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Course Syllabus

Bachelor 2019/2020

Information Systems

Type: Compulsory course (Sociology and Social Informatics)
Area of studies: Sociology
Delivered by: Department of Sociology
Where: Saint-Petersburg School of Social Sciences
When: 2 year, 2, 3 module
Mode of studies: distance learning
Instructors: Daniil A. Alexandrov, Alla Loseva
Language: English
ECTS credits: 4
Contact hours: 40

Course Syllabus

Full Syllabus

Abstract

During the course, the students learn to apply information resources and specialized software to preparing analytical literature reviews (bibliographic databases – Web of Science, Scopus) and reviewing the media data (news databases – Integrum, Factiva). We discuss the strategies of information retrieval and the principles of organizing literature review, including the citation practices. The large part of the course is devoted to the principles of working with bibliographic databases: composing search query to gather citation data, using the in-built instruments to analyze scientific trends, exporting the data from the database. Using the obtained data, students practice building citation maps in the scientific landscape visualizing software (VOSviewer and CitNetExplorer) and write a literature review in a chosen field. A separate part of the course is devoted to working with news databases. In the last chapter of the course, the strategies of literature synthesis and writing the review are discussed.
Learning Objectives

Learning Objectives

  • To introduce the methods of working with academic and news databases, conducting systematic literature searches and preparing literature reviews
Expected Learning Outcomes

Expected Learning Outcomes

  • work with bibliographic and news databases;
  • find relevant data and academic literature
  • apply network methods to analyze citation data
  • use the results of analysis to prepare literature reviews
  • find relevant data and academic literature;
  • apply network methods to analyze citation data;
  • use the results of analysis to prepare literature reviews.
Course Contents

Course Contents

  • Principles of literature review organization
    Lecture 1. Introduction to reviewing the literature. Principles of writing a literature review. Seminar 1. Course organization and policies. Academic ethics and plagiarism. Resources for information retrieval. Working with HSE e-resources. Working in the computer class.
  • Principles of working with citation databases (Web of Science and Scopus)
    Seminar 2. From research interest to research topic: constructing subject and object of research. Adapting the topic for bibliographic databases: keywords. Tutorial 1. Introduction to bibliographic databases. Writing a query. Tutorial 2. Topic detective game. Topic focusing and expanding. Optimizing the scope of the review. Filtering results. Seminar 3. Academic citations. Working with citation software. Zotero/Mendeley. Seminar 4. Introduction to bibliographic networks. Citation practices. Predecessors/successors in citation networks. Network clustering.
  • Creating bibliographic maps in VOSViewer and CitNetExplorer
    Seminars 5&6. Exporting search results. VOSviewer interface. Term maps. Co-citation and bibliographic coupling maps. Tutorial 3. Interpreting VOSviewer maps. Tutorials 4&5. CitNetExplorer. Dynamics in citation networks.
  • Principles of working with news databases (Integrum, Factiva)
    Seminar 7. Working with the news databases. Tutorial 6. Studying the dynamics of the research field.
  • Strategies of literature synthesis and writing techniques
    Seminars 8&9. Academic reading and writing tips. Structuring a literature review. Seminar 10. Discussing excerpts from literature reviews. Seminars 11&12. Mini-conference: sharing preliminary results. Discussing assessment criteria. Seminar 13. Q&A session.
Assessment Elements

Assessment Elements

  • non-blocking Home Assignment (HA) 1
  • non-blocking In-class Assignment
  • non-blocking Home Assignment 2,3,4
    The average grade for the HA 2, 3, 4, as well as the resulting grade are rounded arithmetically.
  • non-blocking Home Assignment 5
  • non-blocking Conference paper and presentation
  • non-blocking Final project
    экзамен состоялся в марте 2020 года
Interim Assessment

Interim Assessment

  • Interim assessment (3 module)
    0.15 * Conference paper and presentation + 0.3 * Final project + 0.1 * Home Assignment (HA) 1 + 0.25 * Home Assignment 2,3,4 + 0.1 * Home Assignment 5 + 0.1 * In-class Assignment
Bibliography

Bibliography

Recommended Core Bibliography

  • Davies, J., Goker, A., & Wiley InterScience (Online service). (2009). Information Retrieval : Searching in the 21st Century. Chichester, U.K.: Wiley. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=308933
  • Wang, G. T., & Park, K. (2016). Student Research and Report Writing : From Topic Selection to the Complete Paper. West Sussex: Wiley-Blackwell. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=1108252

Recommended Additional Bibliography

  • Martín-Martín, A., Orduna-Malea, E., Thelwall, M., & López-Cózar, E. D. (2018). Google Scholar, Web of Science, and Scopus: a systematic comparison of citations in 252 subject categories. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joi.2018.09.002