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How Do I Search for Information on My Research Topic?

Books on my research topic

Books are generally referred to by their author and title, or if no single individual is responsible for creating the work, by the name of the editor. The author or editor can be an individual, several individuals, a group or an organisation. Occasionally a book is issued in a changed form some time after first publication, and it becomes important to specify the edition you are referring to, and the date. Some books are published at different times by different publishers, in different places and translated into various languages. All these factors must be borne in mind in searching any catalogue either for a particular book, of which you have some or all of the details, or for any book on a particular subject.

Books in the University Library

If you want to find a book on a particular subject, but don't have precise details of what you want, you need to search the Library Catalogue using keyword searching. It is important to realise that keyword searching only searches certain parts of the book's subject information: its title, its subtitle (if there is one) and possibly - in the case of recently acquired books - the Library of Congress Subject Headings and chapter headings that are now part of the book's catalogue record. Although we have richer information to search in newer books, keyword searching can still produce variable results, particularly for older books. A older book might well contain the keyword in which you are interested in one or more chapter headings, but if these are not indexed you won't be able to find the book using that keyword. One way around this is to locate some books using a keyword search, then, having found a useful book in the search results, you can click on the See other titles for this subject hyperlink to be taken to other books that are about the same subject, which may or may not contain the keywords for which you searched.

Remember that the Library Catalogue shows for every book in the Library how many copies we have, and the loan status of each one. The Library Catalogue allows you to reserve or recall items that are out on loan, though this feature is turned off if you have library books that are overdue.

Electronic books: Increasingly we are buying books in electronic form, and when you carry out a search of the Library Catalogue you will find both printed and electronic books in your search results. Should you wish to restrict your search toelecetronic books, perhaps because you are away from the University, the Library catalogue allows you to do this.

Books in other libraries

The book(s) that you need may not be in our own stock, but they may be available for consultation at a local library or at a library that you can reach without difficulty. If you are interested in seeing what is held by other libraries you should find their website, possibly by using Google.  Most university home pages have a prominent link to their library's webpage, on which you will usually find a link to their library catalogue. Although this may look very different from the Talis Prism catalogue you are used to here at Portsmouth, most library catalogues are searched in very similar ways. A few minutes experimenting with the novel catalogue should have you searching it effectively.  The British Library maintains a website which lists a large number of Web-based library catalogues, both in the United Kingdom and overseas.  Some of the more specialised of the British Library's online catalolgues are not integrated into the main British Library catalogue; links to these more specialised catalogues can be found here. If you spend some time away from Portsmouth, say if you are a distance learning student, you may be able to join another, more local, library and borrow books from it, under the SCONUL Research Extra (SRX) scheme.

Important catalogues are:

Note that you may well be able to join other libraries and borrow books from them under the SCONUL Research Extra (SRX) scheme.

Books available

If you are interested in seeing what books exist in your subject area, perhaps for the purpose of ordering copies for our stock, you could search a bookseller's database such as Amazon or a union catalogue of the contents of major libraries such as COPAC mentioned above.  You could also seek the assistance of your Faculty Librarian in identifying books for purchase for the Library's collections.

Book reviews

Book reviews are usually written by subject specialists and can be short reviews of a particular title or general articles relating to the subject of the book or books under review. General reviews of books covering many subject areas can be found in:

Subject bibliographies

If you are embarking on research with no previous knowledge of the literature of the subject, you can save time by checking to see whether anyone has already covered the ground. Systematic lists of books on a particular subject or theme, known as bibliographies, often provide a more or less complete list of everything published within a specific field and time scale. (Naturally you will have to search for records of any works which may have appeared since the date of publication of the bibliography).

Those subject bibliographies that we have will be found in the Subject Reference Collection on the appropriate floor of the Library. You can search the Library Catalogue using the word bibliography as one of your keywords to see whether the library has any bibliographies for your subject.

Another form of bibliography is the list of references or further reading given in monographs or textbooks on a particular subject. Once you find a book that is appropriate to your needs, check to see whether the author has included such a list.

Be aware, however, that a list of references covers only the literature up to the date of publication of the work in which it is found. New editions of the work will probably bring the list up to date.

In some subjects the literature including books is regularly reviewed in annual publications. You can look at the Library Catalogue to find titles beginning with the words Advances in... or Progress in...

Journal articles on my research topic

The Library subscribes to a range of bibliographic databases covering most disciplines, which you can use to trace journal articles on your research topic. These allow you to search large amounts of data quickly and you can download references in electronic format for use later in preparing your bibliographies.  Most databases are now available on the World-Wide Web, and many require Shibboleth authentication for off-campus access.

If you would like to see the range of databases that is available in your subject area you need to use our Subject Directory.

As well as subject-specific bibliographic databases don't overlook e-journal databases such as Science Direct (a database of full-text articles from journals published by Elsevier), Emerald Fulltext and Ingenta.

A growing number of published journals are now available on the Web, either in the form of contents pages and abstracts or the full text of the articles. Use the Subject Directory (see above) to display those that we have in your subject area.

E-print and preprint archives

These are electronic collections of articles, which may or may not have been published in traditional journals. Preprints allow you to read about research before it is formally published. Most e-print and preprint archives are automated and rely on authors submitting information.

You can search for preprint servers in your subject area using the following services:

Subject specific preprint sites include:

Statistical information

Access to reliable, impartial statistical data can be a crucial component of effective research. However, the terms statistics and data seem increasingly to be used interchangeably, so if this section does not cover the type of material you are looking for do not give up!

Statistical sources are gathered together in the Statistics Collection on the 1st Floor of the Library. This collection contains published statistics from a variety of public bodies (international, national and local). The material in the collection is arranged by class number and has orange tape on the spines of the publications.

United Kingdom statistics

Printed copies of many UK official statistics are kept in the Statistics Collection on the 1st Floor of the Library including: Annual Abstract of Statistics (STATISTICS COLLECTION  314.1 ANN), Regional Trends (STATISTICS COLL 314.1 REG) and Social Trends (STATISTICS COLLECTION 314.1 SOC)

A particularly useful website for United Kingdom statistics is that of the UK's Office of National Statistics (ONS). Their website allows you to search for the latest official UK statistics, as well as providing free access to a proportion of recently released publications and press releases in downloadable formats.

Many UK government departments also maintain comprehensive statistics in their own subject areas e.g.

International statistics

The Europa World Yearbook, shelved at 309.1/EUR in the General Reference Collection on the Ground Floor of the Library is a useful compendium of international statistics.

The World Factbook  from the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) provides brief snapshots of statistical and directory information for each country including population, GDP, exports and imports statistics.

Eurostat is the Statistical Office of the European Union. Situated in Luxembourg, its task is to provide the European Union with statistics at European level that enable comparisons between countries and regions.

ESDS International provides access to, and support for, a range of international datasets - both macro and micro sources. The service aims to promote and facilitate increased and more effective use of international datasets in research, learning and teaching across a range of disciplines. ESDS International is being run jointly by Manchester Information and Associated Services at Manchester and the UK Data Archive at the University of Essex. (Access to the ESDS datasets is by University username / password).

The Statistical Abstract of the United States, published since 1878, is the authoritative and comprehensive summary of statistics on the social, political, and economic organization of the United States.

Thematic statistics

As an example those interested in statistical information on religions both past and present can use Adherents.com which has figures on over 4,000 religions, churches and faith groups. Statistics here are from both primary research sources such as government census reports and statistical sampling surveys, as well as citations from secondary literature.

Organisational websites not only contain useful figures in bibliographies and study descriptions, but can also provide statistical publications that can be downloaded free of charge. Some (although unfortunately not all) will also make clear the statistical methodology employed in their collection. Good cases in point are:

Continuously updated statistics

This is one area where the Web scores heavily in comparison to printed sources. The Web, which in some cases is being updated constantly, has been revolutionary in accelerating the speed with which researchers can get their hands on the figures they need. The type of information that falls into this category could range from share prices to exchange rates to demographics and beyond. A few examples include:

Separate population clocks for the US and the World, both constantly updated, are available from the US Census Bureau.

This can be compared with World Population.

Datasets

The potential use of information retrieved from large-scale surveys is rarely fully utilised by the principal investigators themselves, so researchers who gain subsequent access to the data may be able to analyse the material for completely different subjects from those envisaged by those originally involved.  The UK Data Archive (located at the University of Essex) established by Economic and Social Research Council in 1967, is the largest national resource of computer readable copies of social science and humanities statistics and data in the UK. You can also search the catalogues of other national archives. Cross-national and temporal comparative social research data can be acquired for users. FE and HE institutions that are eligible for JISC services can download material free of charge. Users need to register with the UK Data Archive.

MIMAS (Manchester Information & Associated Services) offers online access to census datasets (via the Census Dissemination Unit), UK government surveys and a wide range of statistical packages to improve access and analysis.

National Digital Archive of Datasets (NDAD) contains archived digital data from UK departments and agencies.

The Census Registration Service based provides access to the following four Census Data Support Units:

Organisations and software

Most countries possess statistical services akin to the UK's Office of National Statistics and the US Bureau of Census. A search of the Internet should reveal their websites.

An online glossary of statistical terms the University of Glasgow.

Statlib at Carnegie-Mellon University is a system for distributing statistical software, datasets, and information by electronic mail, FTP and WWW.

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Portals & gateways

To find out what may be available on a local, national and international level, you could browse the pages of various subject gateways. For example:

Keeping Track: A Guide to Longitudinal Resources is a free, electronic guide to longitudinal data sources. Created by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) in conjunction with the Institute of Social and Economic Research (ISER), which acts as the UK Longitudinal Studies Centre (ULSC), it records data sets collected by governmental, academic, private social research, medical and private industrial sources. Users can discover what kinds of longitudinal data are available and retrieve further information about studies of particular interest to their research interests.

Intute: Social Sciences has a statistics subsection.

LSTN Maths, Stats and OR Network a Subject Centre co-hosted by the Universities of Birmingham, Glasgow and Nottingham Trent.

OFFSTATS: Official Statistics on the Web is a useful gateway - hosted by the University of Auckland - to statistics for countries around the world. Care! A key issue is the evaluation of the material you find. Who is publishing the figures? Why? When were they compiled? You must consider these things carefully when using Web-based sources, just as you would for printed materials.

The University networks two statistical packages: Minitab and SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences). Books on using these packages can be found by doing a keyword search of the Library Catalogue on the package title: Minitab or SPSS.

Scientific data

Data are facts, information, or knowledge, derived from observation or experimentation.

This section includes links to large data collections and sites that give values for physical constants and formulae.

The UK's National Physical Laboratory has a website listing Units of Measurement such as time, length, mass, electric current, thermodynamic temperature, amount of substance, luminous intensity, etc, etc, etc.

SOS Mathematical Tables and Formulae provides mathematics help and standards tables and formulae.

The National Physical Laboratory has produced a booklet called Fundamental Physical Constants which gives the latest values of basic constants and conversion factors recommended by CODATA.

The NIST Chemistry WebBook provides users with easy access to chemical and physical property data for chemical species through the internet. This collection is particularly strong in data of relevance to spectroscopy.

NIST Physical Reference Data includes an elemental data index, spectroscopic data and nuclear and condensed matter physics data.

HEASARC (High Energy Astrophysics Science Archive Research Center) provides access to the catalogues and astronomical archives of the HEASARC. Catalogues include data from all astronomical regimes, but the emphasis of the archive is data from high-energy astrophysics satellites.

The National Space Science Data Centre (NSSDC) provides access to a wide variety of astrophysics, space physics, solar physics, lunar and planetary data from NASA space flight missions, in addition to selected other data and some models and software.

Research reports and 'grey literature'

What is grey literature and why might it be useful to include it in your research strategy? Here is one definition of grey literature...

Papers are often written to inform funding bodies about the results of research projects, to support grant applications, to inform rapidly a specific scientific community, to present preliminary results at conferences or as dissertations. Such material is disseminated quickly, often in limited numbers, before or without the formal publication process. (The European Association for Grey Literature Exploitation, 2001).

So grey literature could include, for example, research and technical papers, government reports, pre-prints, market surveys and committee working papers.
There are a host of websites that will help you exploit this potentially very useful body of information. Good ones that are worth further exploration include:

Government publications

British government publications

Government publications are major sources of information in almost all subject fields. The Library has an extensive collection of Parliamentary Papers and Government Publications on the 1st Floor.  Note that  items in the Parliamentary Papers collection are NOT shown on the Library Catalogue unless they are bought duplicates.  The Library also has access to a growing collection of online official publications via BOPCRIS , the British Official Publiations Collaborative Reader Information Service. You can use BOPCRIS to search and browse information about British Official Publications over the period 1688-1995. and across a limited number of digitised full-text version of documents.

European Union publications

European Community information is available from the Library's European Documentation Centre and more information is available on the World-Wide Web from the European Union portal, Europa.

Law

FLAG (Foreign Law Guide) is a collaborative Internet gateway to the holdings of foreign, international and comparative law in UK universities and national libraries.

Standards

British Standards

The Library has access to the complete collection of current British Standards'  British Standards Online - available through the Library website's Subject Directory British Standards Online includes European and International standards which have been adopted as British Standards. An Athens username / password is required to access this database.

International Standards

Standards Infobase, available through the Library wensite, is a database of international standards, giving cross references to other equivalent standards. Searches can be made by keywords as well as standards number, organisation, country, etc.

A useful free resource for identyfying international standards is the Global Engineering Documents website.

International standards not available as British Standards can normally be borrowed through the Interlibrary Loans service.

Patents

A patent is legal and technical document that describes an invention. Patents are an important source of technical and scientific information, as they are often the first (and only) source of published information on a new technology - over 70% of patents are never published elsewhere.

Although the Library does not hold actual patent documents, there are some useful sources of information available freely on the web, which can provide a good starting point.  In addition the Norrish Library, the hub of  Portsmouth City Libraries, situated in Guildhall Square, offers specialist advice on searching for patents and other forms of intellectual property.

If you require a particular patent, and you know the full details of this, you can order a copy through the Library?s Interlibrary Loans Service. Only if you need to search for information on unknown patents will you need to consult the public library.

Patents databases on the Web

There are some useful patents databases freely available on the web. Most provide bibliographic or summary information, although some provide the full-text with images and diagrams. These databases are a good place to start if you have a query about a specific patent.

Espacenet provides access to full-text patents from the UK and other European countries, from June 1996, as well as selected worldwide patents from the 1970s. Espacenet is a free service on the internet provided through the European Patent Office (EPO).

United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) maintains two different databases: one provides full-text information, the other provides front-page, bibliographic information only. Information on both databases dates from 1976. The full-text data is in TIFF format, for which you need a downloadable plug-in.

Intellectual Property Network gives free access to:

These freely available databases are very useful for basic patents information searching. If you need to carry out a comprehensive patents search, you should consult the Norrish Library (Portsmouth City Libraries) in Guildhall Square.

British Library patent links. The British Library maintains a comprehensive set of web pages relating to patents information, including a set of links to national Patent Offices worldwide, and links to other intellectual property information resources.

Intute: Science, engineering and technology features a catalogue of quality engineering resources on the World-Wide Web, which can be searched for patent information.

Derwent. This site includes a useful Patents Reference Centre, where you can find out more about patents and the patenting process. It also contains a glossary of patenting terms and a FAQ.

Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) Helpdesk. The IPR Helpdesk was established by the European Commission to help you to protect your intellectual property rights and to help with patent law enquiries. The IPR Helpdesk web site contains some useful information regarding the protection of intellectual property.

Patent Offices on the Web

UK Intellectual Property Office

United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO)

European Patent Office (EPO)

World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)

Books

Books about patents and the patenting process can be found in the Library at shelfmark 608.7

Professional bodies and organisations

Professional bodies and organisations may well have a view on your topic. Here are some links that will help you locate such bodies in your area of interest.

International organisations can offer valuable information. Many are a source of world-wide statistical information e.g.

The following are links to a few of the larger international organisations:

World-Wide Web resources

The World-Wide Web offers the researcher much more than simply an electronic version of printed resources. It contains a wealth of unique information that can be accommodated in new and innovative formats.

The Library website's Subject Directory contains, amongst other things, a large number of evaluated Internet resources in all the subject areas taught at the University. This can be a useful starting point in searching the World-Wide Web, rather than searching using a search engine like Google and being flooded with too much information.

The 'Invisible Web'

There is a growing body of material on the World-Wide Web that, for a variety reasons, traditional search engines do not or cannot index. This material is known as the 'Invisible Web' or the 'Deep Web'.

For a short, informative guide to the nature and extent of this material see The invisible web: searching the hidden parts of the internet by Paul Pedley located at 004.65/PED on the Ground Floor of the Library.

How can I evaluate the quality of the World-Wide Web resources that I find?

This is a very important. The poor quality control of information on the World-Wide Web is an issue that researchers must be aware of.  Be critical of information that you retrieve. Owned by no one, the Web's greatest strength is its greatest weakness - it is truly egalitarian and anyone can set up a website. As there are no baseline standards for information provision, the onus rests with the Web's users to filter out material that is inappropriate to their needs. There are some excellent free online tutorials that go into more detail about the critical thinking and evaluative skills needed:

The Internet Detective

Evaluation of Information Sources from the WWW Virtual Library

Copyright

The Library has webpages explaining copyright and licensing issues.

More help needed?

If you feel that you would like more help with using the Internet or would like more advanced information on topics such as constructing effective search strategies or citing information correctly from the Internet, you can see your Subject Librarian who should be able to advise you about this. There are also a range of online support materials that you can access, free of charge.

Intute: Virtual Training Suite is a set of online subject specific tutorials designed to help students, lecturers and researchers improve their Internet information skills. The tutorials offer self-directed learning, take around an hour each to complete, and include practical scenarios of Internet usage, quizzes and interactive exercises to lighten the learning experience.

Working on the Web produced by Netskills is an easy-to-understand, structured overview of networking and the Internet which offers step-by-step, practical guidance on a range of topics.

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