Download - 714 Database & Web Research
Randall’s Initial Research Question
I want to study how nonprofits use
Electronic mediato solicit
donations
http://www.flickr.com/photos/crystaljingsr/3915514014/
Parse the Question• Pick out keywords– Nonprofits– Electronic media– Solicit– Donations
• Consider relationship between the concepts– All of these are unique concepts– Link with AND
“nonprofits AND electronic media AND solicit AND donations” 1 hit in EBSCO “Trio”
Nonprofits
solicit
donations
Electronic media
1 result at the intersection of these 4 concepts
1
http://guides.lib.unc.edu/matc716
Yipes! 1 result??
• We know intuitively that there should be some articles out there …
• How can we refine & get results?
http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1058971
How Do We Get More?Truncation / wildcard *– donat* = donate, donates, donation, donations– nonprofit* = nonprofit, nonprofits
Look at EBSCO subject terms & add to above– ENDOWMENT*– Internet
More synonyms– E-mail* OR email*– fund-rais*
In English / CMMC-ese• (nonprofit* or non-profit*) AND (electronic
media OR email* OR e-mail* OR Internet ) AND ( donation* OR endow* OR fund-rais* )
nonprofit* or non-profit*
electronic media OR
email* OR e-mail* OR Internet
donation* OR endow* OR fund-rais*
Boolean Search with Synonyms 1,511 articles in EBSCO “Trio”
1,511 results at the intersection of these 2 concepts 1,511
Is That a “Good” Number?
• Hmmm• Probably not.• That’s too many to go
through – Too many “false
positives” or articles that aren’t relevant
http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1058971
How Do We Get More Refine?
• Use the “Subject: Thesaurus Term” on EBSCO’s left
Narrow by Source Type and/or Database
DO NOT Refine by Full-text
Why?Full-text via Find @ UNC
Use Find @ UNC if no pdf, html link
Full-text of articlesomewhere else
Options for gettingfull-text via Interlibrary Loan
If article is not online …
Lather, Rinse, Repeat• Try in different databases– PubMed– PsycINFO
• Try with new search terms
http://www.sxc.hu/photo/110154