LM Week 2 (Extras)

Truncation

By adding a symbol, sometimes called a wildcard symbol, to the end of a word, truncation allows you to search the "root" of a word to find all its different endings. The most common truncation symbol is the asterisk . However, some databases use different symbols, so check online help to find the correct symbol. Example: You are looking for information "the banking industry." bank* finds: bank banks banking bankers bankruptcy In this example, truncation allows you to search for all of these terms with one simple search strategy. Truncation saves time, since you don't have to repeat searches with multiple variations of the same word. Truncation will BROADEN a search!

Keyword Searching

Computers index "significant" words in databases in the title, summary, subject or even the text fields of a record or article. These words are then searchable. When you type these words into the database search window, this is called keyword searching. Keyword searches are best used when you're searching for new terms, distinctive words, jargon or slang. When keyword searching, databases do not index certain commonly used words and parts of speech, called stop words, such as articles, pronouns and prepositions. Examples of stop words in databases are a, an, about, after, all, also, and, any, are, as, at, based, because, been, between, and so on. The disadvantage of keyword searching is that you only find records that contain the terms you type. You can miss synonyms of the terms you use. A keyword search may also find many more records than you want.

Disadvantages of Google Scholars

Coverage is not comprehensive. It is a good first place to start researching a paper, but not comprehensive enough to be the only place you look. Criteria used for selecting "scholarly" materials is not given. Search results can be a mixture of articles and books as well as unpublished manuscripts, course syllabi, and high school term papers, so you must critically evaluate what you find. Results are not always full-text and books and many articles are not available full-text and online.

Boolean Operators, Truncation, and Refining Your Search

Database searching is based on the principles of Boolean logic. Boolean logic is named for British-born mathematician George Boole and refers to the logical relationship among search terms. Boolean Operators link concepts and are used to broaden or narrow your search. AND - finds results with all your search terms. AND narrows your search. OR - finds results with any of your search terms. OR broadens your search. NOT - finds results with only one of your search terms. NOT narrows your search.

Advantages of Google Scholars

It's free and uses a simple, familiar interface that works much like regular Google. It finds scholarly books, articles, and conference papers from a wide range of disciplines. You can set up Google Scholar to link to books and articles available through the SUU Library

Nesting

Many databases allow for very complex searching. For example, nesting allows you to place parentheses around strings of searches using Boolean operators. For example, if you wanted articles about the geology in Utah, Colorado, or Nevada, a nested search using parentheses and Boolean operators, you could use this search . . . geolog* and (utah or colorado or nevada) Other examples of nesting searching: baseball and (dodgers or yankees) (bears not grizzlies) and yellowstone "computer crimes" and (russian or soviet) (elderly or homeless) and (house* or shelter*)

Limiters

Many databases and search engines allow you to limit searches to specific criteria such as format, language, publication date, and periodical title. For example, the Academic Search Premier database provides several useful limiters, Full Text - limit results to articles with full text. Peer Reviewed - limit search results to articles from peer-reviewed journals. Peer-reviewed journals are publications that include only those articles that have been reviewed and/or qualified by a selected panel of acknowledged experts in the field of study covered by the journal. Serial Title - enter a journal/magazine name to limit results to articles only from that title. Limiting will NARROW your results. Limiters let you narrow the focus of your search so that the information retrieved from the databases you search is limited according to what you select.

Phrase Searching

Phrase searching is a way to retrieve records containing specific phrases. To search for a specific phrase, most databases require quotation marks around the phrase. A phrase search will then locate only records containing the words in the particular order in which they appear. Examples of phrase searching: "Spirit of St. Louis" "Attention Deficit Disorder" "ozone layer depletion" "Gulf of Mexico"

Where to look for topic ideas:

World Book Encyclopedia is an example of a good example of a reference source (encyclopedias, dictionaries, handbooks) that can be sources of ideas for research topics and provide excellent background information. Reference sources can be found in the Reference Collection on the First Floor and by searching the library catalog. CQ Researcher is a database of reports on current topics and controversial topics. Reports provide background information, Pro/Con views, maps and graphs, and a bibliography with additional information sources. This database can be found by selecting Research, then Articles & Journals from the library homepage. Opposing Viewpoints is another database with articles on social issues which include pro/con essays, topic overviews, primary source documents, periodical articles, and data. This database can also be found by selecting Research, then Articles & Journals from the library homepage

Google Scholar

is a subset of Google that is designed to search for academic and scholarly articles, patents and legal documents, and books online. Google Scholar uses its own criteria to consider whether a publication is scholarly. will offer citations but does not always provide the full-text of articles! Like Google you can search with a Basic or Advanced search. The Advanced search offers users more ways to narrow and refine their searches.