Information Literacy yas-31806 Welcome to Scientific Wageningen: Developing Academic Skills and Attitude

Information Literacy

• YAS-31806 Welcome to Scientific Wageningen: Developing Academic Skills and Attitude

• Annemie Kersten

• September, 2008

Wageningen UR Library / Forum

Morning group 2008

• 08.30 – 09.15 uur: Introduction lecture

• 09.15 – 09.30 uur: Break

• 09.30 – 10.15 uur: Introduction lecture: search strategy

• 10.30 – 12.15 uur: Modules (BlackBoard)

Afternoon group 2008

• 13.30 – 14.15 uur: Introduction lecture

• 14.15 – 14.30 uur: Break

• 14.30 – 15.15 uur: Introduction lecture: search strategy

• 15.30 – 17.15 uur: Modules (BlackBoard)

Information Literacy

• "To be information literate, a person must be able to recognize when information is needed and have the ability to locate, evaluate, and use effectively the needed information" (ALA, 1989)

• Why should you be information literate?

• Later as a professional
• Now during your studies

Information Explosion - Electronic http://www.isc.org

Information overload

• http://www.uky.edu/libraries/FindIt

The Library and the Web

Information Literacy

• Reliability of sources

• Encyclopedia Britannica online http://info.britannica.co.uk/
• <-> Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page
• <-> Google Scholar http://scholar.google.com/
• Scopus http://www.scopus.com/scopus/home.url

What will you learn?

• How to search for scientific information

• How to use the Wageningen UR Digital Library

• How to use bibliographic databases on different platforms

• How to set up a search strategy

• How to evaluate search results

Wageningen UR Digital Library http://library.wur.nl/

Wageningen Digital Library - Introduction

• Portals: a guide to information resources by subject area and general reference

• Search: frequently used information resources

• User info and services: information and support

• Log in: My Library a.o. off-campus access (staff and students WUR)

• http://library.wur.nl/desktop/

• http://library.wur.nl.ezproxy.library.wur.nl/ - URL after off-campus log in

Where do I find ?

• books and journals in the library → Library Catalogue

• Wageningen UR publications → Wageningen Yield (WaY)

• the last issue of a journal → Electronic journals

• journal articles → bibliographies

• citations of articles → Web of Science / Scopus

• electronic reference sources → Virtual Reference Desk

How can I ?

• find important resources in my field → Subject Portals

• find a list of all main resources → Databases A-Z or Databases by type

• CrossSearch databases → MetaLib

• find information on services → User info and services

• use my personal Digital Library a.o. off-campus access→ Log in (My Library)

• http://library.wur.nl/desktop/

• http://library.wur.nl.ezproxy.library.wur.nl/ - URL after off-campus log in

Library Catalogue

• To search titles of books, journals, reports in the library → Library Catalogue NOT TO SEARCH ARTICLES

• Default: phrase searching

• All fields= words in author(s), title, publisher, keyword(s), abstract etc.

• Search specific fields: title, author(s), keyword(s), category

• Wildcards: use an * to replace a string of characters or a ? to replace a single character

• Keywords: use the Keyword lookup (thesaurus)

Bibliographic databases

• To search journal articles, book chapters → bibliographies

• General/multidisciplinary

• Web of Science (since 1945)
• Scopus (since 1960)

• Subject specific

• Health: PubMed, Medline (incl. Veterinary Science)
• Agriculture: CAB Abstracts, Agris, Agricola
• Biology: Biological Abstracts
• Zoology: ZooRecod
• Aquaculture and Fisheries: ASFA
• Chemistry: SciFinder Scholar

MetaLib

• MetaLib: Search multiple databases (bibliographies, catalogues, gateways) in one search

• QuickSearch (10 databases)
• MetaSearch (select databases by subject)

• http://library.wur.nl/desktop/direct/

• or

• http://library.wur.nl/desktop/portals/

Search strategy in 5 steps

• Analysis of the question

• Formulation of search terms per concept

• Combination of search terms

• Too many hits : refine the search question

• Not enough hits : broaden the search question

1. Analysis of the question (step 1)

• Breeding programs in dairy farming in the Netherlands: First identify key concepts

• Concept 1: Dairy farming

• Concept 2: Breeding programs

• Concept 3: Netherlands

1. Analysis of the question (step 1)

• Which databases?

• CAB Abstracts, Agris, Agricola via ERL WebSpirs

• Scopus or Web of Science

• Wageningen catalogue (for books, reports, theses, etc.)

• Tip: Use the Portals on the library website

• http://library.wur.nl/desktop/portals/

2. Formulation of terms per concept (step 2)

• Concept 1: dairy farming

• dairy farms
• dairy cattle
• dairy cows
• dairy herds

• Concept 3: the Netherlands

• Gelderland
• Groningen
• Noord Brabant
• Drenthe
• Friesland
• ……..

2. Formulation of terms per concept (step 2)

• How do you find several terms per concept?

• Use a Thesaurus (if available)

• look at narrower, broader and related terms
• scan relevant references on words in title, abstract and keywords fields
• Read the introduction of an article: e.g. “The aim of the present study was…”

3. Combination of search terms (step 3)

• Boolean operators:

• OR to combine search terms per main concept
• AND to combine main concepts
• NOT to exclude concepts (be careful!)

• Truncation/masking:

• For plural/singular words, variations in spelling
• e.g. behavio?r, feed*

3. Combination of search terms (step 3)

• dairy farm* OR dairy cattle OR dairy cow? OR dairy herd*

• Breeding program* OR breeding practice? OR breeding strateg* OR breeding structure? OR selection scheme? OR breeding value? OR selective breeding OR selection strateg* OR sire selection

• Netherlands (use thesaurus if available or choose specific field to search)

• Grass breeding program*

• (1 AND #2 AND #3) NOT #4

3. Combination of search terms (step 3)

• ((dairy farm* OR dairy cattle OR dairy cow? OR dairy herd*) AND (breeding program* OR breeding practice? OR breeding strateg* OR breeding structure? OR selection scheme? OR breeding value? OR selective breeding OR selection strateg* OR sire selection) AND (Netherlands)) NOT (Grass breeding program*)

• http://library.wur.nl/desktop/direct/ Go to ERL WebSpirs or select CAB- Abstracts from the resources list

4/5 Results

• Too many: refine your search!

• More concepts, limits, etc

• Too few: broaden your search

• Less concepts, no limits, more or other databases

Other strategy: following a thread

• Related articles (“more like this”)

• In Web of Science based on the amount of references in common
• In PubMed based on MeSH terms and words from title and abstract
• In Scopus: choose references, keywords or authors in common.

• Reference lists (cited references)

• Citations (cited by)

BlackBoard course IL

• After this introduction lecture, you start:

• Blackboard course ECS52901_2008_1:

• A selection of modules / learning units
• Assisted practicals and self study

How to login to the BlackBoard course IL?

• WUR account and enrolled in BB: Login using your WUR account

• Go to http://edu2.web.wur.nl/

• Click on User Login button

• Enter Username and Password and click on Login button

• Select ECS52901_2008_1

How to login to the BlackBoard Course IL?

• WUR account, not enrolled in BB: Login using a guest account

• Go to http://edu2.web.wur.nl/

• Click on User Login button

• Enter Username user01 and password user01

• Select ECS52901_2008_1

• Guest accounts user01 through user16

BlackBoard: Course Information

• Select Course information and open “YAS-31806 Welcome to Scientific Wageningen: Developing Academic Skills and Attitude” to see which modules and learning units you have to study and other information.

Where to get help?

• User info and services: a.o.

• Courses and self instruction

• http://library.wur.nl/desktop/services/

• Open ?-button or “search tips” available on several pages

• Ask for help in the Library

Where to get help?

• [e-mail] or (4)84501

• [e-mail] or (4)82245

• [e-mail] or (4)83654