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collecting the relevant information

Locating the source material

How do you go about finding or locating the sources you need? There are two different situations that you might find yourself in.

Sometimes your lecturer will provide you with a list of references for the essay or assignment. They might be assumed to be the complete set of readings that you require, or more often, perhaps, they are assumed only to provide you with a good starting point. If you have been given a list of references, you can then check the catalogue of your library (for example, UNSW Library Resources Database) to find them.

Alternatively, you might not have been given a list of references. Your lecturer might want you to locate the set of references for your essay or assignment. In this case, you will need to consult various sources in order to get started. Each type of source will have a different usefulness. Let’s consider some of the most important ones.

1. You might look at the contents page for the specific topic area in your text book. That source is likely to provide you with references that are regarded as "classic", that is, important and influential writings on the topic area. There might also be a review article identified by the writer of the text, and in many cases, there will be some up-to-date research on the topic.
2. You might also consult the catalogue of your library. That will give you a good sense of what reference material exists in your own library.
3. Most importantly, however, you should, in almost all instances, use a database to conduct a search. If you use the database systematically, you can ensure that your search is comprehensive and thorough. So, let’s consider the use of databases in more detail.

Databases

Using a database is the best way to find articles from periodicals, journals or serials (publications that appear on a regular, continuing basis). Most "library databases", as they are now known, are now available via the Web. Some of the newer ones contain summaries of the articles or, in some cases, the full text of the article online.

In general, access to databases is not free; libraries must subscribe or pay to use them. It is for that reason that "Google" or similar internet search engines do not provide access to this material. Most university libraries (including UNSW) have access to a large number of databases. It can therefore be difficult to know where to start.

The best starting point for UNSW staff and students is to go to the Sirius system from the UNSW Library homepage. This will take you to the Sirius login page.

If you know the name of the database you want to use, for example, Web of Science, or PsycINFO, type this in the Resource Name Keyword box on the left hand side of the screen and click GO. Click the icon beside the name of the database to begin searching that database.

If you don’t know which database to use, select a subject area (for example, Business and Economics or Psychology) from the choices in the Resource Categories box. Alternatively, your lecturer or a librarian may suggest a suitable database or subject guide.

• Resources

  The Library Resources Database and Sirius help sheets and the Frequently Asked Questions links will provide more information on accessing library material.
  
  Many publishers and organisations produce databases, so, while some features are common to all, there are some important differences, especially in the search screens. It is a good idea to get to know the features of the major databases in your subject area.
  
  Below, we have outlined these details for, and the ways to use, two different databases, namely, PsycINFO, an important discipline-specific database for Psychology, and the Web of Science, a major multi disciplinary database suitable for all subject areas.
  
  There are many useful databases you can use to locate sources. Examples used in this tutorial are
  PsycINFO (click here for a tutorial)
  Web of Science (click here for a tutorial)
  
  Your librarian can help you to use these systems or you can go to the online tutorials above that are suggested by the UNSW library.

PsycINFO

You will notice that PsycINFO uses much discipline-specific (in this case, psychological) terminology. This is the case in most discipline-specific databases. Nevertheless, the concepts and processes are the same.

This example identifies the principles of specifying topics and keywords and of combining these. These principles are the same for using any database. They can therefore guide your use of databases in all discipline and subject areas.

Imagine that you are searching for source material on the following essay question,

In his theory of personality development, how did Freud assume the personality differences between boys and girls come about?

You need to have identified the broad topic area and its specific components. Once you have done this, you can use the keywords to search for references that are relevant to the essay question.

Below is an example of a PsycINFO search on this topic area. We have provided you with some important information about the steps involved in undertaking your search, important things to keep in mind, and some useful terminology. You might like to copy the steps in this search, or conduct your own search along a similar line.

The keywords that are important in the above essay question are personality development, Freud, and sex differences in personality. You can use these words to conduct a search. As you can see below, conducting searches using each of these keywords separately has resulted in thousand of sources being identified.

Login to PsycINFO via the Sirius login page. After typing in your staff/student number and your Unipass, type in PsycINFO in the Resource Name Keyword box or choose Psychology from the Resource Categories box on the left hand side of the screen and click GO. Click the icon beside the name of the database to begin searching that database.

There are several ways you can narrow or broaden your search. These include using AND and OR during your search, limiting your search, and using brackets and truncations.

Using AND and OR during your search. If you want to combine search terms, such as personality development and Freud, you need to use the combine tool:

When personality development was combined with Freud using the AND function, only those articles including personality development and Freud were located. You can see the results of this search below.

The AND key narrows a search by requiring the occurrence of both terms, and the OR key broadens a search by allowing for the occurrence of one term or another.

Freud AND personality development = only articles including Freud and personality development (narrows search)

Freud OR Personality development = all articles about either Freud or Personality development (broadens search)

Limiting your search. You may wish to limit your search using the following key or icon:

You can limit according to publication year, age groups, languages, publication types, publication groups and so forth.

Using truncation (that is, the dollar sign) to broaden a search. You can broaden your search by placing the $ at the end of a word

• For example,
  Typing person$ finds records containing person, persons, personal, personality, personalities.

Using brackets around your keywords. PsycINFO works much like any mathematical order of operations equation. For example, typing PERSONALITY AND (DIFFERENCES OR SEX DIFFERENCES) finds records that contain the terms personality and either differences or sex differences. On the other hand, typing PERSONALITY AND DIFFERENCES OR SEX DIFFERENCES finds records that contain both the terms personality and differences, or the term sex differences. That is, PsycINFO treats the entry as (PERSONALITY AND DIFFERENCES) OR SEX DIFFERENCES.

Searching by keyword, title, or author. You can do this by selecting the relevant icon on the main search page. You can see these icons below:

• For example, when you have found an author who has published on the topic area you are interested in, it can be useful to conduct a search by author.

Marking the records you want to print as you search through abstracts. Once you have conducted your search, you can then view each source. You can see the author(s), the title of the source, whether it is a book or journal, where it was published and when, and the abstract. When you have identified an article that might be useful, you click the box next to the article, and then click "display" (in the box below the references listed) before printing. This will display the references you have selected along with their abstracts. Sometimes the fulltext of the article is available as well. You will know this if the link OVID FULL TEXT is listed. It is also worth checking the SFX Link as the library may have electronic access through another source or may hold the item in print form.

Locating the articles identified in your search. Use the Library Resources Database to find the call numbers of the journals the articles are published in, locate the journals on the shelf, and find the article within the journal (Note — material deleted here). Journals in the Biomedical Library are arranged alphabetically by the title of the journal. Alternatively, a large number of journals are now electronic, and our library has access to many of these. If this is the case, you can print the article directly from your computer.

What to do if a journal is not on the shelf. Generally an empty space on the shelf suggests that the journal may be on a sorting shelf, having been used by someone a short time before. Check the sorting shelves (Omitted material) especially near the photocopiers.

How to find out if the journal is held at another library. You can access other library catalogues through the UNSW library home page. Click on Catalogues, and scroll down to where it says Other libraries and click on it.

When PsycINFO indicates that an article is a dissertation. Dissertations are theses written by students internationally. The University holds some dissertations, but the majority of dissertations listed in PsycINFO are international and must be ordered in. It usually takes about six weeks for a thesis to arrive. You will find that for undergraduate purposes, ordering a dissertation is not necessary.

The meaning of prefixes on the call numbers and where to locate them. The library catalogue identifies various locations by using prefixes such as S for Social Sciences and Humanities Library, MB for Biomedical Library, P for Physical Sciences Library and usually indicates which floor this material can be found on. You can consult this Prefix list to check where books and journals can be found.

Obtaining a reference from Reserve Services. My Course can be used to access the call numbers of references in Reserve. Once you have a call number, simply enter Reserve Services area on Level 3 or go to the counter for service. "Reserve Desk" contains the photocopied references kept behind the Reserve counter; such references have call numbers like W/1021, and must be obtained from staff behind the counter. " Reserve Shelves " references are books with ordinary numbers like S152.6009/5. You can enter Reserve to find these books yourself.

Web of Science

This database is the Web version of the printed Citation Indexes. It covers over 8000 journals, selected as the most influential and relevant peer-reviewed titles across all disciplines. As well as the usual keyword, topic or author searches, the strength of this database lies in its ability to track other authors whose work is cited in the article’s reference list or bibliography. This is particularly helpful if you have been given a reference to a classic or influential article. Using a Cited Reference Search, you can find more recent articles that cite that work, thereby adding to your source material.

First, we will begin with a fairly simple search.

Imagine you have been asked to find source material for an essay or assignment on the following topic,

What, if any, are the economic and social benefits of ecotourism?

Using the steps outlined in the PsycINFO example above, you may decide that the most important keywords in the question are economic, social, and ecotourism.

Having done that, you would then login to Web of Science via the Sirius login page. After typing in your staff or student number and your Unipass, type in Web of Science in the Resource Name Keyword box or choose "multidisciplinary" from the Resource Categories box on the left hand side of the screen and click GO. Click the icon beside Web of Science to begin searching the Web of Science database. A Web of Knowledge window will open. Go directly to the Web of Science.

Let’s use the Easy Search option this time. Select TOPIC and enter the terms (economic* or social) and ecotouris*.

Using * will allow you to find economics as well as economic; ecotourists as well as ecotourism; this serves the same purpose as the ? wildcard in PsycINFO.

HINT: If you find too many references, you can go back to your search and add (benefit* or impact*) to narrow your search results. Your search will now read:

(economic* or social) and (benefit* or impact*) and ecotouris*.

Using terms such as these is not normally recommended at the first stage of your searching

A list of results will be displayed. Clicking on the title gives more information about each item, including a list of all the references used by the author. There is also a "related records" link that can help you to broaden your search.

Web of Science is not a full text database; it contains only the details of the publication. However, using the SFX link can help you to find electronic or print versions that the UNSW Library has access to.

Cited reference searching

If you have been given an important reference, you can see which current authors are referring to that paper now, for example, if you are interested in the work of J Petit who wrote an article in Volume 399 of the journal Nature in 1999.

Go to the Full Search option on Web of Science, Choose Cited Ref Search. Enter the details as in the following screen dump:

Click on Look Up. From the results, screen tick the items that refer to the article you want. Notice that sometimes authors get the references incorrect (e.g. right volume, wrong year). You, therefore, need to select the items that appear to be relevant. Now Search for those items that cite Petit’s article in Nature. You can also use the related references option to find other papers that share some of the same references. This is another way of expanding your sources of information.

We have given you here only a brief introduction to the use of the Web of Science database. For more information, and in order to help you become efficient and effective in your use of the Web of Science and other databases, you should do the Tutorial provided by the database producer.

For more information on finding and evaluating resources or searching catalogues and databases, you can also go to UNSW Library’s tutorial called LILT.

• Now try this activity on Locating the source material

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Last updated March 3, 2004 | Site credits and information
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