Searching articles in databases at URI Library

1. Searching articles in databases at URI Library Yuan Li Nov. 11, 2008

2. Essential Questions After completing this lesson, you will be able to answer the following questions: • Where do I look for articles on my topic? • What is an article databases? • Where can I find an article database? • How do I search an article database? • How do I find the actual text of an article?

3. Where do I look for articles on my topic? • You can find articles in article databases, such as Eric, Ebsco Host, LexisNexis Academic, ProQuest, etc..

4. What is an article databases? • An article database allows you to search within a group of journals for articles on a particular topic. • In other words, when you search database, the results refer to articles published in journals (scholar articles) and magazines (popular articles).

5. Where can I find an article database? • The URI Library subscribed more than 300 online databases. • You could access the complete list of databases by clicking “Reference Databases” on the Library Home Page.

6. Practice Question 1 • Where could you find article databases? A. HELIN Catalog B. Reference Databases C. Internet Resources

7. Choose an appropriate article database • Click into the “Reference Databases” • First page is a list of categories divided by subjects • Choose the right subject for your topic. OR Click “All Reference Databases by Title”, you will see the full list of reference databases.

8. Example • You topic is “Postmodernism” • Let’s choose “Arts and Humanities” • When you click into “Arts and Humanities”, you will get an appropriate list of resources to choose from. • It is recommended to use the following databases for “Advanced Rhetoric” • MLA International Bibliography • Project MUSE • JSTOR

9. Practice Question 2 • When you are doing a search for articles, please give the steps you will take. (Fill in the step number, e.g. 1, 2, 3…) __ Find the subject of you topic __ Access “Reference Databases” from Library Home page __ Choose the relevant databases to search

10. How do I search an article database? When you get into a database, you will see the search boxes and search options. • Search strategies • Find articles • Evaluate articles

11. Search Strategies This section will cover successful search strategies, including • Identify key concept • Combine key concept • Refine your search These strategies will work in most databases and search engines no matter how different they may look from one another

12. Strategy one: Indentify key concept • Let’s say your topic is “The positions of postmodernism and dramatism on technology” • Key concept will be “postmodernism”, “dramatism”, and “technology.”

13. Practice Question 3 • Find the key concept for the following topic: “How does internet affect the library?”

14. Strategy two: Combine key concepts • Use quotes around phrases • Use “and” between concepts

15. Use quotes around phrases • If you use two words or phrase to represent one concept, you want to use quotes. Use quotes on “information literacy” to ensure you find the results with the exact concept and eliminate irrelevant results only including the concept “information” or “literacy” seperately

16. Practice Question 4 For the following words, choose A if quotes are needed, or B if quotes are not needed __ Typhoon __ Mountain Washington

17. Use “and” between concepts • Some databases will have an interface with numerous boxes. There is usually the visible “And” combining two concept. • However, other databases assume nothing for your results. You have to use “and” to combine your two concepts in order to narrow your results.

18. Strategy three: Refine your search • Use synonyms • Truncate key concepts

19. Use synonyms • Why? Since different authors may use different words to describe the same topic, we want to think of many synonyms we can for key concepts so that we don’t miss out anything. • It might be necessary to refine your search with synonyms, broad terms, and narrow terms to find the information you need.

20. Truncate key concepts • You also want to indentify all the variant ending word • A truncation symbol helps you find records that include variant endings of a word. • For example: advertis* advertise, advertisement, advertising, advertisor

21. Practice Question 5 • Where would you truncate the word “postmordern” to make sure that you retrieve postmordernism, postmordernity, and postmoderning? (use * as the truncation symbol)

22. How do I find the actual text of an article? • Apply your search strategies to find a list of articles. • You will notice that these articles are in reverse chronological order rather than ranked by relevancy. • This means that the perfect article for our topic could be on page two, three or even five.

23. If an article looks interesting, click on it and learn more about it. • You will see all the information the database has about that article. • The record gives us some basic information about the article, such as title, author(s), source, subject terms and abstract. • If you decide to read the whole article. Sometimes you will find the links leading you directly to the full-text (PDF or HTML).

24. When neither these links are present, click on “search for full-text” button. • Doing so, you will launch the “searching for” menu. • Search for a full-text article in other databases. • Find a paper copy for the article in catalog. • Ask a librarian.

25. Practice Question 6 • How many possible resources could you refer to in order to find a full-text article?

26. Hands-on Exercises • Pick up your topic for your assignment. • Search three or more interesting articles for your topic. • Please write down all your procedure when you are searching articles, submit it. It’s your ticket-out.