USING THE INTERNET FOR
RESEARCH AND ACADEMIC
WORK
Internet is interconnection of computers all over the
world for the sole purpose of sharing resources
Internet is a resource for searching specific and
general information.
THE INTERNET
• The Web and the Internet
The two are sometimes used interchangeably
but there is a difference.
• The net and the web differ
• The Internet connects computers
• File transfer, involving a variety of protocols (e.g.
ftp)
• The web connects pages
• Hyperlinks: the http at the beginning of the URL
of every web page
Internet history
• Roots in Cold War
• In 1958, the US created the Advanced
Research Projects Agency (ARPA) to
regain a lead in technology as the
Russians had just launched the Sputnik
satellite into space.
Internet history
• ARPAnet was the forerunner of the Internet
• In 1967, after years of development, ARPAnet
used packet switching technology to transmit
information. Packet switching is a method used
by network protocols including IP and Frame
Relay to deliver data across a computer network
connection in individually delivered small pieces.
This method was considered safer in case of an
atomic attack. The advanced version is called
TCP/IP and without it the Internet would be
impossible.
History
• Gradually networking was created
across the globe
• ARPAnet technology was adopted by
other organizations around the world. The
number of servers worldwide started to
increase exponentially.
History
• E-mail and usenet invented
• E-mail was invented in 1965. The @-sign
to separate user from host names was
introduced in 1971. Usenet, newsgroups,
mailing lists, and discussion groups were
made possible from 1979.
History
• The http protocol was created to
facilitate browsing
• In 1990, Tim Berners-Lee created the http
protocol at CERN, Geneva. As a result it
became possible to use international
networks for web browsing.
History
• Modern Internet era: the Web
• With the abandonment of ARPAnet in the
early 1990s and the introduction of the first
browsers the Internet entered into a new
era: the World Wide Web was born, which
quickly became in the key stone of the
knowledge society.
History
• Current Web trends
• Everything connected to the Internet
• The Internet increasingly gobbles up
everything else (telephone, power supply,
commerce, entertainment, education, what
not) into one big machine, that grows
enormously in power and size.
History
• University teaching and academic
library affected
• This development will also affect the future
of university teaching and academic library
support and the relationship between the
two. The amount of scientific knowledge
recorded in scientific and non scientific
journals doubles about every fifteen to
seventeen years.
Information Retrieval Tools
• There is therefore the need to have an
idea of some of the information resources
available and to know how to search them
for the required information.
• Selected categories of information
resources:
A.
Search tools
(i) search engines
Information Retrieval Tools
(ii) Meta search engines
(iii) Subject specific search engines
B. Subject Information Gateways
C. Databases
(i) Subscribed (Institution)
(ii) Available but not subscribed
(iii) Free databases (e.g. Directory of
Open Access Journals
Information Retrieval Tools
D. Institutional Repositories
E. OCLC World Catalogue
F. Networked Digital Library of Theses and
Dissertations
G. Online Libraries
H. Free books
WHY IT IS IMPORTANT TO HAVE AN INDEPTH
KNOWLEDGE OF SELECTED E-RESOURCES
• Universities perform two basic functions:
teaching and research;
• Research is undertaken to further
knowledge in a subject;
• New research builds upon past research;
• Academics conduct a review of previous
research before carrying out their own
work
WHY IT IS IMPORTANT TO HAVE AN INDEPTH
KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS IN SEARCHING SELECTED
E-RESOURCES
• "Standing on the shoulders of giants" is a
famous phrase used to describe academic
research; It means we should look to learn from
the major thinkers who went before us before
developing our own ideas;
• University research relies heavily on academic
publications and libraries, but since the Web
began in the 1990s the Internet has become a
valuable research tool alongside these
traditional sources.
Search Engines
• SEARCH ENGINE is a program that searches documents for
specified keywords and returns a list of the documents where the
keywords were found.
• Although search engine is really a general class of programs, the
term is often used to specifically describe systems like Alta Vista
and Excite that enable users to search for documents on the World
Wide Web and USENET newsgroups
• A search engine like google can be used to look for other search
engines. You can call and use google by typing the google address
at the URL www.google.com
• http://www.sou.edu/library/searchtools/
Meta Search Engines
• A search engine that gets listings from two
or more other search engines, rather than
through its own efforts.
http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Gui
des/Internet/MetaSearch.html
http://www.metacrawler.com/
http://www.mamma.com/
http://www.dogpile.com/
GOOGLE AS A SEARCH ENGINE AND
PROVIDER OF OTHER USEFUL
SERVICES
• It is a popular search engine but it has
limitations. It cannot pull out records from
sources that require registration of some
sort for use.
• For a single search it can provide millions
of records. This challenge can be
addressed by using inverted commas at
the beginning and end of the search term.
GOOGLE
SERVICES
(i) Google maps
(ii) Google translate – translation to several languages
(iii) Google earth – download the application
(iv) Google plus – social chat network
(v) Google images – database of images
(vi) Google voice (vii) Google documents
(viii) Google scholar - articles
(ix) Google chrome - browser
(x) Google news – current information
(xi) Google books – preview of books
(xii) Google reader
Subject Specific Search Engines
• ACCOUNTING
http://www.taxsites.com/
• AGRICULTURE:
http://ageconsearch.umn.edu/ AgEcon
http://www.agnic.org/search/ AgNic
http://www.agview.com/ Agview1
Subject Specific Search Engines
• BIOLOGY
http://www.biolinks.net.ru/ Bioexplorer
http://us.expasy.org/BioHunt/ ExPASy
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/gquery/gquery.fcgi
Entrez
• BOTANY
http://www.botany.net/IDB/ IDB
Subject Specific Search Engines
• CIVIL ENGINEERING
http://www.icivilengineer.com
/
• CLASSICS
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/
Digital Library
• COMPUTER SCIENCE
http://drdobbs.com/ DevSearcher
Perseus
Subject Specific Search Engines
• BUSINESS
http://www.bpubs.com/ BPubs
http://www.business.com/ Business
http://www.entrepreneurship.org/ EntreWorld
• CHEMISTRY
http://www.cambridgesoft.com/databases/login/?servicei
d=128
http://www.chemdex.org/search/results/taxonomy%3A34
4
Subject Specific Search Engines
• ECONOMICS
http://ese.rfe.org/
http://www.helsinki.fi/WebEc/EconVLib.html
• EDUCATION
http://www.lessonplanet.com/ Education planet
http://www.lessonplanet.com/ Education world
• ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES
http://www.envirolink.org/ EnviroLink
Subject Specific Search Engines
• FOOD STUDIES
http://www.foodsafety.gov/ FoodSafety
• GEOLOGY
http://www.geo-guide.de/ Geo-Guide
http://www.geoindex.com/geoindex/ Geoindex
http://www.searchgeo.com/ Search Geo
http://www.usgs.gov/ USGS
• GEOGRAPHY
http://www.geo-guide.de/ GeoGuide
http://www.arcgis.com/home/ ArcGIS
Subject Specific Search Engines
HEALTH
http://www.hon.ch/HONsearch/Patients/medhunt.h
tml HON
LANGUAGE/COUNTRIES
http://www.arab.de/asearch.htm Arabic
http://www.netmasters.co.uk/european_search_en
gines/ European
http://www.ilovelanguages.com/ ilovelanguages
http://www.searchenginecolossus.com/ Colosus
Subject Specific Search Engines
• HUMANITIES
http://vos.ucsb.edu/index.asp Voice of Shuttle
• KINERSIOLOGY
http://www.sirc.ca/ SIRC
• LAW
http://www.findlaw.com/ FindLaw
http://lawcrawler.findlaw.com/ Lawcrawler
Subject Specific Search Engines
• LITERATURE
http://andromeda.rutgers.edu/~jlynch/Lit/
Literary Resources on the Net
• MATHEMATICS
http://mathforum.org/library/topics/probstat/ Drexel
http://www.math.fsu.edu/Virtual/ Mathematics
WWW Virtual
Library
http://lib.stat.cmu.edu/ StatLib
http://www.mathacademy.com/pr/links/index.asp
LINKS
Subject Specific Search Engines
MEDICINE
http://www.hon.ch/HONsearch/Patients/medhunt.html
HON
/
http://www.nlm.nih.gov NLM
/
http://www.webmd.com WebMD
PHYSICS
/
http://physicsworld.com physicsworld
Subject Specific Search Engines
•
POLITICAL SCIENCE
/
http://www.politicalinformation.com Political Information
SCIENCE
/ CiteSeer
http://www.scicentral.com/ SciCentral
http://www.science.gov/ Science.Gov
http://www.science.gov/ SciNet
http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu
http://www.scirus.com/srsapp/ SCIRUS
http://www.scitopia.org/scitopia/ Scitopia
Subject Specific Search Engines
• SOCIAL SCIENCES
http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue2/sosig
sosig
• SOCIAL WORK
http://www.socialworksearch.com/
Social Work Search
SUBJECT AND MULTI SUBJECT
INFORMATION GATEWAYS
• MULTIDISCIPLINARY
http://www.hw.ac.uk/libwww/irn/pinakes/pinakes.html
PINAKES
/
http://www.intute.ac.uk INTUTE
http://infomine.ucr.edu/ INFOMINE
• SOCIAL SCIENCES
http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue2/sosig/ARIADNE
• PHYSICS
http://de.physnet.net/PhysNet/links.html PHYSNET
DATABASES
• What is a database?
A collection of structured records
structured in such a way to permit orderly retrieval, e.g. for
research, study, or administration. A database may
contain citations or it may have full-text articles. Every
database has its own subject scope and coverage. It is
searchable in a variety of ways, such as title, author,
subject, and keyword. But only in its normal database
environment, using the database-specific search
engine.
DATABASES
• Types of databases
Bibliographic databases,
Full-text databases,
Numeric databases,
Image databases,
Audio/Video databases,
Mixed databases..
UNILORIN SUBSCRIBED
DATABASES
• Virtual Library
http://www.nigerianvirtuallibrary.com
• EbscoHost http://search.ebscohost.com
• OARE http://oaresciences.org
• JSTOR http://www.jstor.org/
UNILORIN SUBSCRIBED
DATABASES
TEEAL (The Essential Electronic
Agricultural Library)
**Bentham Science
http://www.benthamscience.com/
DATABASES
• Databases to which UNILORIN can subscribe
• Oxford journals
http://www.oxfordjournals.org/
You can access full text articles in journals
covering the following subjects:
Humanities, Law, Life Sciences, Mathematics
and Physical Sciences, Medicine, Social
Sciences
DATABASES
• Emerald
http://www.emeraldinsight.com
 Emerald currently publishes more than 160 journal
titles in the fields of management, information
science and engineering. Flagship titles such as
Management Decision, European Journal of
Marketing, Journal of Documentation, Leadership
and Organisation Development Journal, Journal of
Consumer Marketing, Library Management and
The TQM Magazine attract contributors from across
the globe.
DATABASES
• Blackwell Publishing
http://www.blackwell-synergy.com
The Blackwell database covers the following subjects:
Business, Economics, Finance and Accounting
Engineering, Computing and Technology
Health Sciences
Humanities
Law
Life and Physical Sciences
Mathematics and Statistics
Medicine
Social and Behavioral Sciences
The Arts
Veterinary Medicine, Animal Sciences, Agriculture and Aquaculture
DATABASES
• ScienceDirect
http://www.sciencedirect.com/
An information source for scientific,
technical, and medical research
• INFOMINE http://infomine.ucr.edu/
Scholarly internet resources
FREE DATABASES
FREE
DOAJ ( Directory of open access journals)
http://www.doaj.org/
• Multidisciplinary databases
http://csulb.libguides.com/content.php?pid=147338&sid=1286279
http://clemson.libguides.com/content.php?pid=94851&sid=709062
http://www.library.fullerton.edu/guides/free_databases/Home.php
• BEAUCOUP REFERENCE AND EDUCATION LITERATURE
http://www.beaucoup.com/3refeng.html
• Business Management
http://www.businessresearchsources.com/database/free
_databases.html
DATABASES
Economics
http://ideas.repec.org/
http://www.economicsnetwork.ac.uk/links/data_free.htm
Finance and economics
http://www.gfmag.com/tools/global-database/economicdata.html#axzz1Yb43Mai4
Global finance
•
http://www.gfmag.com/tools/global-database/economicdata/10299the-worlds-richest-and-poorest-countries.html#axzz1Yb43Mai4
DATABASES
• Religion-Christianity
http://www.library.yale.edu/div/forfree.html
• Religion and philosophy resources
http://www.liberty.edu/index.cfm?PID=20489
• Religion- Islam
http://www.altafsir.com/
DATABASES
• MEDICINE
• http://www.priory.com/
Priory
medical journals
• http://www.freemedicaljournals.com/ Me
dical Journals
• http://highwire.stanford.edu/lists/freeart.dtl
HighWire Online Full text articles
• http://www.medscape.com/ Medscape
• SCIENCE
DATABASES
MEDICINE
•
http://www.racgp.org.au/library/freejournals On
line medical journals
• http://www.gfmer.ch/Medical_journals/Free_med
ical.php
Medical journals
• http://www.forusdocs.com/Free_Resources/Free
_Medical_Journals.htm
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/journals/ PubM
ed Central Journals
DATABASES
• GPO ACCESS ONLINE RESOURCES
http://www.gpoaccess.gov/databases.html
• UNESCO E-RESOURCES
• http://unesdoc.unesco.org/ulis/index.html
• Bibliographic records and Full text of UNESCO
documents, publications, periodicals.
• Bibliographic records of the Library's acquisitions.
• OpenJ-Gate FREE ARTICLES
http://www.open-gate.com/search/QuickSearch.aspx
INSTITUTIONAL REPOSITORIES
• List of Institutional Repositories
http://www.inasp.info/file/befc376be7b821ba
0667ba35483234c2/list-of-institutionalrespositories.html
ONLINE CATALOGUES
• WORLD CATALOGUE
http://www.worldcat.org/
ONLINE LIBRARIES
• The European Library
http://search.theeuropeanlibrary.org/portal/en/in
dex.html
• The African Digital Library
http://www.africaeducation.org/adl/
• World Bank e-Library
http://oberon.worldbank.catchword.org/vl=10509
150/cl=14/nw=1/rpsv/home.htm
ONLINE LIBRARIES
Free Management Library
http://www.managementhelp.org/
Baen Free Library
http://www.baen.com/library/
ONLINE LIBRARIES
http://educhoices.org/articles/Online_Libraries
__25_Places_to_Read_Free_Books_Online.ht
ml
ELECTRONIC THESES AND
DISSERTATIONS
• NETWORKED DIGITAL LIBRARY OF THESES
AND DISSERTAIONS
http://www.ndltd.org
Information Retrieval Skills
• What is a database designed to allow you to
do?
Retrieve shortlist of relevant articles
The aim of database searching for reference
purposes is (often) to retrieve a collection of say
50, mostly relevant documents, primarily journal
articles and preferably in full text and in a single
query. Several search actions are normally
needed to get to that query or search strategy.
Information Retrieval Skills
• Database searching is a process
• Prepare: Identify key concepts, search
terms
Decide: subject or keyword search (or
both)
• Construct a query
Information Retrieval Skills
• Build a keyword search statement (start
simple).
• Limit to focus search results
• Screen your search results by some
variable (language, publication date,
etc.). You can limit your initial search
statement (pre-limit), or post-limit after
reviewing results (recommended
approach).
Information Retrieval Skills
• Refine to expand or reduce results
• It's rare to get good results on the first
try. If you get too many results, add
new concepts or add limits to your
search. Too few results? Remove
concepts that are not critical, remove
any limits.