Part 2

Searching databases for journal articles on your essay topics

Selecting databases yourself…

From the top right box on the library home page,• You can select from direct links to major databases

such as EBSCOhost, Gale, Informit Or• Click on ‘Browse all databases’ to select from the

alphabetical list• Guides to many databases are available in PDF

format in the individual database pages

Searching EBSCOhost databases…

• You can search a number of individual EBSCOhost databases covering a wide range of subjects simultaneously

• Many journal articles are available as full text in either PDF or HTML format

• Advanced search allows you to search for terms in different fields including author, journal title, subject

etc.

EBSCOhost cont’d…

• From the library Home page select EBSCOhost• Then select Go to EBSCOhost Research Databases• Now scroll down to select from 29 individual

databases covering various subjects and then click ‘Continue’

Searching EBSCOhost

Now for a sample search using five of the databases• Academic Search Complete• Australia/New Zealand Reference Centre• Business Source Complete• Communication and Mass Media Complete• SocINDEX with Full TextTick the box next to each of these databases and click

continue’ to access the search page

Select the databases mentioned previously and then hit ‘Continue’

Basic Search

• The default search option, ‘basic search’ appears• Searches keywords in all fields• Often useful for broad searching • Choose options like ‘searching as a phrase’, or find

all my terms

Now for some sample searches…

Essay 3: What role do mobile phones play in society?

Discuss the influence of technology on everyday life:education, relationships and social movements

Let’s start with a fairly broad search using the following key words- mobile phones and society and impact

Key in your search terms in the box and select ‘Find all my search terms’Your search results will contain all of these words in some part of the record.

The Results list (42) provides brief records of journal articles- these have been sorted by relevance from the default date order

Click on the link for the full text when available (HTML or PDF)

Click on the article title for full record. You can also hold mouse over magnifying glass symbol for a quick look at the abstract or summary of article content.

The first article in our results list is from the journal ‘New Media and Society’ and is a book review. It may be useful to read the full text to see if following up on the books is worthwhile.And yes, we do have the books listed in our catalogue.

Search tips…

• Synonyms- think about other terms that may be used, e.g. cell phones or hand phones

• Other terms to search, e.g. technology, education, relationships etc.

• Use the ‘Limit your results’ option on the right of the screen to choose full text only, peer reviewed, date

• Click ‘Search Options’ for further choices

Using Boolean operators…

Connecting words to show the relationship between keywords and to make your search more relevant.

For example:• AND narrows a search,

eg anorexia and boys will only retrieve journal articles about boys and anorexia

• OR broadens a search,

eg anorexia or bulimia will retrieve journal articles about both eating disorders or either eating disorder.

Boolean operators cont’d…• NOT can be used to exclude certain terms

from your results

eg eating disorders not bulimia will retrieve journal articles dealing with all eating disorders except bulimia

Advanced search

• The Boolean operator and is used to connect all search terms

• Note how you can select different fields to search • in this example we have entered sport and Australia

and national identity in the abstract field • Advanced search allows you to select specific fields

to search which can increase the relevance of your results.

Searching the AB abstract field- all terms must be in the abstract or summary of the journal article

Boolean operator ‘and’

Search results…

• The results screen shows the first 10 brief records of journal articles on our topic

• Each record provides author, title of article and the name of the journal, publication date, volume, issue and page numbers

• Some will have direct links to the full-text of the journal article within the database we’re searching

• Others will have an SFX link symbol to other online resources

Search results cont’d…

• Click on the article title link to obtain the full record for each, including the abstract (or summary) of the journal article

• You can generally decide whether the journal article is relevant by reading the abstract

• Then you can follow the links to the full-text• Other approaches to try: sport- sociological aspects

as a subject term and Australia in advanced search

Search tips for the other essay topics …

Essay 1: Add GreenFILE to your databases, then try ‘Advanced search’ using

• consumer behaviour as a subject term • consumption and production in the Abstract field. We added an extra row to search for society as wellOther key words to try: consumers, consumerism,

consumption (economics), shopping, economy, globalization, culture

Other essay topics cont’d…Essay 4: Begin by adding GreenFILE to the databases searchedTry Advanced Search using• climatic change as a subject term• social in all fields • capitalis* in all fields using the asterisk truncation symbol to

bring up capitalist and capitalismOther keywords/phrases: green business, western nations, global

warming, corporate global responsibility

To sum up databases…

• Academic journals provide the main form of primary source material. Lecturers expect you to use them!

• Electronic databases allow you to search through hundreds of journal titles and issues simultaneously

• Databases are usually discipline based, e.g. business, psychology, law, education etc. and are updated regularly

• Subject starter guides provide links to relevant databases and other online resources for your subject

But what about Google?

• If you only use the internet to find information for your assignments, you are likely to be disadvantaged in terms of the usefulness and quality of the information retrieved.

• However there are some worthwhile resources available on the WWW, such as Google Scholar, and some tips from the Library Home Page about evaluating what you find.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

                                          

Direct link to Google scholar for academic literature

Try advanced search

For help using and evaluating internet resources, click Search the internet

                                                                                                                                                                                                         

Scroll down and select any of these links to access helpful sites on using and evaluating information on the web

Plagiarism?

• Plagiarism is cheating - using the work of others without acknowledgement

• Keep records of all information sources used, i.e. full citations, so that you can acknowledge the work of authors you quote or paraphrase

• See ‘Site index and search’ on the lower left of the Library Home Page and select Guides under ‘G’ for:Swinburne’s guide to avoiding plagiarism and the Harvard System of referencing

                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

         

Live links to the Harvard system and Swinburne’s guide to avoiding plagiarism

And finally…we’re open all hours• You can access Swinburne library via our website 24 hours, 7

days a week on our websitehttp://www.swinburne.edu.au/lib/

• When logging in off-campus, you will be prompted for your student ID number and SIMS password (instructions appear when connecting to databases)

• Services for OUA students can be found under ‘Services for you’ on the left side of the Library Home Page.

• You can contact the library by phone, email, SMS or webform-see ‘Contact’ on the top right of the Library Home Page