Summarize your research topic in non-technical language - maximum length 1 page. (This assignment is required, but will not be graded.)

DUE: September 8

Search Strategy Construction:

Using any necessary Boolean operators, wild cards, and parentheses, construct several different search strategies for your topic. Type them EXACTLY as you would to do the search and explain how they will work.

DUE: September 16

Hawaii Voyager assignment:

1) Search on your topic using different keywords. Explain which keywords were most successful for your topic and why.

2) Using either Hawaii Voyager or Dissertations and Theses, identify a UH Manoa dissertation or thesis on a research topic similar to yours. Find the thesis and look at the literature review. Provide the title and author of the theses and write a short paragraph explaining what you learned about literature reviews from reading this one.

3) Compare the dissertation or thesis that you found to the suggestions outlined in the Collins article.

DUE: September 23

Print Indexes and Abstracts:

1) Identify two relevant print indexes and abstracts for your topic from the list provided. Look up a number of search terms in each index. Write a short statement indicating what search terms you found most successful in each one; indicate how these resources might contribute to your literature review.

2) Comment on the prospect of searching the literature of the past 40 years in each of your sources. How might this affect your work?

DUE: September 30

Web Searching:

1) Conduct a search on some aspect of your topic using Google, either ask.com or Yahoo, and at least one other search engine (total 3 search engines). Attach printouts of the first page of results for each search engine to your assignment.

2) Critique the performance of each of these tools and identify the search engine that was the most useful for your topic; detail any problems or difficulties you encountered.

3) How do your experiences compare to the Notess reviews? Be specific

DUE: October 7

CAB Abstracts, AGRICOLA and Agris:

1) Try several search strategies in CAB Abstracts. Provide printouts showing your strategies; indicate which one was most effective for your topic. Write a short statement giving reasons why you feel that strategy was most effective; detail any difficulties you encountered.

2) Using one of your CAB Abstracts searches, search BOTH AGRICOLA and Agris. Compare your results to those you got using CAB Abstracts and Google. Evaluate the quantity and the quality of results from all four sources.

3) Summarize the results of the Kawasaki article AND compare your results to hers.

DUE: October 21

EndNote:

Creat a bibliography of at least 10 citations – some from Voyager and some from CAB Abstracts or AGRICOLA. Turn in a printout of the bibliography of these citations using the EndNote interface to Word. Annotate at least one of the citations. At the end of the bibliography note the name of the citation format that you used.

DUE: October 28

Biological Abstracts OR PubMed:

Select whichever of these databases is most relevant to your topic and try several search strategies. Compare this database to the others you have used. Did you have to change your search terms or strategy? Was it easier or more difficult to use than the other databases you have tried. Why?

DUE: November 6

Google Scholar, Scirus and Other Electronic Indexes:

1) Search for journal articles on your research topic in Google Scholar, Scirus and your assigned database. Which resource was the most useful for your topic? Discuss the strengths and weaknesses of each search tool.

2) Based on your readings for next session (November 18), briefly discuss the pros and cons of using citation counts, impact factors, h index, and Eigenfactor to evaluate a researcher or research group.

DUE: November 18

Science Citation Index and Web of Science:

Select a relevant journal article published before 1990 from your previous searches. Do a citation search on that article in Web of Science from 1980 to present. Did the results of this search add anything significant to your literature review? Speculate as to why or why not. Include the citation of your original article, the number of times it was cited, and the date range of the citations in your write up.

DUE: November 25

Web 2.0:

1) Sign up for a Google Reader account. Using one of our databases that has RSS feed capability, do a search on your topic and sign up for the feed using Google Reader. Find a science blog with an RSS feed and sign up for that using Google Reader. Turn in a print out of your Google Reader home page.

2) Search for items relevant to your topic using del.icio.us (http://delicious.com/) and Connotea (http://www.connotea.org/). Compare the two services; which one worked best for your topic, the quality of the resources, etc. Describe how you might continue to use these as a graduate student and/or researcher.

3) Briefly discuss how the issues brought up in the Waldrop article might apply to your current and/or future research.

DUE: December 2

The portfolio is an annotated bibliography of literature relevant to your research topic based on the information resources used in the written assignments you did during the semester. The portfolio must include a short discussion (maximum 2 pages) of which information resources and search strategies were most successful for your research topic AND what factors affected their relevance. This should be a synthesis of your assignments and should discuss the nature of the literature in your particular research field.

You must identify an appropriate citation style and use it consistently in the portfolio. In addition to the citation, each entry should include 1) a brief description of how the cited item was found and 2) a statement of how the item contributes to your literature review. At the end of the citations, give the name of the citation style you are using. The portfolio will be graded on completeness, accuracy, proper format, and quality of evaluation.