Research Blogging

A while back now, I posted about Blog Scholar, a site which acts as a portal to academic blogs. Another resource I have just come across is Research Blogging. This has similar aims to Blog Scholar but the focus here is on bringing together blog posts about peer-reviewed research. The site guidelines mean that blog writers use a “blogging on peer-reviewed research” icon when they are posting thoughts on research rather than a simple mention or link to the work. In addition, a full citation of the work being cited is generated.

You can view the latest Computer Science posts or view the available RSS feeds from the site to subscribe to areas of interest.

Journal Info

I have received a few queries recently about how to choose journals to publish in. If you are a researcher, you may find Journal Info worth a look. Journal Info is a tool to assist researchers in choosing a journal for publication. Indexing major databases, the site currently covers around 18,000 journals, providing details such as cost, quality, and accessibility. Of interest to SCIT research are the information science, mathematical statistics, and numerical analysis and computing categories. For more information about the service, check the FAQs.

EThOS – UK theses to your desktop

The British Library new EThOS service is now up and running. EThOS is a freely available service that allows you to search for UK theses. The search is open to anyone to find a theses and if you wish make a request to view one, you will need to register with the site. The British Library will then deliver the the theses direct to your desktop.

This means that we will no longer be supplying theses through the inter-library loan service. For more information, please ask at Learning Centre helpdesks or email us.

ICS Newsletter

The latest issue of the ICS newsletter is now available. Includes a new feature on useful websites for learning and teaching.

Google Books

Google book search provides a simple way to search for books in a range of subject areas. Where the titles are out of copyright, or access has been granted by the publisher, full text download is available.

You will find that full text access is limited via Google and most contemporary titles will have either limited preview or snippet view of the books. More information about the different types of views provided can be found here. Still, like all things Google, it’s a great developing service and the snippets may help you to decide if you want to read the whole text.

Check the online catalogue (OPAC) for availability of titles at Wolverhampton Learning Centres.

Indexed blog

Indexed book

I recently came across an interesting blog called Indexed which gives daily thoughts in the form of graphical diagrams. New posts are made each weekday about various general topics.

Thought it was worth sharing as something a little bit different you might wish to subscribe to.

The author of the blog, Jessica Hagy, has also published a book (pictured above).

ticTOCs – where researchers keep up-to-date

ticTOCs

ticTOCs is a great new resource which can help you keep up-to-date in your area of research.

It has been designed specifically for researchers and academics, and currently contains tables of contents (TOCs) from 7,742 journals. Registration is free and you can then choose which journals you are interested in. When a new issue is published, you will receive details of the tables of contents in your ticTOCs account.

Many journals also have RSS feeds you may wish to subscribe to if you use an RSS reader, and you can often register to receive e-mail updates.

Please ask at your nearest Learning Centre to receive more information about keeping up-to-date with current research.

Free access to SAGE journals

The publisher SAGE are offering free online access to six information science journals for two months. The journals below are available in full text until 31st August 2008. All you need to do is register here.

IFLA Journal

Journal of Librarianship and Information Science

Journal of Information Science

Business Information Review

Information Development

Health Informatics Journal

Scholarpedia

The latest web search tip is Scholarpedia which presents itself as a scholarly version of wikipedia. Unlike wikipedia, which allows anyone to edit the information, Scholarpedia invites academics to write articles on subjects within their specialist area and edits can only be made by this scholarly community. If you want to see who they are, some are listed on the scholarpedia authors list. Probably more of a traditional encyclopaedia than a true wiki, but an authoritative source nonetheless.

Chipwrapper

Chipwrapper conveniently brings online news together in one place. It searches nine of the leading newspapers in the UK and BBC online to bring you the latest content. If you just want the headlines, subscribe to the feeds. Still in beta form but Goggle powered so it’s bound to be looking at ways to improve.

Don’t forget that you can also search full text newspaper articles using the ProQuest newspaper database.