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Diving into Chemical Literature, 1,0 credit

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This course syllabus was confirmed by The Research Programmes Board at the Faculty of Science 11 December 2023. The course is in the third cycle and amounts to 1 credit.
The course syllabus is formally approved in Swedish. This is a translation.

Learning outcomes

The goal of the course is to enhance the doctoral students' knowledge in literature searching. Participants will be introduced to the coverage, precision and quality of different search engines and learn how to improve their literature searches through a structured customisation of keywords and the use of different search operators. The course also discusses the advantages and disadvantages of different search strategies, tools, and databases.
Upon completing the course, the participant should be able to:

Knowledge and understanding

Describe, at an overall level, the advantages and disadvantages of different types of search tools (bibliographic search tools, subject-specific and interdisciplinary search tools, publishers' own search tools, academic search services such as Google Scholar, etc.) in terms of coverage/recall, content quality, and the ability to narrow down a search
Understand the concepts of precision and recall

Competens and skills

Formulate a structured search query consisting of appropriate keywords and search operators and, if necessary, adapt it to different search tools
Utilize search techniques relevant to the subject, such as phrase searching, Boolean operators (AND/OR), truncation, masking, and more

Judgement and approach

Evaluate and adjust their search to achieve the right balance between precision and recall.
Compare search results in different search tools to evaluate the choice of search tool, strategy, and query

Course content

The course consists of a series of lectures that cover available databases relevant to chemistry, search strategies, and relevant search terms within chemistry. Additionally, there is a brief project where participants conduct a preliminary search with an associated search strategy within their research field.

Forms of instructions

Teaching consists of lectures (auditorium lectures or pre-recorded films) and a written assignment followed by oral feedback. The submission and participation in the feedback session are mandatory.

Forms of assessment

Assessment takes place in the form of a written assignment and participation in oral feedback. Participants who fail the assessment will be offered another opportunity for assessment soon thereafter.

Grades

The grading scale for the course is Pass or Fail. To pass the course a passed written assignment and participation in oral feedback is required.

Language of instruction

The course is given in English.

Entry requirements

-

Course responsible teacher and unit/division

Fredrik Larsson
Email: fredrik.larsson@science.lu.se

From February 2024, Kurt Mattsson

Email: kurt.mattsson@science.lu.se

Department of Chemistry, KILU

Do you have questions? Please contact viveka.alfredsson@chem.lu.se