Advance Research for the Literature Review

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Advance Research for the Literature Review

• Winter 2007
• Prescott College
• Rich Lewis

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Remember the 3 steps for getting articles

• Search appropriate databases using keywords and
  subject term combinations. If article isnt
  full-text, go to step 2
• Go to the Library webpage, go to the upper right
  box that says Library Links and use the
  pull-down menu to select Journal subscriptions.
  Search for the title of the journal that
  published the article. If we have it full-text,
  the year and database will show up. If it
  doesnt come up, or if we dont have the correct
  year, or if we only have it in print and you are
  off-campus, go to step 3
• Request the article through Interlibrary Loan.
  Go to the main library webpage and scroll down to
  the Interlibrary Loan Article Request Form link.
  We usually can get you the article within 3-5
  business days.

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This presentation focuses on finding relevant
articles

• A. Which databases should you use?
• B. Discovering the best keywords
• Using the controlled words/thesaurus
• EBSCOhost Subject Terms
• ProQuest Topics
• CSA/PsycInfo Descriptors
• C. How best to use these keywords
• Advanced search fields Boolean operators
• Wildcards and truncation
• D. Other tricks to finding relevant articles
• Citation Indexing
• Mining article bibliographies
• Having Databases push you articles automatically

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A. Deciding what databases to use

• How comprehensive do you need to be?
• For basic papers, the minimum recommended
  databases should be enough (usually 4-5
  databases)
• For comprehensive literature reviews, theses, and
  dissertations you should broaden your search to
  include other databases, some which may only be
  available through major state universities.

• Go to http//www.prescott.edu/Library/articles.ht
  mlarea to see our suggested databases by subject

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Databases you should use all the time

• General
• ProQuest Research Library
• EBSCOhost Academic Search Elite
• Google Scholar
• JSTOR
• AND, if it relates to Counseling/Psyc
• PsycInfo
• AND, if it relates to Education
• ERIC (http//eric.ed.gov)
• AND, if it relates to Environmental Science
• Environmental Sciences Pollution Management
  (via CSA)
• BioOne

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General PC databases you should add for
comprehensive lit reviews

• ArticleFirst, ECO WorldCat (can all be searched
  at once)
• IngentaConnect (excellent, but not full-text)

Other databases you should add for comprehensive
lit reviews usually accessible via large
universities

• Web of Science
• Project Muse
• EBSCOhost Academic Search Premier
• ProQuest Dissertations Theses Full-Text
• Use their Central Search if they have one. This
  can be cumbersome and slow, but will search all
  their available databases at once.

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Why search more than one Database?
There is not a lot of overlap between
databasesmany times less than 20.
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B. Figuring out what search terms to use

• What are the general facets/areas of your search?
• What terms are used in your field of study
• What subject terms do the various databases use
  to describe your area of study?

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Subject terms Thesauri

• Most databases tag each article with controlled
  terms (one major exception is Google Scholar.)
• These terms are generally kept in the form of a
  thesaurus. Each database can have different
  terms for the same concept (ie ProQuest uses
  Curricula, PsycInfo uses Curriculum, and
  Ebsco uses Education--curricula)
• Different databases call these terms different
  things ProquestTopics, EBSCOSubject terms,
  PsycInfoDescriptors
• Thesauri are formatted using Broader terms and
  Narrower terms.

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Breaking your search into its various facets
Blank forms can be found http//www.prescott.edu/
Library/resources/maporientation.html
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Not all relevant articles will have all 3 areas
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C. How to use the search terms effectively

• Choosing what fields to search
• Citation/Abstract
• Full-Text
• Subject
• Using truncation or wildcards

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Boolean Operators the basics

• AND This, by default, is automatically used in
  nearly all databases and search engines when you
  enter more than one keyword into a search box.
  All words must be in the article or webpage.
• OR recalls articles/webpages that have either
  word
• NOT does not recall an article if it contains
  the word following NOT.
• It is best to use the Advanced Search options to
  insert Boolean operators rather than trying to
  use them in a basic search.

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Wildcards and Truncations

• ? A question mark is the generally accepted form
  of a wildcard. If you type in wom?n, then both
  woman and women will be accepted by the
  search. Again, the exception is Google
  Scholarit does not use wildcards.
• The asterisks is the generally accepted way to
  truncate wordsso typing in sustainab will
  accept both sustainable and sustainability
  (except Google Scholar, which tends to
  automatically truncatethough they use synonyms
  more than truncation. If you want to make sure
  they do, enter a tilde () before the word with
  no spacessustainable.)

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D. Other tricks for finding articles

• Citation indexing (Web of Science, PsycInfo,
  EBSCOHost, and Google Scholar)
• Mining bibliographies
• Published Literature Reviews
• Annual Reviews (http//www.annualreviews.org/)
• Having Databases push you information via Alerts

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Citation Indexing

• Gives an idea of the impact an article has had in
  its field. The more citations, the larger the
  impact. Take in consideration the Date of
  publication.
• Connects you with similar articles written after
  the article was published.
• You can run an article you like through the
  databases that do citation indexing to see if
  they are listed and cited.
• The number of citations is only the number of
  articles that the particular database has access
  to. This article has this many cites

EBSCOhost 14 Google Scholar 69 Web of Science
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Setting up databases to push you articles

• ProQuest, EBSCOhost, CSA (PsycInfo et al.) For
  EBSCO CSA you need to create an account with
  them (its free not too painful)
• You can be notified when your favorite journal
  has new full-text articles, or when an article
  fits any specific search you create.

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Pushing information to you
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The End!

• Questions? Contact me at rlewis_at_prescott.edu

Early signs indicating a career in Libraries
Courtesy NJ State Library