Tag Archives: research tools

Promoting your research using Google Scholar for your own citations

Google Scholar

My Citations is a  feature which provides a simple way for authors to keep track of citations to their articles. You can check who is citing your publications, create graphs of your citations over time, and compute several citation metrics. You can also make your profile public, so that it appears in Google Scholar results when people search for your name .

"Bibliography" by Alexandre Duret-Lutz. C BY-SA. Flickr.
“Bibliography” by Alexandre Duret-Lutz. C BY-SA. Flickr.

It is very quick to set up and simple to maintain – even if you have written hundreds of articles, and even if your name is shared by several different scholars. You can add groups of related articles, not just one article at a time; and your citation metrics are computed and updated automatically as Google Scholar finds new citations to your work on the web. You can even choose to have your list of articles updated automatically – but you can also choose to review the updates yourself, or to manually update your articles at any time.

First, create a regular Google account, or sign in to the one you already have. It is a good idea to use a personal account, not your university account, so that you can keep your profile for as long as you wish, even if you change jobs.

1. Once you’ve signed in to your Google account go to Google Scholar, select the link to My Citations. There are three stages to complete.

The Citations sign up form will ask you to confirm the spelling of your name, and to enter your affiliation, interests, etc. We recommend that you also enter your university email address, because that would make your profile eligible for inclusion in Google Scholar search results.

 

2. On the next page, you’ll see groups of articles written by people with names similar to yours.
Click “Add all articles” next to each article group that is yours, or “See all articles” to add specific articles from that group. I
f you don’t see your articles in these groups, click “Search articles” to do a regular Google Scholar search, and then add your articles one at a time.
3. Once you’re finished adding articles, you will be asked what to do when the article data changes in Google Scholar. You can either have the updates applied to your profile automatically, or you can choose to review them beforehand. In either case, you can always go to your profile and make changes by hand.
Finally, you will see your profile. This is a good time to make a few finishing touches – upload your professional looking photo, visit your email inbox and click on the verification link, double check the list of articles, and, once you’re completely satisfied, make your profile public.
5. Once your profile is public you can be searched for by name. Your profile will display the articles which have been collected by Google Scholar, the number of citations they have received (citations indices), and a map of your H-index.

You can also search for others by name, or by name of institution or place in the My citations screen: (NB note also the My Citations – Help feature). Run a search on ‘Royal Holloway’ (or any other institution) and see who else has registered on My Citations.

If you notice some of your articles are not in your Google Citations profile, you can sign in to your Citations profile, and select ‘Add” option from the pull down Actions menu. Search for your articles using titles, keywords, or your name. To add one article at a time, click ‘Search articles’ and then ‘Add article’ next to the article you wish to add. Your citation metrics will update immediately.

If your search doesn’t find the right article, click ‘Add Article manually’. Then, type in the title, authors etc and click ‘Save. (NB Citations to manually added articles may not appear in your profile for a while).

Helen

Library loves…Dissertations

April is the final push to many dissertation deadlines, and we know that this is a very busy time. For those of you finishing, or even for those of you just starting, this month is about all things dissertation (not forgetting projects and portfolios too!).

Here’s a list of things the library can help with:

  • More Books: if you need a book, just fill in the book suggestions form. In the Autumn Term we bought over 100 individual titles based on your requests, and it’s never too late to ask.

MoreBooks

  • Visiting other libraries: if you want to borrow/visit another UK university Library, SCONUL is a great national scheme that allows you to do so for free. Fill in the online form, and take your approval email with your RHUL RCS card to other libraries taking part in the scheme and you’re in!
  • Inter-Library Loan: did you know you can request to borrow books, journals, journal articles, even doctoral theses from other libraries? There’s lots of information here, and if you’re after something in particular, this can be great.
  • Referencing and bibliographies: referencing is important, but it can be time-consuming. We know you’d rather spend that time reading up and writing, so don’t forget that the Library can help with referencing styles and referencing tools – in fact, we’ve a whole guide dedicated to it! Keep watching the blog for in depth information on the different tools available so you can choose the best one for you and your dissertation.

 

"Bibliography" by Alexandre Duret-Lutz. C BY-SA. Flickr.
“Bibliography” by Alexandre Duret-Lutz. C BY-SA. Flickr.

 

  • Opening hours: Bedford Library is already open 24/5 (8.30 Sunday – 21.00 Friday, 8.30 – 21.00 Saturday) but from Sunday 20th April to Friday 30th May the library will be open 24/7. This is a very busy time for us, so please take care of the space, and yourselves: keep things clean, free up study spaces for others if you don’t need them, keep the noise down, and remember to go home from time to time!
  • Space to Study: if you’re looking for another place to study on campus, be sure to check the Space to Study webpages. We’ve teamed up with departments across campus to free up more study space you can use when inspiration strikes, and the list will continue to grow!
  • Your Librarians: every subject has its own librarian, and our job is to help you find information, get hold of the right books and journals, and help you with those tricky bibliographies. Drop us an email, or pop into Bedford Library for a chat – it’s what we’re here for!

And finally – don’t forget that there’s another department dedicated to helping you write the best essays and build the best study skills. Visit the Academic Support webpages for access to the online skills4studycampus course, help with time management, essay structure, and much more.

Follow the #librarylovesdissertations hashtag and click on librarylovesdissertations tagcloud on the blog for further updates.

Best of luck!

Time Management Tools: focus booster

Faces of Time
Faces of Time. Todd Lappin. Flickr. CC-BY-NC.

As well as working as an Information Consultant for the Drama and Theatre, Media Arts, and English departments here at Royal Holloway, I had the bright idea of taking my Library and Information Science MSc part time. It has been very challenging and very interesting – and it’s nearly done! My final year of three has just begun and I’m currently making the first steps towards writing my dissertation (a study into first year arts undergraduates experience of libraries before university and how this influences the way in which they find information at higher education level, since you ask).

So I was browsing through the Library’s helpful Tools for Researchers prezi and I discovered (among other things): focus booster. http://www.focusboosterapp.com/  Focus booster is great.

What is it for?

Do you ever have those moments where you just don’t know where to begin? Or you’ve too many tasks and not enough time? Or too much time and you feel that you’ll never settle down and get something productive done. Focus booster allows you to set yourself short tasks in a timed period, followed by timed breaks, and is great for knuckling down and getting things done.

How does it work?

Focus booster uses ‘The Pomodoro Technique’, a time management method that “uses a timer to break down periods of work into 25-minute intervals (referred to as “pomodoros”) separated by breaks and is based on the idea that frequent breaks can improve mental agility.”

As the website states:


There are five basic steps to implementing the technique:

    • decide on the task to be done
    • set the pomodoro (timer) to 25 minutes
    • work on the task until the timer rings; record the task status
    • take a short break (5 minutes)
    • every four “pomodoros” take a longer break (15-20 minutes)

How do I get it?

You can download the app to your PC or Mac from http://www.focusboosterapp.com/download

Even better (for me, as I use a Chromebook), it’s available online: http://www.focusboosterapp.com/live

Both versions will tick to let you know a pomodoro has begun, change the timer colour to indicate how close you are to your next break, sound an alarm to let you know when time is up, and also let you adjust the time of pomodoros and breaks.

(There are whispers on Twitter that this will soon be available for iPhone and Android, so watch this space.)

Why should I use it?

Focus booster is a great psychological trick: you know you have a lot of work to get done, but the timed aspect means that you need to break your work down into manageable chunks – great, it already feels easier! Also, rather than thinking that you have the next seven hours to get something done, you have 25 minutes: long enough to focus, but not so long that you get distracted or tired.

If you’re easily distracted, this can be a great way of ensuring that short bursts of time are well spent; or if you find that you spend long periods staring down your computer screen this technique can encourage you to take regular breaks and relax rather than stress out. Personally, I find it really great for getting started; 25 minutes is just long enough not to be frightening, but I often find that I’ll get into what I’m doing, safe in the knowledge that a break is imminent, and then find that I’ve missed a break as I’ve got so into the task.

Burning the Clocks Cup Cakes
Burning the Clocks Cup Cakes. somewhereintheworldtoday. Flickr. CC-BY

 

 

Try it out – and comment below: was it useful?

What are your best techniques for managing your time and being more productive? Share in the comments below – tips are always appreciated!

Linking Google Scholar to Royal Holloway and Senate House Library

Did you know that you can link Google Scholar to the library here at Royal Holloway and also Senate House? It’s a really useful thing to do as it means when you search for things you can check both collections.

Go to Google Scholar

Login with or create a Google Account if you don’t already have one.

From the Google Scholar home page click on Settings in top right hand corner.

Gogole Scholar Settings

 

 

From the Settings Page click on Library links from the left hand side

Library Links

 

 

 

 

 

If you are on campus Royal Holloway will automatically appear, along with Open WorldCat. Off campus you may need to search for Royal Holloway (if you log in and  save this you will only need to search once).

Search for Senate House.

Library links 2

 

Check both boxes next to Senate House Libraries – Available at Senate House and University of London Senate House – Full Text @ My Library.

You will need to register to use Senate House resources.

There is more information on Senate House in this post.

Now when you search using Google Scholar you will be able to see if the article is available through Royal Holloway library or Senate House.

Find it @ RHUL will often appear to the right of the citation but if it doesn’t click More below the citations to see options for Senate House and if appropriate Find it @ RHUL

Scholar senate house and find it at RHUL

 

Zanran Numerical Data Search

It can be very hard to find data such as pie graphs, bar graphs etc and Zanran fills that gap. Like a Google for data but it works much better than Google for data. When you put words into Google you simply get lots of pages of varying quality and relevance which you have to work through.

If you run a search in Zanran when the results appear run the cursor down the PDF or Excel icons and an image from the document appears.

zanran

 

zanran2

You can add limits as well, such as saying that the the site must be less than 2 years old, that the site must come from a certain country or search for specific sites (for example searching *.gov.uk will bring up only material from UK government sites).

zanran3

 

Registering for Endnote Web

You must register on a university computer but you can use it anywhere

  1. Go to the EndNote Web website at: www.endnoteweb.com
  2. Under the Quick Links menu on the left of the screen select EndNote Web login
  3. On the login page, click on the link New to EndNote Web? – “Sign up for an account” (Note: If you have already registered for an account with Web of KnowledgeSM, ResearcherID, Thomson InnovationSM you won’t need to register. Login with the details for that account) Sign up Endnote web
  4. This will take you to a registration page which you will need to complete. You will be asked to supply an email address and a password. This does not need to be your university email and password.
  5. Once registered, you need to enter your email address and password on the login page to access your account. You can also go straight to the EndNote Web login page from www.myendnoteweb.com
  6. If you do not use EndNote Web for 12 months you will have to renew your account.

Getting started Endnote Web

Mendeley

Mendeley is a reference manager with a difference, it allows you to discover and share material with colleagues and like minded researchers.

Described as the largest crowd sourced library in the world, Mendely can put you in touch with reseach you didn’t know existed and offers customised and peer recommendations for what to read next. You can view and select popular papers, or browse subject disciplines to select the topics of most interest to you. You can install the Mendeley web importer tool to enable you to import papers as you find them online.

This video quickly tells you what Mendeley is:

http://vimeo.com/user5499963/what-is-mendeley

On a practical day-to-day basis, Mendeley will allow you to:

  • drag and drop files into your Mendeley desktop
  • import bibliographic data from web documents, everything from catalogue records to Wikipedia
  • annotate and highlight your documents
  • create custom citations and bibliographies in your MS Word and OpenOffice documents
  • choose from a range of citation styles
  • export your bibliography in a range of formats

Further help:

You’ll find a useful getting started guide is automatically downloaded into your Mendeley Library.

Register for Mendeley

Download for desktop

Download from apple store

Videos and tutorials

Mendeley Resource Center

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