Periodicals BooksNewspapers Reference tools Online Databases
Printed Version Electronic Version Annual reports and other
publications. Slide 2 Most Online Databases provide the following
searching methods : Basic Search Advanced Search Publication Search
Slide 3 Basic Search is an ideal way to start with. Just think of a
word or phrase related to the information you're looking for and
type it into the designated field(s). Basic Search returns more
results, if your search terms can be found in anywhere of the
following: Abstract, Article Title, Author, Company/Organization,
Geographic Name, Subject, Personal Name, Product Name, Publication
Name. 1) Basic Search Slide 4 Basic Search Interface: Ebsco &
ProQuest Slide 5 Advanced Search is a powerful way to search with.
Enter your word or phrase, and use the fields to focus your search.
Slide 6 EbscoHost Advanced Search Slide 7 ProQuest Advanced Search
Slide 8 In a nutshell, to get most results, use A or B ; to get
results related only to A, use A not B ; to get results related to
both, use A and B Slide 9 Boolean Search Example one: A & B.
Only Articles with BOTH search terms are retrieved. 133 found.
Slide 10 Boolean Search Example two: A or B Articles with EITHER of
the search terms are retrieved. 8585 found. Slide 11 Boolean Search
Example three: A not B. Articles with only the required search term
are retrieved. 3822 found. Slide 12 Publication Search makes it
easy to find the latest issue or a specific back issue of a
particular periodical. 3) Publication Search Slide 13 General guide
to using a database: Key in any of the following: 1) Article Title
2) Subject 3) Author 4) Abstract 5) Article Text Decide if an
article is relevant by having a look at its title and abstract
first. Print or email marked article(s) for future reference
Mark/save useful article(s) to designated folder (one-off) or save
searches to a personal account (until you delete them) If needed,
set up an alert and be notified whenever new articles related to
your search are added to a database Slide 14 Glossary explained (1)
Boolean (Search) Operators: words (especially AND, OR, NOT) used to
expand or limit the results of a search. And - combines search
terms so that each search result contains all of the terms. For
example, education and technology finds articles that contain both
terms. Or - combines search terms so that each search result
contains at least one of the terms. For example, education or
technology finds results that contain either term. Not - excludes
terms so that each search result does not contain any of the terms
that follow it. For example, education not technology finds results
that contain the term education but not the term technology. Slide
15 Stop words: words, such as the, a, an, of, and with, that are
ignored in searches. Truncation/Wildcard: symbols (*/#/?) used to
return all values of a parameter. To use the ? wildcard, enter your
search terms and replace each unknown character with a ? ; to use
the # wildcard, enter your search terms, adding the # to where an
alternate spelling may contain an extra character ; to use
truncation, enter the root of a search term and replace the ending
with an *, which may also be used between words to match any word.
Glossary explained (2) Slide 16 Glossary explained (3)
Bibliographic citation: the information which identifies a book or
article, usually includes the author, title, publisher, and date ;
whereas the citation for an article includes the author, title of
the article, title of the periodical, volume, pages, and date.
Citation Styles: there are many styles and forms used to cite
sources used to support research. Most academic institutions have
standardized requirements for their students. Some of the most
widely used citation styles are APA, and MLA. Abstract: a brief
summary of a research article, thesis, review, conference
proceeding or any in-depth analysis of a particular subject or
discipline, and is often used to help the reader quickly ascertain
the paper's purpose. Slide 17 Glossary explained (4) Document ID:
aka Accession Number, a numeric code assigned to each article in a
database for retrieval purposes. Searchable in Advanced Search mode
only. Full-text: a term that indicates the availability of a
document that is electronically represented in its entirety in a
database. Whether or not images, graphs and charts are included
depends. Embargo: in academic publishing, an embargo is a period
during which online access through a host service is not available
or limited (e.g. subscription is needed, or only the abstract is
available). Slide 18 Glossary explained (5) Peer-review: the
scholarly process whereby manuscripts intended to be published in
an academic journal are reviewed by independent referees who are
experts in the same field so that the importance, novelty and
accuracy of the manuscript's contents is evaluated. ISBN: the
International Standard Book Number, a unique 10 or 13-digit numeric
identifier for a particular title and edition of a book. ISSN: the
International Standard Serial Number, a unique eight-digit numeric
identifier for a print or electronic periodical publication. The
equivalent of an ISBN number for journals. Slide 19
