Lecture Five: Searching for Articles

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What are LCSH?◦ Why should one hyperlink on the LCSH in the

Library catalogue search?

Subject vs Keyword searches

◦ Which search yields more precise results?◦ Why?

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Publications Cycle Locating Periodical Articles

Searching a Subject Database Findit@Concordia Searching Google Scholar

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The Scholarly Publication CycleFrom http://www.lib.unb.ca/research/success/understanding.html

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Material that is published at regular intervals (e.g. daily, weekly, monthly, annually)These include: Journals, magazines, newspapers, newsletters, annual reportsMore update to date than books

◦ Take less time to publish and distribute◦ Reflect contemporary opinion or research on a topic◦ Reveal trends in certain subject fields◦ May be the only source for recent information

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Periodicals with wide circulation and broad appealWritten for the general audiencePublished frequently (e.g. weekly or monthly) by commercial publishersUseful for background reading

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Industry publications

Contain news, product reviews, trends, upcoming events

Keeps professionals informed about what is happening in an industry

The articles are reviewed by the staff/editors of the publication

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Professional or scholarly publications often published by a non-profit professional

organization or academic institution Provide the most recent scholarship in an

area or field Refereed journals are the most reputable –

peer reviewed

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Peer review http://rationallyspeaking.blogspot.ca/2012/01/radical-reform-for-peer-review.html

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How do you know for sure if the journal is peer reviewed?

Look in Ulrich's international periodicals directory !

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The Scholarly Publication Cycle

http://www.lib.umd.edu/ues/guides/periodical-types

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Periodicals located at Concordia can be found in any one of the following four formats:

eResource◦ Online journal◦ Full-text from within a database

Print Microfiche or Microfilm

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Keyword search: sport research Limit: Material Type "JOURN/PER/NEWS"

Display entry for [Electronic resource] Electronic within a full-text database:

◦ Provide access to the reference to the article, and the complete text, along with graphics

◦ Some backfiles for older issues are available◦ Provides a direct link to the database (e.g. Education

Full-text, ASP, JSTOR)

E-Journals◦ Available via the web directly from the publisher◦ Sometimes does not match print counterpart◦ Back issues may be limited◦ Provides a direct link to the publisher’s website (e.g.

SAGE Premier, Taylor & Francis Library)

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Conduct a Journal Title search in the library catalogue to locate the scholarly journal:

American Psychologist

What format does the Library hold for this periodical?

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Key indexing tool of periodical – journal articlesContents:

◦ A citation and an abstract of each item◦ Access to non-journal material such as conference

proceedings, reports, dissertations and books◦ Access to non-English language material◦ Sometimes includes the full-text of the article!

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Subject specific◦ Critical to search when conducting research within a field◦ Examples: ERIC, Medline, Lexis/Nexis

Interdisciplinary or Multi Subject◦ Broad coverage of many academic disciples◦ Examples: Academic Search Complete, Web of Science

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Locating relevant databases◦ Consult your Research Guide by Subject◦ Database Finder◦ Conduct a Databases search

Accessing the databases◦ In the library◦ From home

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Review your keywords and your working bibliography◦ Think about the type of information you need to

support your arguments

Decide which type and kind of database(s) you need to search

◦ Consult Research Guides --> Look for Finding journal articles – Recommended Databases

◦ Databases by Subject -- > Select your broad subject area

Read the information on the database. Does its coverage suit your research topic?

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Prepare search statement(s), because this will:◦ Help to logically and systematically review what it is you are looking for◦ Help to plan backup strategies depending on the results found

Review your list of keywords, synonyms and related terms

Formulate your search statement using:◦ Keywords: terms representing concepts of your thesis◦ Operators: Boolean, truncation◦ Nesting: Use of parentheses◦ Limiting commands: Date, Language, Document type etc.

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Records:◦ Each entry within a database represents a record

◦ A record can represent a citation (and abstract) to a book, a chapter in a book, an article, a conference paper etc.

◦ Example of a record in Academic Search Complete

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Search Academic Search Premier using your keywords

Export a record to your RefWorks account

Create a folder for your research topic

Add the record to the folder

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXJojwIkxaY

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Add the PDF of journal article into RefWorks

Download and save the article PDF Use Attachment in RefWorks to add

the PDF

Paper clip will appear!

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OpenURL link resolver Decodes the URL to link as close as possible to the online

full text of the journal article Each library configures the OpenURL server to match their

journal subscriptions The link appears in databases to help you locate the journal

article

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“Google Scholar is a freely accessible web search engine that indexes the full text of scholarly literature across an array of publishing formats and disciplines. Released in beta in November 2004, the Google Scholar index includes most peer-reviewed online journals of Europe and America's largest scholarly publishers, plus scholarly books and other non-peer reviewed journals.”

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_scholar

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http://0-scholar.google.ca.mercury.concordia.ca/

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Search Google Scholar using your keywords.

Export a record to your RefWorks account.

Add the record to the folder. Locate fulltext using Findit @ Concordia Download the article and attach it to

your record in RefWorks Enter the Data Source

i.e. Google Scholar

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Publications Cycle Locating Periodical Articles

Searching a Subject Database Findit@Concordia Searching Google Scholar

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