1. How not to reinvent the wheel
for ENCI 3rd pro
2012
2. Our mission is…
Find self-motivation
Find out how to use databases
Research
References
Portray knowledge in a written manner
3. We already know...
Libraries are a good source of information
How to get physical books and textbooks
Masters theses
Journals
Have used some databases (but don’t know by name)
Mostly have used readings given by supervisors
To avoid plagiarism and how to reference
It’s difficult to find stuff
4. We need to know...
Technical knowledge
Where to look for information
How to source good information
What’s been done in the past in that area of work
Related studies
Literature reviews
Integrate information into research
Information management
6. 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!
10. Open Access Sources
journals
individual
articles, papers, the
ses, etc
aggregates research
repostitories
11. Evaluating Resources
Is it… and...
relevant?
Who is it written for?
basic/advanced?
What kind of research is it?
up-to-date? How far along is the research?
What questions haven’t they answered yet?
accurate?
The “literature” is the written conversation between scientists about what they’ve found out (by reading or experimenting).Searching the literature is all about learning who the cool people are and where they hang out.
Research process is iterative – as you learn more, you constantly refine your strategies and even your research question.For the best research questions, the answer doesn’t exist yet! You’re looking for clues that will let you piece together the puzzle yourself.
Manages your references – makes citing easy!Instruction at http://wiki.canterbury.ac.nz/display/LIBRARY/EndNoteTutorials available; also support from me and DaveEndNote X3 - install on your own computer