Introduction
This guide is intended as an introduction to books, journals, and electronic sources available for Health and Bioscience topics. It has been prepared by the Liaison Librarian for the LSE Health| and BIOS| research centres, Rowena Macrae-Gibson|. If you have any queries about this guide, or need further help with finding information on health & bioscience topics then email Rowena Macrae-Gibson|
You can also find further help in the Library-just ask at the Library Help Desk on the First floor, or you can email our general enquiries helpdesk via our Web enquiry form|.
You can also book on one of our Library Skills courses during term time at our Information Skills| page.
Why not maximise your use of our online resources via the Library Companion for Students| in Moodle. Here you'll find further online help including using Library resources, top tips on online databases, formulating search strategies and getting the most out of your internet searching.
For further in-depth research advice take a look at the Library Companion for Researchers|
The Library Catalogue
The Library Catalogue| includes printed material and electronic books held by the Library. Search by author, title, series, keyword, or by journal title. Use Advanced Search for more additional keyword search options.
New to the Library? Why not try our online tutorial on using the Catalogue. This will help you to search the catalogue effectively and show you how to request and renew books and to see your own Library record
Finding books
Most books have a classmark which represents its subject. Health and medical topics tend to be shelved in the section beginning with R, with more social aspects of Medicine shelved in the section beginning RA.
Scientific topics are usually shelved in the sections beginning Q, and technological subjects in the sections beginning with T.
However you will also find a lot of relevant material in our Intergovernmental Organisations| section (such as WHO reports) and Governmental sections.
For best results look for your topic on the Library Catalogue|.
Reading lists
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There is a separate Course Collection for essential and background readings on reading lists that is only accessible by LSE staff and students in term time. Some background readings may be located as Recommended Texts in the Main Collection.
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You can short-cut the searching for reading list books by clicking on the 'Reading lists' link on the Library Catalogue
Finding printed journals and electronic journals
Use the 'periodical title browse' option on the Library Catalogue search screen. You will see details of both print and online journals-it's important to remember that not all titles are available electronically, or not available for all years so you may need to use both printed and online journals.
If you wish to restrict your search to just our online titles then go to the Electronic journals| page for full-text electronic journals. Look through the alphabetical lists or search by title to go to a specific journal. Search by title keyword to find relevant journals, or choose Social & Behavioural Sciences from the drop down subject category listing to see Sociology titles, or Health & Biological Sciences to see more scientific titles.
A few key titles are listed below: For access either go to the Journal shelves at the classmark listed, or look up the title in our Electronic journals| portal.
You will notice that some titles are available via more than one service-and that sometimes date coverage varies. Make sure you choose the correct access for the dates you require.
Finding journal articles and using online information sources
Journal articles are not generally indexed on the Library Catalogue, so look for the journal in which the article was published.
If you are doing research on a topic and do not have a reading list then you will probably need to use one of our electronic databases. Do not assume a simple Google search will find all articles - the Library provides powerful searches which include Google Scholar and more. Our databases cover materials from a wide range of publishers so can give you more information than you will retrieve from an individual publisher's e-journal site. Some databases will link to the full text of article - look out for the orange LSE Article Finder button 
- but some will give you bibliographic details only. Databases can also include information on book reviews, book chapters, grey literature, government reports, theses and so on.
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The Library provides a searching service for LSE staff and students called Cross Searcher that searches the content of a number of selected databases and resources. This can be used to find journal articles, and where available, links through to the full text, using the LSE article finder orange button:
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Not all useful resources for Bioscience and Health topics are available via Cross Searcher. For the widest research you can see a full list of Health and Bioscience Databases via the Library catalogue, or use the list below.
Some of the more important databases for health and bioscience topics are listed below-you may also want to look at the subject guides for Economics, Government|, Sociology and Social Policy| to see databases for related areas.
On campus links have been provided for each database but you can also access our subscription databases via the Electronic Resources Page. You will need to enter your LSE username & password to logon.
You will notice that some of the databases listed below are freely available-these do not require LSE subscriptions or passwords and can be accessed generally.
AgeInfo|
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Content: Compiled by the AgeInfo Information Service at the Library and Information Service of the Centre for Policy on Ageing in the UK.
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Coverage: Includes references to the specialist collection on Social Gerontology held at the Centre
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Access: Library Catalogue or above link
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Not available via Cross Searcher
Ageline|
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Content: Compiled by the American Association of Retired Persons. Includes social gerontology and ageing related topics such as sociology, health and law
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Coverage: Abstracts and references to journal articles, book chapters and reports
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Access: above link Link. Freely available
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Date Range: 1978-
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Features
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Thesaurus available, both within the database as a pdf file
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Journal list available
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Not available via Cross Searcher
Autism Data|
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Content: Supplied by the National Autistic Society.
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Coverage: References to over 17,000 research papers, journal articles and other materials on autism, including bibliographic details of all the holdings from the National Autistic Society Information Centre Library
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Access: Library Catalogue or above link. Freely available
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Features
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Not available via Cross Searcher
Cochrane Library|
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Content: Mostly medical & psychological topics in a collection of evidence-based medicine databases including the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. Includes withdrawn information
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Access: Library Catalogue or above link. Freely available via the National Library for Health
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Features
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Thesaurus available, both within the database as a pdf file
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Journal list available
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Searches can be saved to rerun at a later date
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MeSH Searching available
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Not available via Cross Searcher
CAB Direct|
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Content: Includes the databases Rural Development Abstracts and Full Text Extra. Health researchers may find this database useful for broader global health issues - it is not a specific bioscience database. Coverage is mostly ICT and development, development organizations and aid; rural industry, rural sociology and agricultural development.
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Coverage: references to journal articles, reports and research covering all areas of rural development worldwide.
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Access: Catalogue or Above link
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Date Range: Rural Development Abstracts covers 1990-
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Features
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Results can be exported directly into EndNote
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Thesaurus available
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Saved searches & RSS feeds available (must register with CAB Direct first)
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Links to Delicious and Cite-U-Like services
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Not on Cross Searcher
International bibliography of history of science, technology, and medicine|
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Content: Combines four different databases (including one from the Wellcome Library) on the history of science, technology and medicine
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Coverage: Abstracts and references to journal articles, conference proceedings and book details
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Access: Library Catalogue or above link
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Date range: 1975-
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Features
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LSE Article Finder available
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Results can be imported into Endnote
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Searches can be saved to rerun at a later date (you must register with OCLC to do this)
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Same interface as other OCLC databases-so some cross searching available
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Not available via Cross Searcher
ISI Citation Indexes via the Web Of Knowledge|
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Content: There are 3 ISI files which can be cross searched: Science, Social Science and Arts & Humanities.
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Coverage: Abstracts and references to journal articles and book reviews
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Access: Available via Cross Searcher or above link.
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Date range: 1956-
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Updates: Weekly
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Features
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Links to full text articles via LSE Article Finder
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Available via Cross Searcher
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Enables citation searching in addition to searching by keyword
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Results can be exported directly into Endnote
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Searches can be saved to rerun at a later date
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Set up citation alerts to inform you of new entries citing your key papers
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Can simultaneously search Medline
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Also Available the ISI Conference Proceedings database for Science and Technology only
National Library for Health|
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Content: The digital library of health related resources for the UK public, NHS staff and patients. It provides access to health related news stories, UK government health policy documents, NHS guidelines on health care and a number of databases relating to medical care and health
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Coverage: LSE Library has access to the freely available sections of the website-there is no access to any parts of the site requiring an Athens login.
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Access: Library Catalogue or above link. Freely available
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Features:
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Not available via Cross Searcher
Popline|
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Content: Maintained by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health/Center for Communication Programs. Covers reproductive health, demography, and related areas.
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Coverage: References and abstracts to journal articles, books, reports and unpublished reports. Some links to full text.
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Access: Library Catalogue or above link. Freely available
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Date Range: Main coverage from 1970, although some coverage dates back to 1872
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Updates: Every Monday
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Features:
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RSS feeds available
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Thesaurus available
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Can restrict to peer reviewed titles
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Not available via Cross Searcher
PsycInfo|
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Content: Premium database for Psychology & Psychiatry
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Coverage: Abstracts and references to journal articles, conferences, book reviews, some theses and chapters from edited books
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Access: Available via Cross Searcher or above link
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Date range: 1872- (Book chapter information from 1987-)
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Updates: Weekly
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Features
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Thesaurus available
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Available via Cross Searcher
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Links to full text articles via LSE Article Finder
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Results can be imported into Endnote
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Searches can be saved to rerun at a later date
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Automatic search updates & RSS feeds-personal login required
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Available via EBSCO so can cross search with their other databases
PubMed Medline|
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Content: Premium medical database supplied by the National Library of Medicine
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Coverage: Abstracts and references to journal articles and book reviews
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Access: Available via Cross Searcher or above link. Freely available online
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Date range: 1966- (although some articles from 1950s are included)
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Updates: Variable throughout the year, but usually daily or weekly
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Features
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Limited systematic review searching available, although topics are more geared towards clinical trials & evidence based medicine
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Directly searchable via Endnote
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Some links to full text articles
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MeSH searching available
ScienceDirect|
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Content: Full text access to a large range of journals, books and some reference materials, mostly medical and scientific, although a good range of social science material is available
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Coverage: Full text of the majority of articles, abstracts and references to unsubscribed titles
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Access: Available via Cross Searcher or above link
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Date range: 1996- (although dates vary, some titles will start from 1993, whilst others may start later than 1996)
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Updates: At least weekly
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Features
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LSE Article Linker available
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Results can be downloaded directly into Endnote
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'My Profile' option allows personalisation
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Automatic search alerts are available
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Journal table of contents alerting service available
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Citation searching available (but not as complex as the ISI Citation Indexes above)
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Cross searching with some reference works available
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Includes pre-publication and proof material
You will find references to African topics in most of the databases already mentioned on this page. However there are some specific African resources which you will find useful.
Quarterly Index of African Periodical Literature. Produced by the Library of Congress & indexes over 300 titles. http://lcweb2.loc.gov/misc/qsihtml/|
AfricaBib Indexes nearly 500 titles
http://www.africabib.org/africa.html|
African Journals online http://www.ajol.info/|
Database of African Theses and Dissertations (DATAD)- http://www.aau.org/datad/|
All these resources are freely available-use the links above or log on via the Library Delicious account at http://delicious.com/LSELibrary/africa| to see a fuller listing of useful resources for African topics
Newspapers
For back runs of newspapers you will need to use the Nexis News database. Please note though, that this service is text only and does not include any images. The British Library Newspaper Library at Colindale| has back-runs of London, British provincial and some overseas newspapers. If you need to see particular images or illustrations from back runs of newspapers then you may need to visit the British Library Newspaper Library at Colindale
Discover some freely available news sources|
On campus links have been provided for each database but you can also access these databases via the Library Catalogue.
Nexis (formerly Lexis Nexis News)|
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Content: Newspapers in text form only
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Coverage: News
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Access: Library Catalogue or above link
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Date range: Variable from 1980-
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Updates: Overnight for daily newspapers
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Features
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2 databases are available: News (global news sources) and Butterworths (also includes legal information)
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Not available via Cross Searcher
Older material from The Times can be accessed via the Times Digital Archive-this is a facsimile of the newspaper so includes all images, adverts etc.
Times Digital Archive|
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Content: The Times in full text
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Access: Library Catalogue or above link
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Date range: Variable from 1785-1985
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Not available via Cross Searcher
Conferences
Some of the other databases mentioned above may index conferences but for a fuller service use one of the databases below.
On campus links have been provided for each database but you can also access our subscription databases via the Electronic Resources Page.
Note that some organisations may make their conference papers freely available online. Try searching for the homepage of your requested organisation.
ZETOC|
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Content: Table of contents database listing all titles in all subject areas stocked by the British Library. Huge range of topics
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Access: Available via Cross Searcher or above link
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Date range: 1993-
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Updates: Daily
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Features
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No keywords or abstracts, so search strategies can be limited
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LSE Article Finder available-for journals only
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Includes conference details
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Automatic search alerts and journal table of contents alerts are available
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Directly searchable from within Endnote. Results can also be imported
ISI Conference Proceedings via the Web Of Knowledge|
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Content: Conference proceedings for Science and Technology only
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Coverage: Abstracts and references to conference papers and reports
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Access: Available via Cross Searcher or above link
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Date range: 1990-
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Updates: Weekly
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Features
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Results can be exported directly into Endnote
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Searches can be saved to rerun at a later date
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Set up citation alerts to inform you of new entries citing your key papers
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Includes pre-prints if the conference papers are not yet published
Discover some freely available conference portals|
Theses
Some of the other databases mentioned above will index theses in addition to journal articles, book reviews etc. The resources listed below will give access to the fullest UK & US bibliographic theses data, however.
On campus links have been provided for each database but you can also access our subscription databases via the Electronic Resources Page.
African, Australian, Canadian & Hong Kong theses databases are also listed on the Library catalogue
Proquest Dissertations and Theses|
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Content: PhD, M.Phil & Masters theses/dissertations, mostly from North America, but titles from other areas are included. Previously called Digital Dissertations
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Coverage: LSE subscribes to the Humanities and Social Sciences sub-set, but brief details are available for more recent years in all topic areas
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Access: Available via Cross Searcher or above link
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Date range: Some nineteenth century details are available
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Features
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Includes 24 page previews in pdf format from 1997
Index to Theses|
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Content: UK & Irish PhD & M.Phil theses
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Access: Library Catalogue or above link
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Date range: 1716- (N.B. Abstracts included from 1986 onwards, although many are now being added prior to this date)
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Features:
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Alerting service available
LSE Theses are indexed on the Library Catalogue|. Choose the 'set search limits' button and then select 'theses' from the Collections menu to limit your search to just theses
University of London Theses are housed in the off site store of Senate House Library. You can use the Senate House Library catalogue| to search for theses awarded by the University of London
Discover some freely available theses databases|
Finding books not held by LSE Library
You can search Library catalogues from all over the world to identify material. If you can't get to the holding Library, then you can always request material via our Inter Library Loan| service.
See our page on using other libraries| for links to other University & National Libraries and useful links
The two databases below allow you to search for material from several different Libraries.
COPAC|
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Content: Library catalogues of major UK research libraries
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Coverage: Cross search the catalogues of over 20 large research libraries, including the British Library, LSE, British Library, UCL, Kings, Wellcome Library etc
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Access: Freely available
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Features
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Results can be imported into Endnote-can also be searched directly from Endnote
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Book availability for most Libraries- i.e. you can see if something is listed as being available or on loan
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Better interface than the British Library's own catalogue
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Can cross search Library catalogues rather than searching each individually
World cat|
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Content: worldwide Library catalogues
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Coverage: If it's stocked by a member library, then you will see it-be prepared for frustration on locating obscure items though
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Access: Library Catalogue or above link
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Date range: literally 1066 and All that follows
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Updates: Daily
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Features
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Results can be imported into Endnote
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Searches can be saved to rerun at a later date (you must register with OCLC to do this)
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Cross searching available with the other OCLC FirstSearch databases to which LSE subscribes
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Not available via Cross Searcher
Current Research
ESRC society today| has a page indicating current, UK-based, ESRC-funded research
LSE Research Online| is a collection of research produced by LSE staff. It often contains content which is full text and freely available. This is constantly updated and displayed below are examples of some of the most recently added items, or you can see research added from the BIOS Research Centre|:
and LSE Health|:
If you are interested in including your own research please contact staff at lseresearchonline@lse.ac.uk|
Working Papers
Many organizations working papers are listed on the Library Catalogue, but increasing numbers of working papers are available online|. Take a look at our listings to see an overview of what's available within Health| and Bioscience|.
Data
The Data Library contains a wide range of data and statistics from across the globe. Access is usually available online but in some cases only available from specific machines in the Library itself. All resources can be found via the Data Library webpages. There is also a Moodle course called the Library Companion for Data Users| that will help you locate resources.
The Data Librarian is also available to assist with any queries you may have about finding data or using individual resources.
Organising your references
Once you have found your references, keep track of them using EndNote bibliographic software|. Use EndNote to store and organise your references to books and journals, and to create your citations, footnotes, bibliographies and reading lists in Word. EndNote works with Word to format your references automatically. You can also export references from many online databases directly into Endnote.
Why not book a place| on one of our hands on courses.
Using other libraries
If you are an LSE student you will be able to use most other libraries of the University of London. There may also be other specialist libraries and collections you might be able to visit, such as the Library of the Wellcome Institute| for medical and Health topics. Once you have joined the Wellcome Library you will have access to their printed and online collections-some of their online resources such as Nature can be accessed outside of the Wellcome library.
To find out more look at the Library's web pages on other libraries|, or ask at the Help Desk.
Useful Web Sites
BioMed Central http://www.biomedcentral.com/home/|
BioMed Central is an open access repository of peer reviewed journals. Access is free, but you must register with the site first. Once registered you can create your own profile. Search results can be saved into Endnote
BioEthics Web http://bioethicsweb.ac.uk/|
Virtual Library Biosciences http://vlib.org/Biosciences|
http://www.bio.com/| News, features and analysis within life sciences
http://library.wur.nl/bioethics/| Bioethhics portal
Web portals from Intute http://www.intute.ac.uk/healthandlifesciences/|
International Forum for Genetic Engineering http://www.ifgene.org|
Pro GM http://www.cropgen.org/|
http://www.freemedicaljournals.com/| Freely available medical journals
Directory of open access journals http://www.doaj.org/|
UK PubMed Central-a new initiative to provide a free repository of biomedical and life sciences articles http://ukpmc.ac.uk/|
This is a very short list of what's available-take a look at the Library's Health| and BIOS| areas at Delicious for more useful web sites
Online tutorials
Polish up your web hunting skills with online tutorials for biosciences|, health and social care| , health and wellbeing| and medicine|
Learn how to evaluate online resources with the Online Internet Detective| tutorial