Quest, the Series: How to Plan Your Online Research – The Goldilocks Rule (Part 3)

The Goldilocks Rule, Part 3 in the Quest series, is intended to address the second broad category of online research … Following new developments in your field

The most time-effective way to follow innovative developments in your field is to create email alerts.

Two of the best places to create these alerts ,..

Google® Scholar (https://scholar.google.com)
ScienceDirect (www.sciencedirect.com)

TIP #1: The Goldilocks rule
The Goldilocks principle is named by analogy to the children's story The Three Bears, in which a little girl named Goldilocks tastes three different bowls of porridge and finds that she prefers porridge that is neither too hot nor too cold, but has just the right temperature.
source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goldilocks_principle

In the online research context, the Goldilocks rule means designing your search strategy to yield just the right amount of results … not too many, and not too few, but just the right amount.

Apply the Goldilocks rule when creating your alerts. That way, you are less likely to dread wading through all the alerts in your inbox, while still managing to stay on top of interesting developments.

How to set up alerts in …
Google® Scholar

• Visit Google® Scholar (https://scholar.google.com/)
• Perform a search. For example, dibenzothiophene
• Click the Create alert link, located in the left hand column of the results page
• Enter your email address
• Click the Create alert link

How to set up alerts in …
ScienceDirect
NOTE: ScienceDirect alerts can be set up for free. But they are especially useful if your organization subscribes … then you can jump from the abstract to the full text. Ask your librarian

• Visit ScienceDirect (https://www.sciencedirect.com/)
• Perform a search. For example, dibenzothiophene
• Click the search icon
• On the results page, click the Set search alert link
• Click the Create an account link (or, if you have registered in the past, enter ID and password)
• This returns you to the results page
• Click the Set search alert link
• Name your alert
• Click Save

TIP #2: Read your email alerts every day. If you find them piling up unread, consider modifying your search statement.

Your purpose is to make yourself aware of important developments, not to do a literature search. Tips on performing a comprehensive search on your topic will appear in subsequent posts.

TIP #3: When you spot an interesting item in your email alert, read it. You may want to find other papers on that particular topic, or by the paper’s authors.

Google® Tip: Weeding gmail

Have you ever deleted several hundred emails from your gmail account and wished you hadn’t?

I have. (this tag line is comedian Tom Papa’s trademark … thanks, Tom.)

Seriously, I accumulated several hundred Google® Scholar alerts over the past couple of years, all of which I kept “just in case.”

Finally deciding to do some end of year house cleaning, I began searching my gmail account for all my Google® Scholar alerts so I could delete them. To my dismay, a simple search for google scholar alerts netted a number of emails that were not Google® Scholar alerts, and which I wanted to keep.

I really did not want to go through page after page of results to uncheck each item I wanted to keep. As I was fussing and fuming, I noticed, at the end of the page, a phrase in very small font which said … and I quote …

Improve result with search options such as sender, date, size and more.

I clicked on the link, which brought up a form with a bunch of options. I filled in the sender box with the Google® Scholar sending email address (scholaralerts-noreply@google.com). To my delight, this resulted in all of the Google® Scholar alerts I wanted to delete, WITHOUT the emails I wanted to keep.

So, here is the procedure …

GMAIL Weeding Procedure Using Advanced Filters
Enter your search string in the Gmail search mail box as usual
Scroll to the bottom of the page
Click the link in the phrase Improve result with search options such as sender, date, size and more.
Fill in the resulting form as appropriate for your purposes

15 Ton, and Whaddya Get: A Year End Review of the Desulf Blog’s Top Posts

As we approach the final moments of 2018, and look toward 2019 with a mixture of hope and dread, let’s take a look at the Desulfurization Blog’s top 15 posts of the year.

When I look at lists like this, I sometimes wonder how we got to where we are.  But then my optimism kicks in, and I imagine how such a review can improve the Blog going forward.

So, for what it’s worth, the top 15 for 2018.

Post Title	Post Date
How Crude: Crude to Chemicals	2/23/2018
A recent press release alerts us to a joint effort between CB&I, Chevron Lummus Global, and Saudi Aramco to develop crude to chemicals processes.  Aramco has been working on this effort for at least a decade.
Sweet and Sour: Designing for a sourer future	4/9/2018
In the Q2 2018 edition of PTQ – Petroleum Technology Quarterly (http://www.eptq.com/ ) is an article by Fluor's Debopam Chaudhuri And Srinivasa Oruganti called "Designing for a sourer future"
The Cost of KAUST	4/20/2018
King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, or KAUST, is an ambitious attempt by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to create a leadership role in science and technology. With an endowment of $20 billion, it attracts academic talent from the U.S.A., China, the U.K. and Canada, as well as from within Saudi Arabia itself.
AI-AI-OH: Machine Learning in Catalysis	4/26/2018
AI – Artificial Intelligence – is on the cusp of transforming everything we do. Machine learning is one aspect of that transformation.  In Machine Learning In Catalysis, John R. Kitchin (Nature Catalysis, 2018), presents an excellent overview of machine learning in catalysis, especially as it pertains to such industrial processes as syngas processing.
Building a Better Bypass: Aramco’s Crude to Chemicals Play	7/24/2018
A recent Reuters article describes Aramco's push into chemicals by teaming with petrochemicals giant SABIC to build a complex that converts crude oil into chemicals directly, bypassing the refining stage.
SAMREF and Sulfur	2/6/2018
The February 2018 issue of Hydrocarbon Engineering features an article that highlights the Saudi Aramco ExxonMobil Refinery (SAMREF Refinery.)
You Are So Transparent (And That’s a Good Thing)	5/2/2018
The mission of open access sites like PLOS-Public Library of Science (http://journals.plos.org/) is to breach the cost barrier and promote the free flow of peer reviewed research. Granted, the focus of PLOS seems to be on medical research. And yet, even so, an article by ExxonMobil researchers Prosset and Hedgpeth, is a part of the trove of treasures in this collection.
Researching ExxonMobil: Cast a Wide (Inter)net	5/7/2018
Following ExxonMobil’s technological research is not the easiest thing to do. Your best bet is to set up a Google® Scholar (https://scholar.google.com) email alert. Be prepared for some heavy slogging. While some results will be journal articles, most of them will be patents.
Conference Alert: You Can’t Get There From Here (Actually, You Can)	7/12/2018
Borders are a big deal. However, if you plan ahead, you can get to where you need to go. Por ejemplo, the Abu Dhabi International Downstream - Summit 2018, 3-5 September 2018, described below, will require a visa to attend. Here are instructions on how to acquire said document.
ExxonMobil Scrapes Bottom … Bottom of the Barrel, That Is	5/19/2018
ExxonMobil’s Energy Factor, May 15, 2018, has a fascinating description of the use of Fourier Transform Ion Cyclotron Resonance Mass Spectrometry to identify “bottom-of-the barrel” molecules in order to produce premium products like gasoline or jet fuel.
Use Your Human Intelligence to Make Artificial Intelligence Work for You	4/29/2018
AI remains out of reach of most individuals. Until we can create AI macros as easily as Word macros, the use of AI at the individual level will be limited. No doubt that capability will be created by some clever startup.  Until that day, here are some tips on how to use existing automation to your advantage. This is not the same as AI.  But it does mimic it.  Think of it as human intelligence on steroids.
Egg Samples: Results of Recent email Alerts	3/21/2018
Further to a previous post [Keep Alert (http://desulf.blogspot.com/2018/03/keep-alert-its-not-that-hard.html)] on the value of creating email alerts, here are the results from two recent email alerts that landed in my inbox.
Keep Alert (It's Not That Hard)	3/18/2018
Keeping up with technological developments in any given field can be a full time job.  But, unless it IS your full time job, you need to find short cuts.
The World Beckons: 3 World Refining Association Conferences for 2018	1/31/2018
The World Refining Association (www.wraconferences.com/ ) sponsors a number of conferences each year, including the three listed in this post
Catalysis: The Series	1/5/2018
The overarching goal of the Desulfurization Blog (www.desulf.blogspot.com ) is to offer tips and tricks on how to save time in your never ending quest to stay on top of developments in your field of interest.  In that time saving vein, the following list provides easy access to each of the posts we produced on Catalysis.  Not every post will interest you.  But when you see one that does, you can just click the link and go right to it

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Jean Steinhardt served as Librarian, Aramco Services, Engineering Division, for 13 years. He now heads Jean Steinhardt Consulting LLC, producing the same high quality research that he performed for Aramco.

Follow Jean’s blog at: http://desulf.blogspot.com/  for continuing tips on effective online research
Email Jean at research@jeansteinhardtconsulting.com  with questions on research, training, or anything else
Visit Jean’s Web site at http://www.jeansteinhardtconsulting.com/  to see examples of the services we can provide