LIBR1111 Assignment III October 2016
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Transcript of LIBR1111 Assignment III October 2016
Subscription Databases:
Academic Search Complete from EBSCOhost
A tutorial for LIBR1111 and assignment #3Dean Giustini, Instructor
On many platforms – such as: EBSCOhost, Gale, Proquest
Here are the many databases available for searching in EBSCOhost
Libraries have many databases
We have a few subscription databases at Langara Library
Let’s search with Academic Search Complete
Today: One Database Only
From the Langara Library Homepage http://langara.ca/library/
Click on “Articles in Journals” first Then, click on either link! Articles in Journals
Article Databases: A to Z Articles in Journals by Subject
How to Find This Database
Your search screen will look like the one below. What do you put in the highlighted boxes? Hint: there are many right answers You might have to try many combinations of your
keywords to get the articles you want …
Follow the links …..until you get into Academic Search Complete
Example search question: ◦ What are the effects of cell phone use on college
students? Consider the use of Boolean operators, AND & OR Arrange your keywords into facets of your topic.. Think of alternatives and synonyms to group
together (using OR) for searching Imagine the type of articles you want to find in
the database for your patron….
Organize your ideas before…
In this example, I organize keywords into a chart similar to assignment #3’s search planning worksheet
Print out the assignment worksheet and organize or at least think of your concepts & keywords in “blocks”◦ What are the effects of cell phone use on college
students? Write in AND between keywords …
Example
Use Boolean OR on the lines between synonyms Have you thought of a few synonyms? If you need
ideas, see a few relevant papers for synonyms
Example, cont.
Note I put words I need together in quotes: “college students” to force the phrase
This tells the database you want articles that have that exact phrase somewhere
Organize keywords or concepts You are ready to put them into Academic
Search Complete… for your search!
Example, cont.
Putting your Keywords into the Database• See how I’ve transferred
the keywords with the search words AND & OR into the library’s database fields.
• Use your quotation marks as needed, and put a main keyword group in each search box, separating the similar words with OR.
• Each search box is already connected with the word AND, highlighted above. Use this feature to help organize your search.
You won’t always need ALL of your keywords.
The point is: ◦ You don’t know without trying which words will
work in subscription databases◦ The “perfect” article may not exist ◦ This is OK. Students have to say something
original and the articles in the database should be similar or related but not exactly on target in some cases…
Key Points
How many search results did you get? Typically, when searching Google or
related sites, you only look at the first few pages of results
If you get a LOT of results, you want to narrow your search
Here are some ways to narrow:
What next?
42 Results are much easier to deal with! Full Text is your friend – always check this
box first to see what is available in the database.
I also altered my dates to only include magazines articles published since the year 2000.
Now… what if you have the opposite problem?
Now my results look like this:
If you’re getting no results or just a few, you should look at your keywords again:◦ Remove some of your AND words. Remember: adding another
facet narrows your search◦ Add some more OR words or synonyms to broaden your search ◦ Look at quotation marks you use. Are you putting quotation
marks around words that aren’t that common? ◦ Think of broader keywords. ◦ In my example, I include ‘technology’ with OR “cell phones.” This
is a much bigger group of stuff and broadens my search considerably.
What if I have too few results?
Once you have a manageable number of results, look at what you’ve found. Like Google, each article has a clickable link in the title to get the
article/item.
Now, let’s look at a result
This article was written in Time magazine, and two pages long
See subject terms (headings)
Think of these as keywords that may work better for your topic
Try the subject terms in combination with your keywords
A Closer Look
At right, the tool box will help you manage results
Print out the article Email article to yourself so you don’t lose it. Use the Cite function to grab information for the
MLA citation. Copy/Paste it somewhere for later (Word doc?) Use Permalink to grab a web address that will
work if you want to share the article with someone
When you find a result you like, use your Tools
Research can be time consuming. Expect to spend time: ◦ Reading articles and finding ones that both work
and those that don’t. ◦ Brainstorming alternative keywords and plugging
them into the database. Try and try again.◦ Asking for help if you get stuck. ◦ Reconsider your research question/topic. It may not
be the same as when you start searching.
Read and Think
Complete one (1) question for assignment #3. Use Academic Search Complete @ Langara Library’s
website. Organize your keywords. Try subject headings. Scan some articles for relevance... Find ones you believe will add to your assignment. Print out/Email results to yourself. Ask Dean for help or your ‘study buddy’!
Your Turn