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| Useful Shortcuts Databases - to find information in journals and newspapers. Links to the full text may be included. For sources of general comment see databases which cover a wide range of journals and newspapers such as Academic Search Premier Australia/New Zealand Reference Centre eLibrary Australasia Expanded academic ASAP Factiva from specific publishers are Academic OneFile (Thompson Gale) Scopus (Elsevier) for business aspects try Business Source Complete for social aspects try Geobase Sociological abstracts PsycInfo Periodicals Index Online 1665- Periodicals Archive Online Covers some 550 journals from their start (16th-20th centuries) to date for engineering aspects try Compendex: Engineering Index CEDB: Civil Engineering DataBase INSPEC ENGINE IEAust Web of Science for Australian aspects try APA-FT Australia/New Zealand Reference Centre eLibrary Australasia ENGINE IEAust Which library has this journal? Intercampus Requests Essay, thesis, report writing - some ideas Referencing styles Library Catalogue for material that the Library has in print or electronic format Ask a Librarian |
You may be
interested to learn about how to read references
before you start searching for your assignment task and collecting
information. Finding information To get an understanding of aspects of your topic, some background information is useful so, try encyclopaedias and handbooks. (1) For more detailed discussion find other books and handbooks through the Library Catalogue (2) Once you know which aspects of the topic you want to develop for your report, you will need to read comment and opinion written in journal articles. Use specialised files, known as Databases, to find out what articles and papers might be relevant. (3) (1) Handbooks and Encyclopaedias Handbooks and encyclopaedias can be useful sources of information. In engineering and technical subjects, theses sources are aimed at professional engineers and the editors are professional engineers or academics in the field. The Library now has access to many encyclopaedias and handbooks in electronic format from Elsevier. To find a list of available encyclopedias or handbooks in electronic format, click here for a keyword search on the Library Catalogue. There are two encyclopaedias in electronic format from Wiley which include aspects of engineering - Kirk-Othmer encyclopedia of chemical technology. and Ullmann's encyclopedia of industrial chemistry. current To search in either Kirk Othmer and Ullmann's, go to the left hand column and under FIND ARTICLES click on Articles by Title to bring up the alphabet from which you select the letter to get the list of articles under that letter. in economics and commerce Encyclopedia of business. 2nd ed. 2 volumes 2000 Reference collection 650.03 E56 in social sciences Blackwell encyclopedia of sociology. 11 volumes 2007 Reference collection 301.03 R6158b Psychology basics. 2 volumes 2004 Reference collection 150.3 P6628p Social science encyclopedia. 2003 (2) The Library Catalogue will lead you to books about aspects of your topic, available in or through the Library. From the rectangular boxes across the top of the screen, click on the one labelled [Catalogue] This will bring up the Catalogue search bar. At by: pull down and select Keyword (use and, or, not, " ") Before you start a Keyword search - Think
about the concepts in your topic
Type the computer command and between each word to tell the system to find only those Catalogue records which include each word you have selected. eg. teamwork and
engineering
Click on the [Search] button to bring up the Search Results: that is the titles that match your search strategy. The Brief Record format indicates the location of the book and whether it is on loan. Click on the title for more details in the Full Record. The Full Record describes the physical format of the book and lists the Subject Heading(s): which may give leads to more books on the topic. Click on a Subject Heading: to bring up a list of headings that you can select from to find other relevant material. To improve your search strategy to get more relevant results, think about other words that an author might use in their title, which would still be of interest to you. eg. teamwork and
engineering and
australia
Where the search word could be singular or plural, use the truncation symbol ? to tell the system to find all words beginning with the letters you have typed eg. teamwork? and
engineer?
and
austral?
There might be other words which could be used for each concept so combine search terms with the operators and, or, " " eg. (teamwork?
or
"team work?")
and
(engineer?
or
manage?)
and
austral?
Remember to use brackets ( )
around the set of search terms where you
separate words with the OR
command(3) Databases listing journal articles and papers You cannot use the Library Catalogue directly to find out which journal or newspaper articles are available through the Library. To find out what relevant articles or papers have been written, and where they were published, you need to search databases. The Library's subscription to some databases may include access to the full text of the article. First, choose a database depending on your topic. Your topic looks at many issues. In addition to databases covering technological issues, consider databases covering business or social issues etc. Is an Australian database appropriate? Examples of possibly useful databases are: for general issues, including public comment for business and management aspects for engineering and technology aspects
CEDB:
civil engineering database 1973-
for an Australian focus APA-FT:
Australian Public Affairs, 1978- with full text 1995-
Australia/New Zealand Reference Centre BUILD 1989-2005 ENGINE: Australian engineering database This is only a selection of available databases. Remember, if you need information not covered by the databases above or in the column to the left, check the [Resource guides] on the Library web page, or contact the Engineering Librarian for more possibilities. Second, searching effectively. Search techniques vary in databases but most use the the same basic search principles as used when searching in the Library's Catalogue by Keyword (use and, or, not, " "). Before you start a search -
Next, dealing with the results
Finally, once your database search has given references to articles, you need to find the full text of the article.
For journals available in electronic form
the Library Catalogue record provides a Link to e-Resource: and indicates
the years available electronically.
For journals in print form the Library Catalogue record lists the Location: (which library), Call Number: (where in that library) and what the Library Has: (which issue our set starts with, and if it has finished, the last issue) Check
the date and volume number of your reference against the Catalogue
information to make certain that the Library provides access to the
article
you want.
REMEMBER - the Barr Smith Library does not hold all journals indexed in the databases. To find out if a journal is available in Adelaide, you can also try the Other Catalogues option to search the catalogues of UniSA and Flinders University libraries Report writing If you need some ideas for ways of presentating the arguments in your essay or seminar, try some of the guides to report writing and presentation. Referencing styles When you are listing works that you have consulted to write an essay, you should use a definite referencing or citation style. A referencing style is simply a standardised way of writing down the elements of information about a book or journal or electronic source. The Library provides a guide with a range of examples in An introduction to the author-date (Harvard) referencing system which is widely used in the engineering literature. |
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