Smart SearchingLibrary Instruction

Fall 2008

Breaking down your Topic

• Imagine the title of the ideal book or magazine article– The virtual economies of video games

• Identify key concepts– Economies / Video Games

• Think of synonyms or alternate search words

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Identifying Search Terms

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Economies

Currency

Capital

Commodities

Video games

Digital games

Virtual worlds

Synthetic worlds

Economies Video GamesKey

Concepts

Synonyms/Alternate Search Terms

Basic Searching Techniques

• Boolean Operators• Truncation• Phrase Searching• Field Searching• Setting Limits

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Boolean Operators

Boolean operators link concepts within a search

•AND (to include all terms / concepts)

•OR (to include at least one term / concept)

•NOT (to exclude terms / concepts)

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Boolean Operators

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Truncation or Wildcards

• Expands a term to include all forms of the root word:

econom* finds economics, economy, economies, economical

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Phrase Searching

• Phrase searching forces the database to look for two or more words together

Instead of:video games

Try:“video games” or (video games)

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Field Searching

• Title• Author• Subject• Descriptor• Anywhere

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Setting Limits

• Language• Date• Type of Publication

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Putting It All Together

(video game* OR digital game* OR synthetic world* OR virtual world*)

AND

(econom* OR currenc* OR capital OR commodit*)

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Refining Your Search

• To find FEWER results,– Search in specific fields (title, abstract, subjects

etc.)– Add or change search limits (date, language,

etc.)– Add more search terms (using AND)– Use phrase searching instead of AND

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Refining Your Search

• To find MORE results,– Use truncation or wildcard characters (* or ?)– Include more synonyms (use OR)– Search “anywhere” rather than in specific fields– Remove search limits (e.g. date, language, etc.)– Use AND instead of phrase searching

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Refining Your Search

• To find more RELEVANT results,– Use NOT to exclude unwanted terms– Search specific fields (title, abstract,

subject/descriptor, etc.)– Use AND instead of OR

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Any Questions?

Some Examples…

• TRELLIS• Research Databases– CSA– Web of Science

• Google/Google Scholar

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TRELLIS

• What is TRELLIS?– 3 catalogues in 1…

— Waterloo, Wilfrid Laurier, and Guelph (TUG)

• What will I find?– Books– Journals– Government documents– Conference proceedings– Etc.

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TRELLIS

• For searching topics, use the Advanced Search

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TRELLIS

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TRELLIS

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Search Strategy #1

TRELLIS

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TRELLIS

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Click on “LOCATION” or check the sign

beside the elevators

TRELLIS

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TRELLIS

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TRELLIS

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TRELLIS

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Search Strategy #2a

TRELLIS

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TRELLIS

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Search Strategy #2b

TRELLIS

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TRELLIS

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TRELLIS – Getting books NOT at UW

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TRELLIS – Getting books NOT at UW

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TRELLIS – Getting books NOT at UW

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TRELLIS – Getting books NOT at UW

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Going Beyond TUG

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Going Beyond TUG

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Going Beyond TUG

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Any Questions?

Your Turn!

• Try searching for books on a topic of your choice.

• What are the subjects given in the record? • Choose a subject which you think would be

appropriate.

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Research Databases

• Use to find journal articles on topics• Choose an appropriate database– Topic/subject– Date

• You can work from home!– Use the Connect from Home link

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Research Databases

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Searches a pre-determined set of

databases

Select the database to search

Research Databases

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CSA Databases

• Over 20 databases covering a large variety of subject areas

• Can search multiple databases or a single database

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CSA Databases

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CSA Databases

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CSA Databases

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CSA Databases

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CSA Databases

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CSA Databases

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Any Questions?

Your Turn!

• Search for articles on a topic of your choice.• Select one article.– Write down the complete citation.– What are the subjects (descriptors)?– Is it available in full text electronically? (don’t

forget to check TRELLIS even if Get It @ Waterloo says it isn’t!)

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Cited Reference Searching

• A specialized type of searching• Available through– Web of Science– Scopus

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What is Cited Reference Searching?

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Cited Reference Searching

1999

1965(Earlier Work)

line of researc

h

backwards 199

92006(Recent Work)

line of research

forwards

End Note Chasing

Look up the references listed at the end of an article

Find articles that cite a previously published article

Cited Reference Searching: Search Example

Lastowka, F. G. & Hunter, D. (2003). The laws of the virtual worlds. California Law Review.

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Web of Science

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Web of Science

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Web of Science

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Web of Science

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Web of Science

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Web of Science

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Web of Science

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Any Questions?

Your Turn!

• Navigate to Web of Science, and click the Cited Ref Search button

• How many times has the following article been cited? Griffiths, MD. Breaking the stereotype: the case for

online gaming. Cyberpsychology & Behavior 6 (1): 81-91 FEB 2003.

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Google Scholar• Retrieves material from scholarly journals…BUT

– Questions as to what is covered and not covered – Relevancy and ranking issues– Currency

• Generally, does not retrieve articles from research databases and other fee-based services such as those to which UW subscribes

• Use, but with caution and for specific types of materials…– E.g., conference papers, technical reports, government

documents, white papers, etc. Google, itself, is not the problem –

it's what Google finds that can be a problem

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Google Scholar

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Google Scholar

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("video game*" OR "digital game*" OR "synthetic world*" OR "virtual world*") AND (econom* OR currenc* OR capital

OR commodity)

Capitalization IS important!

Basic Search Screen

Google Scholar

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Google Advanced Search

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Google Advanced Search

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Google Advanced Search

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Any Questions?

Your Turn!

• Using Google and Google Scholar, look for the article that you found in the CSA search.

• Did you find it?

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Thank You!