Notes
Outline
Finding Resources in Science, Technology & Medicine
John Dupuis
Steacie Science Library
Agenda
Definitions?
Objectives & Assumptions
Types of documents
STM disciplines & finding information
Demo
Definitions
Science?
Technology?
Medicine?
Objectives & Assumptions
To write about STM for a non-specialist audience
Newspapers
Trade magazines
Popular science magazines
General interest magazines
Internal organizational publications
We are not writing as specialists ourselves
Types of Documents
What is peer review
What is an invisible college
What is a gatekeeper
Primary?
Secondary?
Tertiary?
Grey?
Scientific Journals
Usually peer reviewed
Commercial or society publishers
Most common form of scholarly communication
Nature
Conference Proceedings
A meeting where scientists present their results to each other, usually via PowerPoint
Usually not peer reviewed
Important for invisible college & gatekeepers
Lecture Notes in Computer Science
Technical Report
Usually published by an institution, such as a lab or academic department
Usually online
Not peer reviewed
York CS department
Patent
Register your idea with the Government so no one else can use it
Reviewed by Government agency to make sure claim is authentic
Commercial research is often not made public any other way
USPTO
Standard
Recommended procedures for accomplishing a certain task
Usually created by a society or a dedicated organization
Canadian organization is CSA
IEEE Standards – 802.11
Pre (e) Print
Rough draft version of a journal or conference paper
Not peer reviewed – author wants input
arxiv
Books
Monographs
Encyclopedias
Handbooks
Text books
Personal Websites
Usually website of scholars at universities or research institutes
Not peer reviewed per se, but may contain text of scholar’s articles
Wolfgang Stürzlinger from York CS
Informational Websites
Runs the gamut…
Usually not peer reviewed
Could be put up by anyone
Watch for sites sponsored by governments or respected institutions…
Medline Plus
Poster Presentations
Usually at conferences
Usually not peer reviewed
Often scientists giving a update on work in progress
Literally a poster or series of sheets
Stand around & get input
One of mine
http://www.yorku.ca/jdupuis/asee2002/
Popular Press
News Conference
Press release
Magazine article
Newspaper article
TV show
Documentary
Patterns of Scholarly Communications
STM Disciplines
Go through one by one & discuss how they use documents to communicate
Physics
E-Prints & Pre-Prints very important
Very good at using the Net – it was physicists that invented the Web
Astronomy
Mostly journals & conferences
Very good at freely sharing information
Earth & Atmospheric Sciences
Mostly journals & conferences
Simulations are very important
Chemistry
Journals are most important
Chemistry generates a lot of patents
Biology & Life Sciences
Journals are very important
Starting to generate a lot of patents
Computer Science & Information Technolgy
Conferences are most important for cutting edge – peer reviewed
Technical reports are very important
Engineering
Journals and Conferences are most important
Technical reports are next in importance
Patents are very important
Mathematics & Statistics
Journals are the most widely used method
Starting to get into e-prints
Medical & Health Sciences
Journals are most important
Conferences are secondary
Demo
Recent developments in breast cancer research
Pubmed
Medline Plus
Newspapers
Expanded Academic
Computer viruses
Computer Database
Gartner Advisory
ABI/Inform
IEEE / ACM Digital Libraries
"http://www.yorku.ca..."
http://www.yorku.ca/jdupuis/writ2300/
jdupuis@yorku.ca