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s’ Effective searchingTime to play

We have told you about some tricks and tips for effective searching – now you have time to explore.

Please ask for help if you get stuck. What is the most relevant database for your subject area? Browsing our e-resources by subjectGo to http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/oxlipLook at the subject index for the most relevant section. You can get information on all the databases listed before you dive in. Spend some time exploring what is available. You may like to explore general resources such as online reference books or indexes to theses – look under All subjects.

Search tips and help screensLibrary databases usually offer help in the form of search tips and help pages. You can use them to find out more about the databases. They will tell you, for example, how to truncate words and how to search on a phrase.

MetasearchingWe subscribe to a number of collections of databases and you may like to try keywords across a range of databases to see where concentrations of resources can be found. Collections include Cambridge Scientific Abstracts (CSA), Firstsearch, Ovid and Web of Science. To find one of these collections choose the title list at the top of OxLIP then search by title eg CSA will be found under C.In CSA you can use either the simple or the advanced search and see which databases have records which match your keywords. You will need to select a broad subject area or a range of specific databases to search in. CSA will display relevant records from across the range selected. You can see a display of the number of results in each database by clicking on the + sign against the number of results / search query statement.

KeywordsDatabase records will display keywords or descriptors if they have been linked with particular records – it is always worth noting the keywords of useful records and trying any new relevant terms.

Using the hyperlinks providedYou can click on any hyperlinks provided in a record. Hyperlinking allow you to see what else an author has written or other articles in the same journal or other records which have been assigned the same keywords.

Using a thesaurus Many of the databases in CSA offer a thesaurus. Note the thesauri are for specific databases rather than across the CSA collection. You could try going to Search tools and choosing Thesaurus. You will need to scroll down the list of databases each offering their particular thesaurus. Having selected a thesaurus you can check terms and see related terms and, sometimes, definitions. You can select terms from the thesaurus and then use the search history option to combine them with other terms or sets of terms.

Oxford University Library Services 23 April 2008

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s’ Boolean operatorsTry out the use of Boolean operators in the CSA database - choose the Advanced option. Remember Or includes alternatives And limits your search You may find it easier to concentrate on each aspect of your search in turn and then use the Search history function to combine the sets of results

Truncation, Wildcards, Phrase and Proximity searchingThese are all techniques for improving the results of keyword searching. You will need to check the conventions of a particular database Truncation allow you to search on the stem of a word eg imaginat* gives imagination and imaginative. Wildcards can be used for alternative spelling eg wom*n gives women or womanIn CSA ? can be used for truncation or wildcard of a single letter while * is an unlimited number of characters.

Phrases - many database allow you to create phrases eg “higher education” but CSA automatically treats keywords as a phrase unless they are separated by ‘and’ or ‘or’. – check what punctuation to use. Proximity searching allows you to specific how far apart keywords should be.so carbon within 3 fiber will retrieve records with the keywords found within 3 words of each other.

Record fieldsYou can search within particular fields in the record in the Advanced search option in CSA by using the down arrow to see what the options are and then selecting a specific field such as Author, Title, Keyword or Descriptor. In specialist subject databases these can offer extra options eg in an education database they might help you to restrict to particular age groups.

Marking, saving, emailing and exporting references Try marking records and emailing them to yourself. You can also export references into a reference managing software package. You will find out more about this later in the day.

Citation searchingWeb of Science, Scopus and Google scholar offer you citation linking which allows you to view the bibliography of particular articles. It is also possible to see who has cited a record you are interested. This enables you to track the influence of a piece of research forward in time. Web of Science and Google Scholar have material for all disciplines while Scopus covers Science and Social science and is not much good for Humanities. Find related records – citation indexes may allow you to search for articles which share references with the one you are interested in.

Alerts and saved historiesMany subscription databases allow you to register so you can save and re-run searches or have alerts emailed to you when records are added to the database which match your search requirements. You can usually create your own username and password but will need to supply an email address for alerts. Citation alerts can tell you when a particular author or work is quoted in a new record. You will find out more about this in the presentation on Current Awareness Services.

Locating the article once you have identified itYou can use the link to open the full-text if it is available and the link will also allow you to search the Library catalogue for print holdings if necessary. If anything is not available in Oxford you can ask for an Inter-Library loan – do this rather than pay on the internet as the Library offers an efficient and discounted service. See http://www.ouls.ox.ac.uk/services/ill

Oxford University Library Services 23 April 2008