Searching Databases

Searching Databases Robert Williams Oct 11, 2007 williamr@marshall.edu 691-1760 Picking the Right Database  What type of documents or resources are indexed?  Disciplines: Education, Psych, Medical  Journal List  Format types: Journal Articles, Reports, Conferences, books, Dissertations.  Scope: International? Which Languages?  Current or retrospective? Education Databases ERIC Psych Info PubMed Type Disciplines Coverage Citations Bib + Full-Text Education 19661.2 Million Bib + Full-Text Psychology 19782.4 Million Bibliographic BioMedical 195017 Million Journals Other Materials 600 All Pub Types 2,150 Books & Diss 5,000 None Education Databases Part 2 ERIC Thesaurus Access Web Links Save Searches ERIC Web – MU Publisher Sites My Eric My EbscoHost Psych Info TPIT MU PubMed Mesh Web Publisher Sites My NCBI Check the Thesaurus  Different terminologies are used for the same concept by different disciplines.  Related concepts are displayed  Searching Thesaurus terms yields high relevancy.  Less typing and fewer typos Search Terms      Use Advanced Search in Eric and PsychInfo Unqualified Terms retrieve from all parts of a citation: Title, author, Abstract, subject descriptors. Qualified Terms restrict retrieval to specific fields. Start with Thesaurus Terms  If retrieval is low, broaden to unqualified terms If No Thesaurus term matches your search, Use Unqualified terms Limits  Limits options are listed on a Menu Page     Language Years Human Review  Limits apply to all searching until you turn them off or Start a new search. Operators  AND Cross reference two concepts  OR brings common concepts together into one statement  NOT is rarely used Search History  Go Here if you are lost  Refine Search  Display Statement Results Displaying Results  Select Citations  Display in different formats  Citation only  Abstracts  Everything  Sorting – Authors, Journal Titles  Send selected citations to  Printer  File  E-Mail Clipboards or Folders  Select and Save to Clipboard  Go to Clipboard  Change display formats  Print or download best citations from the clipboard Tips  Use multiple statements. Large complex statements usually have typos  It’s easy to apply limits at the end of a search, but difficult to adjust a search when limits are on top.  Think real hard before using NOT operator Obtaining Documents  Check link provided by database.  Access may not always be granted  Check MU Periodicals  Request InterLibrary Loan  Electronic delivery is often possible  Denise Smith  wardd@marshall.edu