How to Find Information: A Guide for Researchers

Terminology......Page 148
Front Cover......Page 1
Half-title......Page 2
Title Page......Page 4
Copyright Page......Page 5
Contents......Page 6
List of Figures......Page 10
List of Tables......Page 11
List of Abbreviations......Page 12
Foreword to the first edition......Page 14
Preface......Page 16
Acknowledgements......Page 19
The process......Page 20
Defining the subject......Page 21
Setting up and getting started......Page 24
Plan of campaign......Page 25
Getting to know your library and librarian......Page 28
Access to information about research......Page 35
Indexes and online databases of research activity......Page 36
Research Councils UK and other funding bodies......Page 38
Theses......Page 39
Introduction......Page 42
Types of information......Page 43
Primary and secondary sources......Page 44
Defining the area and limits of the research......Page 45
Planning an information finding strategy......Page 46
Resource discovery: where details of relevant materials can be found......Page 48
What are abstracts and indexes?......Page 49
Online bibliographic databases......Page 50
Issues relating to online databases......Page 51
e-Books......Page 60
Catalogues and bibliographies......Page 61
Other sources and types of information......Page 65
Selecting sources relevant to the subject......Page 66
The importance of planning a search......Page 68
The online searching process......Page 70
How to plan a search strategy......Page 71
Evaluating the results......Page 95
Completion of the search......Page 96
What is citation searching and why is it important?......Page 98
Citation indexes......Page 100
Electronic citation searching......Page 101
Problems associated with citation searching......Page 104
Cross-referencing......Page 105
Introduction......Page 107
Locating items not held in the home institution......Page 110
Searching the catalogues of other collections......Page 111
Locating electronic materials......Page 112
Finding a commercial source of the material......Page 114
Other sources for locating materials......Page 115
Introduction......Page 118
Means of locating information on the WWW......Page 119
Accessing the selected site......Page 120
Subject gateways......Page 121
Using search engines......Page 122
Evaluating information found on the WWW......Page 128
Some useful tips......Page 130
Introduction......Page 131
e-Resources available via the home institution......Page 132
Document delivery services......Page 134
Open access to scholarly publications......Page 136
Accessing other sources of information......Page 139
The importance of evaluation......Page 143
Criteria for evaluation......Page 144
The purpose of citing references......Page 149
Citation and reference style......Page 150
Maintaining records of searches......Page 156
Saving records and details of works accessed......Page 157
Bibliographic software......Page 159
Intellectual property......Page 163
IP considerations when researching and creating documents......Page 167
The IP of the researcher’s work......Page 168
Plagiarism......Page 170
Introduction......Page 173
The research community......Page 174
Conferences, conventions, colloquia, and symposia......Page 176
Alerting or current awareness services......Page 177
Mailing/discussion lists......Page 179
Introduction......Page 181
Dissemination of research results......Page 182
Searching for research materials......Page 186
Open URLs......Page 187
e-Books and e-theses......Page 188
The e-science programme and the Grid......Page 189
Means of managing and presenting information......Page 190
Digital preservation and curation......Page 191
Journal impact factors, peer review, and citation services......Page 192
Summary checklist......Page 193
Appendix 1: Using a library......Page 197
Appendix 2: Formats of information sources......Page 213
Glossary......Page 225
References and bibliography......Page 227
Web addresses......Page 233
Index......Page 238
Back Cover......Page 243