Research Tools: STEM Library Resources

Presenter: Jack Mannes, Assistant Professor and Director of the Science Libraries

Graduate-level research can feel pretty overwhelming. Between the libraries (there are three STEM libraries at CU alone) and the massive amounts of information online, building a comprehensive literature review can seem impossible. And, to be honest, sometimes it is just easier to type a few keywords into Google Scholar and leave it at that.

This is not an isolated trend. It’s becoming clear that scientists are relying on convenient samples of data. For example, most dissertations today only use research from 1997 to the present. Jack Mannes, Assistant Professor and Director of the Science Libraries, cautions against that method. While there is a lot of relevant information online, there are problems with relying on online sources, not everything is available in a digital format. Perhaps even more challenging, there is not a whole lot of visibility into how databases like Google Scholar are organizing their results.

The bottom line: if you rely on the web for literature review, you are going to miss important data.

But do not panic! CU has an incredible library network; you just need to know how to maximize the available resources. Here is how Mannes breaks it down:

Think of Chinook as the sun at the center of a solar system. All available resources connect back to Chinook. However, keep in mind that Chinook has a macro-level understanding of books, journals, websites, and reports. Chinook is best used to find known items or titles.

Next are the full-text databases. These databases have full access to journals, which means you can use them to browse journals and access specific articles. For most undergrads, Proquest is enough for preliminary research. Graduate students need something that goes a little deeper. Mannes recommends starting at the Find Articles & Databases page and then selecting your field to find the most relevant databases (here are the Geology results, for example).

For most STEM disciplines, Web of Science will be a critical resource. Most likely you are already familiar with Web of Science. It is a great place to start because it will pull up multidisciplinary applications of your topic. Mannes also suggests to take advantage of the citation lists. You can sort your search by the number of times an article has been cited; you can view article “cousins” through the related records; and you can view Citation Maps for an author or an article.

The final sphere in the CU library solar system is citation indexes. Do not overlook this powerful tool. These are seminal indexes that have a huge breadth of coverage. Citation index coverage is the most comprehensive because, unlike full-text databases, they do not have to buy access to each article. For that reason, citation indexes are great resources to ensure that there are no huge gaps in your research.

A final note on using the libraries: if you find an awesome article or book—say, in a citation index—and CU does not own access to it, you can request the material through ILLiad. ILLiad hooks into libraries across the world and will find whatever you’re looking for.

Mannes also suggests the following additional resources:

• Off-campus access
• Citation Management
• Gemmill Library of Engineering, Mathematics & Physics // 303-492-5296 // engref@colorado.edu

• Earth Sciences & Map Library // 303-492-6133 // maplib@colorado.edu

• Norlin Library Science Collection // reflib@colorado.edu // 303-492-7521

Next time you need to do a literature review resist the urge to Google and use the CU libraries!

Tagged under: campus resources, featured, gtp, research tools, science libraries, TIGER