4. Books
What are they:
A written or printed work of fiction or fact.
May be electronic.
Good for:
Clear overview.
Not so good for:
Up to date information.
5. Web page
What are they:
An information resource which can be easily created by
anyone on any topic.
Electronic.
Good for:
Very up to date information.
Not so good for:
Accurate and reliable information.
6. Newspaper
What are they:
A regular publication containing current events,
informative articles, diverse features and advertising.
May be electronic.
Good for:
Daily information.
Not so good for:
Balanced and well researched information.
7. Journal
What are they:
A regular publication containing articles on a particular
academic subject.
Presents new research.
Good for:
Latest research, critically reviewed by experts.
Not so good for:
Broad overview of a subject.
8. Popular (trade) journal
What are they:
A regular publication containing new products plus
information for a business sector.
Good for:
Latest product news.
Not so good for:
Detailed and objective reports.
9. Find out more
MyUniHub > MyStudy > MyLibrary > Library Subject Guides
http://libguides.mdx.ac.uk/EIS
14. Google vs Summon
Google
Summon
• Familiar and easy to use
• Easy to use
• Finds too much information
• Finds lots of academic info
• Fast results
• Fast results
• Access from any computer
• Access from any computer
• Access to some books and journals
• Access to lots of books and journals
• Designed to sell you things
• Designed to find you information
• Search results sponsored
• Search results by relevance
• Searches for info from any source
• Searches quality resources
• Pay for academic information
• Free access to full text
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ennuiislife/3450743002/
15. Get online help using resources
MyUniHub > MyStudy > MyLibrary > Library Subject Guides > Computing
http://libguides.mdx.ac.uk/EIS
17. Evaluating information
Imagine you are writing an essay on ‘Network Security’.
Have a look at the 4 items that you have been given and
consider the following:
• Which items are the most relevant to your essay?
• Which items would be no use?
• Which item has the most academic authority?
• Which items might have bias?
• Which item is the most current?
19. But it’s not in the Library!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/darkstream/502964144/
20. Don’t panic!
• Sconul Access http://www.access.sconul.ac.uk/sconul-access
• Other libraries http://bit.ly/visitingotherlibraries
• Request the book
21. Keeping in touch
• Blog http://satlibrarian.blogspot.com
• Twitter http://twitter.com/SATlibrarian
• Library Facebook Middlesex University Library
• Library Twitter http://twitter.com/MDXLibrary
22. Need further help?
Your Librarian is:
Vanessa Hill v.hill@mdx.ac.uk
http://unihub.mdx.ac.uk/support/unihelp/
Notes de l'éditeur
The range of resources we provide The value of resources in an academic contextHow to select the appropriate resourcesDevelop an effective search strategy eg. Identify keywords, refining your searchHow to find and access books, journals and information for your projects using the Library Catalogue, and other resources, as well as finding books in the library and from other sources.Evaluating the information for quality and relevance
Hand out exercise Thinking about resources. Groups10 minsFeedback (see next slides)
Good for: broad/general overview of subjectEdited for quality and accuracyNot so good for:May not be specific enoughCan be out of date
Good for:Easy to use/searchAll subjects coveredCan be very up-to-dateMobileNot so good for:No editorial controlUnreliable sourcesCan be created by anyoneMaterial can lack provenanceCan be out-of-dateNot everyone has access
Good for:Up-to-dateEditedReadily available (latest copies especially)Not so good for:Can be biasCan be unbalancedCan be sensationalistHard to get hold of/access (back issues)
Good for:Up-to-dateSpecialist/focussedPresent latest researchEdited for accuracy/quality (peer reviewed)Lots of referencesNot so good for:Can be hard to locate/accessExpensiveMay be too specificMay be at wrong level
Good for:Latest informationCurrent eventsConcise infoProduct newsOften available online with RSS/Twitter etcNot so good for:DetailObjective information ie. can be bias, adverts, preferential products etcOften hard to find old issuesBack issues/archive
More information about the range of resources available on the Library Subject Guide plus lots of useful online guides eg. how to search for information for your project.
Whole group:What can you see in the picture?ie. fruitIf you type ‘fruit’ into database will get millions of hits, how can you break it down ie. search for something more specific to get more manageable resultsCan you be more specific ie. Type of fruit: apples, oranges, bananas etcLocation: Stall, market, outdoor market, fruit market, BritainDetail: boxes, signs, astroturf, prices, colour of fruit, lights, pound £ signs, special offer etcPeople in background: old, young, male, female > stall holder, customers, browsers etcThink of related subjects eg. retail, commercial, financial, point-of-saleShopping, shops, fish/meat/clothes market, shopping centres, high streetTown, city, centre, British townNutrition: vits and minsAlso which fruits have a double meaning (technical/computer sense)?: Orange, Apple, Blackberry, Raspberry.Use refining tools on databases or search tips to exclude what you don’t want.Thinking beyond the obvious, looking for the detail that might make a difference.
Hand out worksheet. 5 mins. Feedback.Machine learning: Construction and study of systems that can learn from data/predictionRecommender systems: suggest information sources and products to users based on learning from examples of their likes and dislikes. 2 ways to do it:Collaborative filtering methods that base recommendations on other users’ preferencesContent-based methods use information about an item itself to make suggestions based on similar propertiesMore specific:Applications: E-commerce/online shopping, object recognition, search engines, bioinformatics, detecting cc fraud, game playing, social tags, online dating, Twitter followers etc.Optical character recognition (ML)AlgorithmsSpecific software eg. MATLAB, IBM SPSS Modeler, Shogun toolbox etcExplicit/Implicit data collection (collaborative filtering)Hybrid recommender systemsBroaderArtificial intelligence (ML)Used in emails to distinguish between spam and non-spam messages (ML)Automatic reasoning (NL)Robot learning (ML)Pattern recognition (ML)Information filtering systems (RS)
Need to carry out a literature review:Finding the information available on a subjectFinding information to inform, underpin and shape your researchFinding what has already been written on a subjectAnalyzing, evaluating and making judgements about the info foundIdentifying the main trendsFinding appropriate information: the information needs to be suitable for your needie. right level, current if important, sufficient breadth or detail etcExplain to students what Summon is.Go to UniHub > Login in to MyUniHub > My Study > My Library > SummonAsk students to search for information for their project.Remember to use some of the keywords that we have discussed.
Show the students how to refine their search using:FTContent typeSubject termsPublication dateLanguage etcHave another go.
Google Familiar and easy to useFinds too much informationFast resultsAccess from any computerAccess to some books and journalsDesigned to sell you things eg. shoesSearch results sponsored…no accident that Wikipedia, Amazon etc at top of search resultsSearches for info from any sourcePay for academic informationSummonEasy to useFinds lots of academic infoFast resultsAccess from any computerAccess to lots of books and journalsDesigned to find you information: up-to-date, focussed/specificSearch results by relevanceSearches quality resources eg. Peer reviewed journal articles, conference proceedings , research etcFree accessto full text ie. Information not freely available elsewhere
Lots of useful online guides eg.How to find booksHow to find information for your projectAccessing journal databases etc
Introduce the importance of evaluating information for qualityWhat do you think about this quote by Abraham Lincoln?
Divide class into groupHand out worksheet and 4x items.Discuss. No right or wrong answers. All items found by doing a search on Network Security.Which items are most relevant:Academic journal and Wiki most relevant. Newspaper article is sensationalist and trade journal is a review of software.Which items would be no use:Newspaper article useless, and trade journal probably not unless needed to know about software packages.Which item has the most academic authority:Academic journal. It has biography of authors, references, in-text citations and uses academic language. Article has been peer reviewed.Wikipedia has refs, but don’t know who has added information. Are any of the items bias:NewspaperTrade journal is reviewing software and may be swayed by advertisers.Which item is the most current:WikipediaAcademic journal is very out-of-date 2004Would not use any of them and would continue search. Discuss the importance of evaluating the information that you find.
Authority : Who is the author? What is their knowledge base/qualifications? How have they carried out their research? Relevance : Is this what I need? Will it answer my question? Is it at the right level?Intent : What is the purpose of information e.g. financial gain, propaganda, academic etc?Objectivity : Balanced view? Opposing views represented? Links to supporting information?Currency: How old is this information? When was it last updated and by whom?
Don’t panic!Next slide.
SCONUL Access http://www.access.sconul.ac.uk/The SCONUL Access Scheme provides reciprocal access and borrowing rights for staff and students to approximately 170 member institutions in the UK. Apply online.Other libraries (specialist, catalogues etc):British Library http://www.bl.uk/COPAChttp://copac.ac.uk/COPAC is a union catalogue that gives access to the merged online catalogues of members of the Consortium of University Research Libraries (CURL). Twenty major university libraries currently contribute to COPAC.Search25 http://www.search25.ac.uk/:helps you discover library resources across London and the South East. You can also see where the libraries are and find out how to visit them.SUNCAThttp://www.suncat.ac.uk/SUNCAT, a union catalogue of serials (periodicals) for the UK, is a tool for locating serials held in UK libraries. Request the book
