INFORMATION SEARCHING
Introductory note:
It would not be possible to survey the entire information searching environment in a short document.
This material is intended as an introduction to the field, with an emphasis on the information needs of postgraduate student researchers.
Online connectivity in South Africa, while adequate (and improving) still presents a substantial obstacle to the full use of online material and communication in an academic context. The resources, and techniques,
outlined in this document are all accessible within existing parameters.
To begin at the beginning
Information: a simple process?
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Traditional print resources
Conventional online resources (usually the library’s subscribed databases, as well as electronic books)
Further online channels leading to the retrieval of inter alia reports, papers, conference proceedings, the identification of subject experts - the pathway used could be academic or simply Google
Unconventional online channels including social networking and gaming – South Africa’s present connectivity situation probably precludes academic use of such resources but this emerging resource will be
shortly discussed below
The Library homepage (http://www.cput.ac.za/library_2/) enables access to three important information entry points:
 Catalogue
 Database list
 Inter-Library Loans
 Research Support
Traditional print resources – books and journals – are still useful and are accessed via our catalogue (ALEPH) or via the Sabinet SACat entry point – see below). The catalogue gives the location (and
availability) of books and journals, and also allows access to the catalogues of UCT, Stellenbosch and UWC. Users also have access to a growing list of thousands of e-books, either via the online catalogue
or from database lists such as SpringerLink, or from the “eBooks” button on the Library website.
The database list is simply an alphabetical list of available (subscribed) databases giving access to (mainly) journal articles – these include ScienceDirect, Proquest, EbscoHost, SpringerLink and the Sabinet
South African databases.
On the database list, use the very first item – A to Z: Full Text Journal Title List - to find out whether we have access to a journal that you need. Simply type in the title in the search box, and if we do
have access, the relevant database name will appear, and you can click to that for immediate access.
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For South African material, use the Sabinet sub-databases:
ISAP for (non full-text) access to articles in South African journals
e-Publications for access to full-text journal articles in South African journals
Current and Completed Research (to find theses and dissertations at South African institutions)
UCTD database (also to find theses at South African institutions)
SACat can be used as an alternative to the CPUT Library catalogue – it searches the contents of all major South African libraries
Scopus (not a Sabinet sub-database) locates not just journal articles – as all databases do – but also (academically) selected online Web results
For finding theses (to check whether any titles clash with your own title, and for information) use the Current and Completed and UCTD databases, but also double-check by using the National Research
Foundation’s Nexus database – it is supposed to contain the same content as Current and Completed and UCTD, but often lists more items. You will need passwords to enter the Nexus database – contact
RISC at 021- 460-3156 or prosker@cput.ac.za
If you have identified material which is not available online but is available (usually in print format) at other South African libraries, then you may place a request with the Inter-Library Loan section of the
Library. This can be done online at http://www.cput.ac.za/library_2/servicesillform.php
The Research Support section on the Library website is still under development, but links to documents produced by the Research Directorate and the Postgraduate Support Centre, including a thesis
template, various guides to Harvard referencing techniques, copyright procedure and journal abbreviation lists. The latest lists of national and international accredited journals are presented, also a short
guide to information finding techniques. There are Research Information Support Centre (RISC) branches at Cape Town and Bellville libraries. RISC is open during all Library hours:
Monday-Thursday
Friday
Saturday
8am to 9.30pm
8am to 6pm
8.30am to 4p
Building a search strategy
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Search using the conventional channels first – Library databases in general – and then expand further
Before you begin, think about what you are doing, and think about what you want
Define your terms, make sure you understand them
Decide where you will search
Analyse results
Discard material which is not useful
Do not stray from the academic path
Use more than one tool
Carefully consider your “search string”, or search terms, or keywords
Note than reversing terms, or adding words such as “research”, can change your results quite substantially
Consider using targeted search tools – i.e. Google Germany if there is a research concentration in that country regarding your subject area
Find subject experts – for instance names that continually recur as article authors – online and investigate them and their institutions
Identify specialist hubs, portals or gateways relevant to your subject area, and search those
Build up your search so that it “snowballs”, i.e use one search term to lead to another, and thus ever more information
Become e-literate – recognize internet addresses (url’s) and content quickly, identify location and the (academic) validity of the material
Learn to search holistically
Electronic theses and institutional repositories (ETD)
These can be a goldmine of information.
Nationally, repositories can be found at the following universities:
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Free State (theses only)
Rhodes (theses/repository)
UWC (theses only)
UCT (Computer Science department only)
University of Johannesburg (theses/repository)
UNISA (theses only)
University of Pretoria (theses/repository)
University of Witwatersrand (theses/repository)
University of Stellenbosch (theses/repository)
The South African National ETD Portal, managed by the National Research Foundation (NRF) is accessible at www.netd.ac.za
Also find theses using Google South Africa (www.google.co.za )
And of course, do not forget our own institutional digital library – DIGITAL KNOWLEDGE – which can be found on the CPUT Library page or at http://dk.cput.ac.za/
Additionally, South African repositories can be collectively searched using the University of Pretoria’s IRSpace (http://www.google.com/coop/cse?cx=013518019117943970829%3Atlw8-sayn_q )
Internationally, both Canada (via their National Library) and Australia (via a consortium of most of their universities) have constructed gateways accessing their entire national theses output. Find both via
Google. For the rest, search institution by institution. Note that a large proportion of research originating in especially western European countries is in English. Some gateways which search international
ETD’s are:
OHIOLink (http://www.ohiolink.edu/etd/world.cgi), and Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations (NDLTD) (http://www.ndltd.org/) and a list of international repositories (with links) can
be found at OpenDoar (www.opendoar.org )
Open access journals
Various “Declarations” in the last few years attest to the growing movement towards “open access” in research and academic content.
This simply means making material freely available, including journal content. While many of these journals may not yet be accredited, they can nevertheless be good sources of information.
Two well-known searchable gateways to open access journals are Open JGate (www.openj-gate.com) and the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) which can be found at www.doaj.org , and which is
managed from Lund University, Sweden.
An example of an open access journal can be found at http://online-journals.org/i-jim
(International Journal of Interactive Mobile Technologies)
Further online resources
The totality of information resources online is overwhelming and growing hourly.
Examples of some specialist academic centres, collections or hubs are:
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It would be impossible in a document such as this to even begin to grasp the extent of these resources.
Centre for the study of African economics (CSAE) at www.csae.ox.ac.uk
Intute is an online service provided by a network of UK universities and partners, found at www.intute.ac.uk
EconPapers is a collection of online working papers, journal articles and software, hosted by Orebro University, Sweden, at http://econpapers.repec.org
NARCIS (http://www.narcis.info/index ) - Dutch-based repository/research database
BASE (http://www.base-search.net ) – German university library search facility
Use international online library pages of reputable universities – very often these have subject guides and other useful resources available.
Social networking
Internet connectivity in South Africa, and certainly at CPUT, is not yet developed to a point where academic use of social networking is extensive, or easy. Technologies collectively often described as “Web
2.0” or “Web 3.0” are collaborative, networked and participative online facilities. Examples, in no particular order, are:
YouTube
Flickr
MySpace
Facebook
Wikipedia
CiteULike
Del.icio.us
Connotea (developed by the leading scientific journal Nature)
CiteULike (interactive)
BioMedCentral
Public Library of Science
Blogs
Second Life (virtual “world”)
Literature review
A good explanation of what a literature review is, and how it is written, is provided by a guide from the University of Pretoria – see link at:
http://www.ais.up.ac.za/med/tnm800/tnmwritingliteraturereviewlie.htm
Bibliographic software and plagiarism
CPUT has acquired bibliographic software – RefWorks – see Library website for access. Online guides are available.
A number of free online referencing services (such as CiteULike or Connotea) are available, but these are not nearly as complete as the commercial products. Plagiarism detection software at CPUT is
available via Blackboard. The e-Learning Centre at Cape Town provides support to staff in this regard.
Final word
As stated at the beginning, this is simply an introduction to a field which has become enormous in scope.
If time permits, look at the “Research Notes” which are presented on the Research Support section of the Library website.
Considerable expertise in the area of (online) information searching has developed in South Africa, particularly at the University of Pretoria and the CSIR, but also at many other institutions and
organisations. The future of information finding is likely to be exciting, expanding towards a place hardly imaginable today. A mere thirty years ago library resources consisted almost entirely of printed
material, and there were no online information resources at all. Libraries as physical spaces may well disappear, and it is entirely possible that the printed book may become extinct. What the situation will
be in the near future is uncertain.
A sense of reality dictates that, as has always been the case, information searching needs to be firmly grounded, using the tools and information channels readily available, and that still translates mainly
into books, and journal articles. The means of finding these resources, and increasingly the presentation, may have changed, but the content remains the same – information as a vehicle on the journey
towards knowledge.
R.Proske
Librarian
Research Information Support Centre (RISC)
Cape Town 2010