles?

5. Peer-review process
1. author writes paper, sends to publisher
2. publisher sends to referees (experts)
3. referees send feedback to publisher
4. publisher sends feedback to author
5. author decides whether or not to revise
article and send back to publisher
6. publisher decides whether or not to
publish

6. Scholarly vs. Popular Publications
• availability
• audience
• aesthetics
• authors
• topics
• length
• language
• advertizing
• sources,
credits

7. Tools
• Connect from home (proxy server)
• Article databases:
– SciFinder
– Web of Science or Scopus
– GeoRef or GeoBase
• Get it @ Western (SFX)
• (Classic) Library Catalogue
• Interlibrary Loan (RACER)
• RefWorks

8. Off-Campus Access
• article databases
• eBooks, eJournals

9. SciFinder
• Chemical Abstracts Service
• Account set-up
• Search by Research Topic
• mineralogy of martial soils
• Analyse (by Journal), Refine (add “life”)
• Get Cited, Get Citing
• Get Full Text, tricks in catalogue
• RefWorks…?

10. Notes on SciFinder
• Sign Out when finished
• We only have 8 „seats‟
• Today you‟re using training seats

11. Web of Science
• Science Citation Index
• meteor* AND compos* AND canad*
• Refine Results: Subject Areas
• Citations?
• Times cited? Create citation report
• Select records, save to Plain Text, Import
into RefWorks

12. GeoRef
• GeoSciences, 1785-present
• Try meteor* AND compos* AND canad*
• “Peer-Reviewed Journals” tab
• Descriptors
• Get it @ Western
• “Palaeolimnological evidence…” eJournal
• “The Earth‟s lower mantle…” ILL
• RefWorks download

13. Search tips
• identify concepts, keywords, synonyms
• use AND, OR, NOT, * (truncation)
• review & revise searches
• use Search History
• limit date range, document type(s), etc.
• skim abstracts

14. No fulltext?
• Search the catalogue by Journal Title, or
Keyword
• Check the web (it may be free)
• Order it through Interlibrary Loan (RACER)

15. Library Catalogue
• everything we own
• books, journals (not articles), etc.
• books: introductions, basic info, data, etc.
• search by keyword, title, author, etc.
• try: United States Geological Society, Geological
Society of America
• try: glacial drift
• location, call number, status, request, subject
headings

16. Interlibrary Loan (RACER)
• Journal issue not in library catalogue?
• Free photocopies of articles, loan of books
• Averages 4-10 business days
• Need to create a RACER account
• Three ways to create request:
– Link from Get it @ Western (quickest)
– Search RACER by “journal title”
– Use Blank Request Form (slowest)

17. RefWorks
• web app for citation management
• automatically formats notes, bibliographies
• Citation style? E.g., AGU, Earth and
Planetary Science Letters
• use the Write-N-Cite plugin for Word
(demo only)

18. Feedback?

19. contact info
Dan Sich, Earth Sciences Librarian
phone: 80962
email: dsich2@uwo.ca
Subject: Earth Sciences 4490