Using Open Access - Finding Trustworthy Online Resources

Why Should You Attend:

It is difficult to know where to begin when searching for resources on a specific topic. A vast amount of prior knowledge exists and most of it has been published somewhere. Before the Internet, a person would find the journal article on a pivotal study from which subsequent studies were born. The list of references in this article provided a reasonable “literature search.” But now, an incredible volume of articles, reports, and books are uploaded to the Internet daily. The quest to find useful information can be overwhelming. Just as daunting, is determining which studies and publications have credence and are respected in their fields, and which ones are not trustworthy.

Many scientists and scholars have learned shortcuts to reliable information at minimal cost in time and money. A new avenue toward published materials has developed in the past decade or so. It has made available many written materials for everyone to access. The authors of these materials agree to this open access in the spirit of disseminating information for the benefit of all. But not all publications and authors are yet comfortable with open access. They want hard-earned data, methods, and results to come at a price.

This webinar covers mainly open access but gives tips on finding closed access information. The goal of all information seekers is to access the information they need at a minimal cost. This webinar includes tips on accessing materials available only by paying high subscription or membership fees.

Learning Objectives:

• Learn about the best and most trustworthy open access resources
• Understand how to identify untrustworthy resources
• Know how to gain access to hard-to-find materials

Areas Covered in the Webinar:

• The top open access websites
• Advantages and disadvantages of using open access
• Cautionary information on open access resources
• Hybrid open access
• Introduction to open access images, copyright, and fair use
• Tips on how to get materials from “closed access” resources

Who Will Benefit:

Anyone doing online searches in professional or scholarly pursuits needs help in finding faster and more comprehensive ways to sort through publications. The main people to benefit are:

• Students
• Researchers
• Scientists
• Journal article authors
• Patent researchers
• Writers
• Journalists

Anne E Maczulak
Principal Consultant, Acorn GLP Consulting

Anne Maczulak, PhD, RQAP-GLP is a Technical & Medical Writer for the pharmaceutical and consumer products industries. She has 30 years of experience as a bench scientist in R&D, participating scientist in GLP studies, and Quality Assurance professional. Anne began her career as a microbiologist for companies conducting FDA-regulated studies and EPA-regulated studies. She transitioned into consulting as an independent QA professional, auditing studies and facilities for GLP compliance as well as training employees in scientific communication. She now focuses solely on teaching scientists how to improve their communication skills for preparing SOPs, technical articles, and corporate communications.

Anne is a member of the Society of Quality Assurance Board of Publications and the American Medical Writers Association. She is the author of 14 books on microbiology and the environment.

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