library hits helpful information for trinity students/staff library eresources for languages &...

Library HITS

Library HITS Helpful Information for Trinity Students/Staff

Library eResources for Languages & Literatures

Michaelmas Term 2013Trinity College Library Dublin, College Street, Dublin 2

How to…

Learning Outcomes

Trinity College Library Dublin, College Street, Dublin 2

Define Electronic Resources

Access them off campus

Locate them on the Library website

Search databases

Identify key databases for languages and literatures

Trinity College Library Dublin

Library eResources

A Library eResource is a resource which is available online via the Web. Examples are:

–A database–An electronic journal (e-journal)–An electronic book (e-book)–An online newspaper–The Library catalogue (Stella Search)


Will this work at home?

• All our electronic resources can be accessed off campus by using your College username and network login password

• You have to go from a link on the Library website (such as Stella Search), or you won’t get a working link – you can’t just Google the name of the journal or database if you want it to work off campus

• Once you follow these steps, you will see the following screen…


Off Campus Access


Where are these resources listed?

• All our databases are listed on our Databases and E-Books page

• All our e-journals are searchable on our E-Journals Only page – there are thousands!

• HOWEVER, they are all listed in our Stella Search too…

• Most e-books will also be in Stella• Individual resources will be listed on your

Subject Librarian’s page – use the Subject Guides link


How do you access the Library's eResources for your subject?


What is a Database?

• Stores and organises large amounts of data/information

• Provides access to pre-selected material that is reliable, authoritative and scholarly


Basically…

• Use databases to find items you don’t know about already – for example, on subjects you need to write about in an essay

• Use the Stella Search Catalogue tab to find items you already know exist – e.g., articles from reading lists or mentioned in lectures

• Using databases means you don’t have to go to each journal individually to search it


What can you find in a database?

• Trinity College Dublin Library subscribes to 350+ databases, and there are further databases that are available free on the web

• Some databases cover only books• Some cover only journal articles or newspaper

articles• Some cover only theses• Most databases cover a range of publication

types


Doesn’t Google have all this?

By searching only subscription databases and limiting your search to scholarly or peer-reviewed sources, you can virtually guarantee that all materials retrieved will be appropriate for a research paper


Which are the best databases to use?

• There are links to the FULL list of dozens of databases for your subject on the Databases and E-Books page, and on your Subject Librarian’s page

• This can be a bit overwhelming, so…• On your Subject Librarian’s page, look for

“Subject Librarian Recommends…” for a short list of the most useful ones


Which are the key databases for languages and literatures?

• Arts & Humanities Citation IndexMultidisciplinary index for the arts and

humanities

• JSTORMultidisciplinary index for the arts and

humanities and other subject areas

• LexisNexisForeign language news



• Linguistics and Language Behavior Abstracts

Covers all aspects of the study of language including phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax and semantics

• LIterature ONline (LION)Labels itself “the home of literature and criticism”. Contains full text work of drama, poetry and prose in English as well as criticisms. Particularly useful for students of English



• MLA International BibliographyIndex for books and articles on modern languages, literatures, folklore, and linguistics

• Project MuseProvides full text access to over 300 scholarly journals published by more than 60 publishers in the humanities, arts and social sciences


“Search Strategies” for Databases

• Create a search statement using keywords • Use databases appropriate to your topic. Use

keywords and controlled language • Use Boolean searching (AND, OR & NOT)• Change approaches as necessary – gathering

information is not a linear process • Continue to identify applicable keywords and

controlled vocabulary to go back and check in the selected database(s) and other resources

• You will often be asked to include your search strategy in your essay


Utilising Database Features

• To search effectively it is important to become familiar with the database. Knowing shortcuts and quirks of the database, will save time

• Some important characteristics to identify are how to truncate words, how to search for a phrase, and how the Boolean operators are used, and what limits can be applied

• Refer to the database guides for help


Basically…

•AND will give you less

•OR will give you more


Truncation

• Truncate search terms to retrieve all variants of a termTruncation symbols vary between e-resources. Examples include: *, ?, !, % and $– For example: If you search on the term plagiar* in ProQuest

databases, you will retrieve articles that contain any words that begin with the letters plagiar, including: plagiarism, plagiarize, plagiarizing, plagiarized, plagiarizer, plagiarizers, plagiarist, etc.

• Using the truncation symbol will allow you to broaden your search to include materials on any variant of a term


Limiting

• Most databases have limiting features that will let you focus the results of your search

– You may be able to limit your searches to retrieve only scholarly or peer-reviewed articles

– You can also limit to particular date ranges or particular journals

• Limiting your searches will allow you to narrow your search, resulting in a smaller list of more relevant materials


Types of Searches

• Most databases have an Easy and an Advanced search function

– Easy or Basic Search• Often these only have one search box and operate in

a similar way to Google

– Advanced Search• Gives more control to the user• Allows for a more refined search• Often allows multiple search terms in multiple fields

• You’ve done a search, found a reference…• And the full text is there, great!

• However, if there’s no full text link button:– Find and click the “link resolver” TCD button - may show the

text: “Check TCD e-journals”; or an image, such as

• This links to a piece of software which checks if the Library has the article you want, either in another database or in hardcopy, anywhere in the Library’s collections


Where’s the full text?

Link resolver (Linksource) menu


Clicking on the TCD icon searches the Library’s e-journal collections and the full Library catalogue, for both electronic and hardcopy forms of the required title


E-Books

• E-book collections are listed with our databases under Databases and E-books on the Library’s homepage

• Most e-book single titles, within those collections, can be found by searching Stella

• A small percentage of e-books in our collections can only be found by searching the provider or publisher’s database or platform

www.tcd.ie/library

Trinity College Library Dublin 27

Early English Books Online (EEBO)

Past Masters

ACLS Humanities E-Book

Oxford Reference Online

MyiLibrary

Women Writers Online

Medieval and Early Modern Sources (MEMSO)

LION (LIterature Online)

Eighteenth Century Collections Online

(ECCO)

Some TCD Library E-Book collections

Summary: how to…

Learning Outcomes

Trinity College Library Dublin, College Street, Dublin 2

Define Electronic Resources

Access them off campus

Locate them on the Library website

Search databases

Identify key databases for languages and literatures

library hits helpful information for trinity students/staff library eresources for languages &...

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