Searching Economic Literature and
Information
Christian Matlage ULB Bonn
Summer semester 2017
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Overview
 Overview and questions
 First thoughts
 Fundamentals of research
 Types of research
 Portals and subject databases
 Statistical databases
 Internet resources and the search for quality
 Outlook
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Questions
 Do you know the Bonn University Library (ULB)?
 Do you know the discovery service bonnus? Did you
borrow books from the library yet?
 Did you install the VPN-Client yet? Information from the
computer center
 Do you have questions or requests about literature
research?
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First thoughts
Before you start your research, you should…
 … inform yourself about the subject (with
encyclopedia, textbooks, internet resources, Wikipedia
etc.) and note down appropriate search terms
(german and english). Use a thesaurus e.g. the
Thesaurus (STW) for Economics within EconBiz
http://zbw.eu/stw/versions/latest/about.en.html
 … determinate the scope of time you want to invest in
your project (depent on the available time)
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First thoughts
Creating a realistic timeline with a Gantt chart
Tasks
Time
(days)
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Identifying the theses
First research
Specification
Expose
Research
Reading materials
Writing
Correction/Re-writing
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Fundamentals of research
Some useful terms when you do research:
 Index term: words from the title or the name of the autor/editor.
 Keyword/Descriptor: is a term that captures the essence of the topic of a
document. They are created by qualified personnel.
 Classification: is a system (with characters and numbers) by which library
materials are arranged according to subject.
 Clipping/Truncation : the reduction of a search term combined with a
truncation symbol (leads to more search results). Most common symbol is
the star *
 Boolean/Logical operators:
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AND
e.g.
OR
e.g.
Fundamentals of research
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Types of research
 Formal search: research with information about the medium
– leads e.g. to shelf marks
 Topic search: research with information about the topic –
leads to a formal search
 Browsing: research without being focused and purposeful
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Types of research
Processing possibilities of a topic search
 Citation Pearl Growing Approach or „snowball system“:
follow quotations of literature references
 Successive Fractions Approach: This strategy is used when
searching broad concepts with a large number of hits. It
narrows the search by applying limiting techniques like
Boolean operators
 Block Building Approach: Disaggregate the subject in
subsubjects and subterms and combine some of them
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Portals and subject databases: bonnus
Bonnus is a discovery service and includes almost. 1,5 billion
entries. Start
The portal includes:
 The catalog of the Bonn University Library (ULB) and the
Departmental Library (Staatswissenschaftliches Seminar = SWS)
 Subject databases like the Social Science Citation Index and Econlit
 Statistical databases like the OECD iLibrary
 Digital libraries and publisher plattforms like Oxford Journals, JSTOR
and Science Direct
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Portals and subject databases: bonnus
(Portals/Databases):
(Catalogs):
Dependent literature (e.g. articles) Independent literature
Start KVK
EconBiz
Discovery service
HBZ
bonnus
SWS
Econlit
Online
Contents
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Catalog
NRW
KVK
Karlsruhe
Virtual Catalog
ULB
Social
Science
Citation
Index
Library catalogs
worldwide
Start
bonnus
Portals and subject databases
Econbiz
Econlit
Start
Start
Social Science
Citation Index
Start
Online Contents
Wirtschaftswissenschaften
Start
Focus on Business and
Economics
Focus on Economics
Excercise 1
Excercise 2
Focus on all social
sciences
Focus on Business and
Economics
Excercise 3
Portal with many online
resources and the
catalog Econis
Thesaurus (STW) for
economics
(german/english)
English/German
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Econlit is a part of
bonnus
SSCI is a part of
bonnus
Econlit is the best
known database of
economics
Citation reports
English
English
journal articles (mostly
german) without subject
terms
German/English
Portals and subject databases
Different points of access to start your research
https://www.ulb.uni-bonn.de/english
Search in… Databases DBIS (Data management
system – only in German)
Fachgebiet Wirtschaftswissenschaften
(= Subject Economics)
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Portals and subject databases
Open the page DBIS – Wirtschaftswissenschaften (database
management system - economics) und start EconBiz
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Portals and subject databases
Excercise 1:
• Prepare a list with appropriate search terms for your
research. Note some synonyms, translations,
broader/narrower terms and related terms. Look up
some hits and note some more useful information.
Refine search if applicable.
Hint:
Thesaurus (STW) (in the database EconBiz (above))
= Hits in EconBiz
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= Hits in Econis
Portals and subject databases
Excercise 2:
• Open the database Econlit and search with your english
terms. Use the truncation symbol star * or boolean
operators if necessary.
• Click on some hits. Do you find more keywords or
descriptors? Where do they lead?
• Use the Find it @ ULB Bonn- button to get the pdfFulltext within bonnus
• Write down a interesting journal name for your topic (not
the name of the article!)
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Portals and subject databases
Excercise 3:
• Open the database Web of Science / Social Sciences
Citation Index and search again with your english terms.
Use the truncation symbol star * or boolean operators if
necessary.
• Change the setting from sort by… to „Times Cited –
highest to lowest“
• Click on the first hit. Do you find more keywords or
categories? How often is the article cited?
• Open the „eJournals – EZB“ database on the ULB
homepage and search the journal from exercise 2.
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Statistical databases
A statistical database is a database used for statistical analysis
purposes and contain aggregate data, which are important in
economics. Statistical databases can be found in DBIS
(Statistical databases = Faktendatenbank)
 Genesis-Online (Germany) Start
 Eurostat (EU) Start
 OECD iLibrary Start
 UN Data Start
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Internet resources and the search for quality
Recommended search engines:

BASE – Bielefeld Academic Search Engine Start

OAIster – Open Access Start

OpenDOAR – Open Access Start

Google Scholar Start
Working Papers/Discussion Papers/Journal article

Social Sciences Research Network: http://www.ssrn.com

Repec: http://econpapers.repec.org

EconStor: http://www.econstor.eu/ ZBW Open Access
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Internet resources and the search for quality
 Autor: Who is the author? Where does she/he work? Is the
autor often cited in the context?
 Theme: Is this a academic text (reference list, citations etc.)?
 Source: Where did you find the text? Academic journal or
academic book of a known publisher? Is there a peer review
process applied?
 Content: Is the text objective? Is it up to date?
 Presentation: Is the text readable/ well written? Are there
figures and tables/ charts?
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Internet resources and the search for quality
Study „World Wide Wissenschaft“ (2011): Criteria for the relevance of search
results for researchers (orange) and students (blue):
Up-to-dateness
Reputation of the journal
Reputation of the autor
Number of citations
Downloads
http://zbw.eu/fileadmin/pdf/ueber-uns/world-wide-wissenschaft-zbw-studie.pdf
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Internet resources and the search for quality
Favorite journals of the ULB in economics (by access):
No. Name of the journal
Price p.a.
Access
online
605 €
2.278
Journal of financial economics
3.178 €
1.606
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Economics letters
2.998 €
1.473
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Journal of economic theory
4.634 €
1.401
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Journal of economic behavior & organization
3.045 €
1.321
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Journal of monetary economics
2.562 €
1.259
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Quarterly journal of economics
477 €
1.141
1
Journal of political economy
2
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Internet resources and the search for quality
Impact Factors (SSCI) in economics
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Internet resources and the search for quality
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Internet resources and the search for quality
A wiki is a website that provides collaborative modification of its
content (e.g. wikipedia)
Central Characteristics:
 Radical Trust and openness
 Combination of discours and content is possible
 Evolution instead of editorial staff
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Tips
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_capital
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Outlook
Reference Manager Citavi
… for structured handling of research results
http://www.citavi.de/en/index.html
Videos in english:
Citavi in a nutshell (german subtitles)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3vbWIcljDQ
Citavi Tutorial 1 to 5 – Part 1:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ob1GqK8ASU8
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Recommended literature
Academic research and writing:
Bui, Y. N. (2014). How to write a master's thesis (2. ed.). Los Angeles, Calif. [u.a.]: Sage.
Shelf mark: 2014/6533 Book in bonnus
Davis, M. (2005). Scientific papers and presentations (2. ed.). San Diego [u.a.]: Academic Press.
Shelf mark: 2005/25353 (Nussallee) Book in bonnus
Oliver, P. (2014). Writing your thesis (3. ed.). Los Angeles, Calif. [u.a.]: Sage.
Shelf mark: 2014/6537 Book in bonnus
Oregon School Library Information System (2016). Evaluating Websites.
Video auf https://vimeo.com/173822218
Oregon School Library Information System (2016). Using Wikipedia for Research.
Video auf https://vimeo.com/173812953
Oregon School Library Information System (2016). What is a Library Research Database?
Video auf https://vimeo.com/173813761
Writing in english:
Gallagher, J. D., Mackenzie, L., Siepmann, D., & Hannay, M. (2011) Writing in English: A Guide for Advanced
Learners (2. ed.). A. Francke.
Shelf mark: 2011/9011 Book and E-Book in bonnus
Macgilchrist, F. (2014). Academic writing . Paderborn: Schöningh.
Shelf mark: Allg Ba 9 Book and E-Book in bonnus
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Thank you for your attention.
I wish you every success in your work
Subject librarian for economics, social science and political science
Christian Matlage, M.Sc., M.A.
https://www.ulb.uni-bonn.de/
[email protected]
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