Searching techniques

Library and Information Services

Ebooks

Searching for ebooks on the catalogue(if accessing offsite the URL is http://library.yorksj.ac.uk)

– Use the library catalogue to find the following ebook and go to the full text:

Gower handbook of leadership and management development

– You may wish to watch the online demonstration

The searching process

Step one - Spend some time thinking about your topic

Step two – Considering your search terms

Step three - Linking your search terms together

Step four - Choosing your databases

Step five - Searching and modifying your search online

Step six - Relevant results retrieved! Next steps

Step one

Spend some time thinking about your topic to define and clarify your research question

Break down search topic into sections

Think of keywords to describe the topic

Step two

Think about the search words Generic words can be omitted eg: discuss,

assess, importance Consider alternative terms- look at Oxford

Reference online business dictionaries Alternative spellings such as organis/zation or

behavio(u)r: use asterisk eg: behavio*r Search for different word endings such as

leader, leaders and leadership: truncate using asterisks eg: leader*

Step three

Linking search words together AND search – combining two different subjects

together OR search – alternative words, often crucial to

success of the search eg: workplace OR organization Words as a phrase eg: “transformational leadership”.

May be a phrase search option, or use quotation marks.

Step four

Choosing your database For articles

– Emerald full text– Academic OneFile– PsycINFO and possibly Greenfile (EBSCO)

Business and market data– Marketline– Mintel (only accessible once registered with a YSJ email

address)

Step five

Searching and modifying online Different databases will use different search terms to describe

same subject Check what subject terms (called keywords in Emerald) are

used for your topic and modify the search if necessary Limit to searching within different indexes eg: subject, article

title, author Limit to years of publication Limit to type of document eg: books, book chapters, journal

articles, conference papers, reports.

Step six

Relevant results retrieved! Item is full text – go direct to article, linking via a

database or via library catalogue

Item has abstract only – can you access or request the full article via your local library?

Leadership styles and employee engagement

Emerald– Leader* (all except full text)

AND “employee involvement” (phrase all except full text)

PsycINFO– Leadership style (subjects)

AND employee involvement or employee motivation (subjects)

Emotional intelligence and leadership

Emerald– Emotional intelligence (keyword phrase) and

leader* (keywords)

Academic OneFile– Try browse subjects option: emotional

intelligence, then search in results for leadership

PsycINFO– Emotional intelligence and leadership (subjects)

and link to article in Journal of management studies

Summary of useful links

Ebooks - online demonstration

Emerald - online demonstration

Business subject page

How to plan a search strategy

Search techniques