A students guide to searching the literature using online databases

Am. J. Phys., 77(12), 1112-1117 (2009). A student’s guide to searching the literature using online databases Casey W. Miller,1, ∗Michelle D. Chabot,1, † and Troy C. Messina2, ‡ 1Department of Physics, University of South Florida, 4202 E. Fowler Avenue, Tampa, Florida 33620 USA 2Department of Physics, Centenary College of Louisiana, 2911 Centenary Blvd., Shreveport, Louisiana 71104 USA Abstract A method is described to empower students to efficiently perform general and literature searches using online resources. The method was tested on undergraduate and graduate students with varying backgrounds with scientific literature. Students involved in this study showed marked improvement in their awareness of how and where to find accurate scientific information. 1 arXiv:1003.0931v1 [physics.ed-ph] 3 Mar 2010 Miller, Chabot, Messina Am. J. Phys., 77(12), 1112-1117 (2009). I. INTRODUCTION One of the most important tools for researchers is the ability to find and judge the work of other scientists. These talents are developed over time, but can be expedited by a working knowledge of how to efficiently use internet databases. Literature search tutorials provided by libraries1,2 are too general for students to easily apply to specific databases or disciplines, causing novice researchers to spend large amounts of time performing what are often fruit- less searches. To assist students some institutions have implemented courses devoted to science literature searches. A recent study focusing on the health sciences concluded that even university faculty members are unaware of the common tools available for literature searches.3 In this article we demonstrate how students can find the most influential papers on a general topic, and then find the most influential papers related to a specific research project. The former will be useful for augmenting students’ knowledge base of a topic, which will play an important role in presenting “the big picture,” both for original articles and professional presentations. The latter is essential for avoiding duplicating prior work, for determining additional questions to investigate, and for developing a thorough yet concise list of references. For both goals, we describe and demonstrate an algorithm of search, sort, inspect, and repeat. We assume that students have an initial idea of the appropriate general search terms through discussions with an experienced researcher. We focus on ISI’s Web of Science4 be- cause we have found this database to be the most comprehensive and flexible for physics. Other major databases ought to work just as well,5 at least for the physical sciences. In medicine it is necessary to use multiple databases to perform comprehensive searches.6 How- ever, the authors realize that databases such as ISI are usually subscription-only services. Google Scholar7 and arXiv.org are free databases that allowing access to a diverse and complementary set of articles, but neither has the flexibility of ISI’s Web of Science. For example, Google Scholar provides a complement to ISI because it searches patents as well as articles. Two current problems with Google Scholar are that its citations are inaccurate, and it does not allow for advanced sorting as we discussed below. The arXiv.org complements ISI because it offers preprints. Two drawbacks to arXiv.org are that it contains un-refereed material, and does not enable advanced sorting. Miller, Chabot, Messina Am. J. Phys., 77(12), 1112-1117 (2009). II. TOOLS OF THE TRADE We first need to become acquainted with the basic search parameters for the database we have chosen. For ISI these include (a) search type (general, advanced, cited reference), (b) citation database, (c) time range, and (d) “field tags.” Throughout a typical search session, (a)–(c) are fixed, and (d) can change. The most useful combination of these parameters for an active physics researcher is (a) advanced search, (b) SCI-EXPANDED citation database (a filter that eliminates arts and humanities), (c) search all years, and (d) search by topic (TS).8 For Google Scholar, “Advanced Scholar Search” is recommended. To search by topic in the arXiv, use the “Full Record” option. A flexible database is the key to efficient literature searches, and for this reason the following discussion mainly focuses on ISI Web of Science. The most fundamental concepts for efficient searching are field tags, search string perturbations, and ability to sort the results. A. Field Tags Field tags tell the search engine where to look in the database to find entries that compare favorably with the search string. The most useful of these are TS (topic), AU (author name), ZP (zip/postal code), SO (journal title or source), and TI (article title). These field tags can be combined with boolean operations (AND, OR, NOT) to narrow or expand the search results. • TS is the most frequently used field tag and finds matches to the search string in article titles, abstracts, and keywords. • AU is useful for perusing a specific

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