Library Workshop for Preparation of Honours Project Research Strategies April 2006 Collecting information effectively for Geography resources.

Library Workshop for Preparation of Honours Project

Research Strategies

April 2006

Collecting information effectively for Geography resources

Overview of Research Process

1. Think of “Doable” Topics Generate ideas from the Honours

projects done by the graduates <Library’s Honours Project Databa

se if your dept. participated> Overviews of research activities d

one by scholars/subject experts Identify gaps in the literature Write down a list of “doable” topics

Ecosystem management of forestSoil quality and pollution in China

Sustainable land use in deserts

Renewable energy resources in China

Overview of Research Process

2. Develop your Research Focus

International cooperationTransportation

of energy

Water resourcesWind

energy

What kind of renewable resources?

A “Doable” Topic: Renewable energy resources in China Ask yourself questions on what interest you to know more?

Renewable energy resources in China

Example: Creating more pollution problem by using wind energy?

Energy production & conservation

Which province

?

Solving pollution problem?

Environmental impact

assessment

Overview of Research Process

3. Identify Appropriate Resources Do you need pictorial works/ photos?

Do you need current articles or historical articles?

Do you need literary criticism/ book review articles?

Do you need statistics? Do you need government documents? Do you need survey and polling

results?

Finding books in the Library Catalogue

Finding journal articles in e-databases/ e-journalsFinding newspaper articles

Finding photos/ pictures on the Internet

SOURCES

4. Searching

TruncationTruncation Useful to find words in variant forms Search all words that start with the same characters Represent multiple characters Placement of truncation symbol is significant

Phrase searchPhrase search To search multiple keywords as an exact phrase

E.g. social role With limitations

e.g. “environmental policy of China” CANNOT find titles with “China’s environmental policy”, “environmental protection in China”, etc.

WildcardWildcard Useful to find words in different spelling, singular/plural form Represent zero or a single character

Combining the use of AND, OR, AND NOTCombining the use of AND, OR, AND NOT Useful to narrow down, expand your search To exclude unwanted concepts Use brackets to set search priority

cultur* VS cult*

cultur* VS cult*

Behavio?r Wom?n

Behavio?r Wom?n

China AND (environmental policy OR environmental protection)

China AND (environmental policy OR environmental protection)

(conservation OR environmental protection) AND natural resource* AND NOT manage*

(conservation OR environmental protection) AND natural resource* AND NOT manage*

Search Techniques – A Summary

Keyword Search VS Subject Search:Keyword Search VS Subject Search:

Search Techniques - Revision

Subject Search:

Environmental impact analysis

Roads – Environmental aspects

Keyword Search:

Environmental impact assessment

Keyword search

Subject search

ProximityProximity To set how close between two search terms Useful in free text search Useful in giving flexibility to search proper noun

Search Techniques - New

E.g. energy AND conservationenergy released by motionXXXXXXXXXXX。 XXXXXXXXXXXXXX conservation ofold buildings XXXX。

E.g. energy AND conservationenergy released by motionXXXXXXXXXXX。 XXXXXXXXXXXXXX conservation ofold buildings XXXX。

LOW ACCURACY

E.g. energy conservation (phrase)XX energy conservation，XXXXX。 XXXXX， XXXXXXXX， XXXXXXXXXX。 InXXXXX XXXXXX。

E.g. energy conservation (phrase)XX energy conservation，XXXXX。 XXXXX， XXXXXXXX， XXXXXXXXXX。 InXXXXX XXXXXX。

TOO RESTRICTIVE

E.g. energy within 3 conservationenergy in urgent conservationneed。 XXXXX， XXXX， XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX。 XXXXXXXXXX， XXXXX conservation of energyXXXXXX。 XXXX。

E.g. energy within 3 conservationenergy in urgent conservationneed。 XXXXX， XXXX， XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX。 XXXXXXXXXX， XXXXX conservation of energyXXXXXX。 XXXX。

MORE FLEXIBILITY

Field Search (Keyword=XXX)Field Search (Keyword=XXX) To search the keyword in a particular field To avoid retrieving irrelevant records

Search Techniques - New

Keyword search:

Ecosystem*

Irrelevant to “ecosystem” in geography context

Irrelevant to “ecosystem” in geography context

Subject in Computer software

1

2

Relevant to “ecosystem” in geography context

Relevant to “ecosystem” in geography context

Keyword search:

S: ecosystem*

Subject in Ecosystem management

Field SearchField Search To search the keyword in a particular field Example: s=subject, t=title, a=author

E.g. 朱鎔基 and s: 傳記E.g. (s: 江澤民 OR Jiang Zemin) including

評論 / 思想研究 , etc.

Applications

Biographical Information/ Works ABOUT a person

Finding InterviewsE.g. (president? AND united states) AND s:(int

erviews or 訪問錄 )

E.g. bush AND s:interviews

Finding Documentary Programs

E.g. <country> AND <topic> AND s:statistic*

E.g. 中國 AND ( 農村 OR 鄉鎮 ) AND s: 統計

Statistics

E.g. (a:bbc) AND globalization in <Multimedia>

E.g. s:(hong kong OR 香港 ) AND s:(social survey* OR poll? OR public opinion* OR 調查 ) AND <topic>

E.g. a:( 香港青年協會 OR hong kong federation of youth groups) AND (value? OR 人生觀 OR 價值觀 OR 理想 )

Finding Surveys and Reports

Finding SpeechesE.g. s:(speeches or quotations or 格言 or 語錄 or 演講集 ) AND s: ( 胡適 or Hu Shi)

OFFICIAL STATISTICS Hong Kong Annual Digest of Statistics ( 香港統計年刊 ) Hong Kong Monthly Digest of Statistics ( 香港統計月刊 ) Hong Kong Social and Economic Trends ( 香港社會及經濟趨勢 ) Census & Statistics Dept. Hong Kong Statistics (Online) at: http://www.censtatd.gov.hk/

(Under “Statistics by Subject” & “Social Topics Studies”) Census & Statistics Dept. Thematic Household Survey Report Environmental Protection Dept. Hong Kong. Environmental Statistics at:

http://www.epd.gov.hk/epd/english/resources_pub/envir_info/envir_info.html

Social Related Statistics Hidden in Somewhere

UNOFFICIAL STATISTICSHIDDEN QUESTIONNAIRES Non-profit organizations

SELECTED ORGANIZATIONS

基督教家庭服務中心香港社會服務聯會香港明愛長春社etc.

Concepts Needed Group 1 Group 2 Group 3

Skills: 1. Grouping keywords together

2. Combination of groups of keywords

Concepts Needed? - Synonyms

Develop Search Strategies

Use of Renewable Energy solves the environmental problems in China?

#1 (renewable energy OR renewable resource)

#2 (environmental protection OR environment impact OR sustainable development)

Group 1 + Group 2

#3 china

Group 1 + Group 3#1 (renewable energy OR renewable resource)AND AND

Renewable energy ORRenewable resource

Environmental protection OR

Environmental impact

Sustainable development

china

Group 1AWind, solar energy, geothermal, tidal, biomass

Concepts Needed? - Synonyms

Develop Search Strategies

Use of Renewable Energy solves the environmental problems in China?

#1 (wind OR solar energy)

#2 (environmental protection OR environment impact OR sustainable development)

Group 1A + Group 2

Concepts Needed Group 1 Group 2 Group 3

Renewable energyRenewable resource

Environmental protection

Environmental impact

Sustainable development

china

Group 1AWind, solar energy, geothermal, tidal, biomass

Skills: 1. Too many records=>Narrow Down the search

2. Too few records=>Broaden the search

#2 (environmental protection OR environment impact OR sustainable development)

Group 1A + Group 2+ Group 3A#1 (wind OR solar energy)

#3 Xinjiang

Group 3AXin Jiang

* Environmental Sciences & Pollution Management

indexes over 5980 scientific journals, conference proceedings, reports, and monographs in environmental sciences from 1967 onwards

thesaurus Link to full-text e-journals subscribed

by HKBU

Major Electronic Resources in GEOG

Subject Related Environmental Sciences & Pollution Management Geography TOXLINE Conference Papers Index * Geography

covers international literature in physical and human geography from over 2000 journals, monographs, books, conference proceedings reports, and theses.

* Conference Papers Index Provides citations to papers

presented at major scientific meetings around the world since 1982.

Subject emphasis since 1995 has

been in life sciences, and environmental sciences.

Major Electronic Resources in GEOGCurrent Events WiseNews Lexis-Nexis Academic HK TV Programs Db.

Full-text Databases Academic Research Library Academic Search Elite

E-Books/E-Journals NetLibrary Project Muse JSTOR

* Project Muse

About 2 e-journals in “Geography”, “Population studies

About 12 e-journals in “Asian studies”

Full-text

* JSTOR

6 e-journals in “Ecology”

8 e-journals in “Geography”

9 e-journals in “Population studies”

The earliest back issue dated back to 1876

Historical study of a subject

* China Journal Net 中國期刊網 covers all aspects of the study of Chinese & English core journals 收錄中、英文核心期刊和專業期刊 5,000 余种，

收錄時間由 1994 年開始。

CAJ viewer

PDF file

Chinese e-Resources China Journal Net 中國期刊網 1994-

(Big5 or GB) ( 全文數據庫 –社會科學專輯 : 人口學與

計劃生育 )

中國期刊題錄數據庫 (GB) – http://www.cnki.net

理工 A 輯 : 地球科學、天文學 ;理工 B 輯 : 能源、環境科學 ;

理工 C 輯 : 交通運輸、水利工程 ;農業專輯 : 林業、農業、水產、漁業

中華民國期刊論文索引影像系統 1991-

中國統計數據庫 (China InfoBank)

• 中文科技期刊數據庫 – 生物科學專輯全文 (GB)

* 中華民國期刊論文索引影像系統

2700+ Chinese & English journals from China, HK & Taiwan from 1991

收錄 1991 年以來館藏台灣及 部份港澳地區出版的中西文 學術期刊學報 2700+ 之論文篇目

* 中國統計數據庫 (China InfoBank)

Phrase search e.g. 可再生能源 Boolean operators ( 全部字詞命中 =AND, 任意字詞命中 =OR, 全部字詞不出現 =NOT) 在前次結果中檢索

* 中文科技期刊數據庫 傳統檢索 , 高級檢索 , 分類檢索 全文下載

VIP browser / PDF file

Chinese Electronic Resources

How to Create your Bibliography?

: Campus-wide Web-based Bibliographic

Management Tool

Functions:• Import references directly from major databases available through the Library homepage and the Library Catalogue or from text files, or enter references manually.• Create personal folders and organize references into folders for different topics• Format in-text citations• Create bibliographies in a variety of citation styles including APA, MLA, and Chicago.

• Access your references from any location via the Web

Unit 2.2: Citing Information Resources @Library Tutorials

Apply for a Temp. Reader's Card HK$50 per application valid for 3 months, non-renewable endorsement from supervisor; interview

Request books that our Library does not hold or that have been checked out, but that are held by other libraries with the status "AVAILABLE" through Hong Kong Academic Library Link (HKALL)

Online Interlibrary Loan Request First 20 articles per academic year free of charge Web-based HKBU ILL System

First-time user registration Keep track of the status of requests online Retrieve electronic articles on desktop HK$5 charge for each additional article filled by local libraries.

Access to Resources Beyond HKBU Library –Final-Year