Advanced searching through the RCOT Library ejournal platform

This document provides guidance on how to carry out an advanced search through the RCOT Library ejournal platform, accessible through the ‘Additional RCOT ejournals’ link on the Journal and ejournals web page https://www.rcot.co.uk/practice-resources/library-resources/journals-and-e-journals Members can carry out a search through this service to find electronic journal articles.

Articles searched are those the RCOT makes available full text

You will need to be logged in to the RCOT website: https://www.rcot.co.uk/ with your email and self-selected password to access the RCOT Library ejournal platform and carry out an

advanced search.

N.B. The British Journal of Occupational Therapy (BJOT), The American Journal of Occupational Therapy (AJOT), The Australian Occupational Therapy Journal (AOTJ) and the Canadian Journal of Occupational Therapy should be searched individually through the publishers web pages accessible through the RCOT journals and ejournals page, please see the link above.

When to search the RCOT Library ejournal platform

if you need a couple of articles and don’t want/ need to carry out a full/ comprehensive search if you need immediate access to just a couple of electronic articles quickly

This search option should not be used as a substitute for searching the main databases such as AMED, CINAHL, HMIC, Social Policy and Practice, PsycINFO etc.

How to access the advanced search optionPlease note that you need to search for, and access ejournals, via the RCOT Library ejournal platform accessible through the ‘Additional RCOT ejournals’ link on RCOT journals and ejournals web page. You cannot, for example carry out a search on Google, identify an article in the Google results and access the article directly from Google. It’s necessary to access articles through the RCOT website otherwise you won’t be authenticated to view the article – going via the RCOT website ‘authenticates’ you.

a) Open a new browser (for example Google Chrome, Internet Explorer, Safari, Firefox)b) Go to the RCOT website at https://www.rcot.co.uk/ and log in as a member

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c) Once you are logged in, navigate to ‘Practice resources’ (shown highlighted in yellow in the screenshot below), and click ‘Practice resources’

d) From the sub menu click on ‘Library resources’ (shown circled in blue in the screenshot below) and click on ‘Library resources’

e) From this sub menu click on ‘Journals and ejournals’ (shown circled in red in the screenshot below)

f) From the main screen choose ‘Ejournals access’ (shown highlighted in yellow in the screenshot below)

g) From the bulleted points below, choose ‘Additional RCOT ejournals  (shown circled in blue in the screenshot below)

h) This will take you away from the main RCOT website to the RCOT Library ejournal platform

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i) click the link on the green banner ‘Search for ejournal articles’ (circled in blue in the screenshot below)

You should then see the basic search screen. Please see the screenshot below. (The search history table may show with no searches completed. The search results list shows the number of articles available to you. Once you begin your search the search history table, and the results list, will be amended to reflect your searches and results)

j) Click the advanced search option (highlighted in yellow in the screenshot below to show the advanced search options)

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To create an advanced search1. Enter your main search term in the uppermost search box on the advanced search screen

2. You can then add an additional search term in one or both of the boxes below it

3. If desired, select the field you want to search from the drop down menu at the right hand side of each box (circled in red in the screenshot above). This enables you to narrow your search, for example if you select the abstract field , this will limit your search to those articles where the indicated word is included in the abstract

If you don’t make a selection and leave the option as ‘Select a field (optional)’ any term you enter in the search box will be searched for in any of the fields related to words

(Note: Selecting Title will employ the Boolean/Phrase search mode while selecting Author will employ the Find all my search terms search mode.)

4. Select from the available Search Options if desired and made available to you:

Choose a discipline to search – it is possible to select a discipline area to search however this can significantly reduce the number of relevant articles you return. Suggested use: only as a last measure

Search modes – You can use specific search modes, such as “Find all of my search terms,” or “SmartText Searching,” or use search options that expand your search such as “Apply related words”

Limit your results – such as Full Text or Publication type

Click the Search button. The result list displays as shown in the screenshot below

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Any articles that you have access to full text will be shown below the individual article references in the results list (highlighted in yellow in the screenshot above) just click on the Full Text Finder link.

If you hover over the magnifying glass to the right side of the article title, this will allow you to view the article abstract if one is included.

The search field is displayed above the Result List. To revise your search, you can type in another search term(s) and then combine the searches from the search history table (circled in blue in the screenshot below).

You must ensure before adding any further search terms, or combining search terms that the search box is empty (highlighted in yellow in the screenshot below). If the search box is not empty, delete any terms remaining in this box, otherwise these terms will be automatically applied to your next search or search combination and this may negatively affect your results

If at any time when using the RCOT Library ejournal platform, a yellow bar at the top of the webpage appears with the directions ‘open the page in a new window’ (shown circled in blue in the screenshot below) please click on this text to link through to the next page to navigate to the full text of the article

This information sheet, and all the RCOT information sheets, can be found on the RCOT library information skills web page at:

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https://www.rcot.co.uk/practice-resources/library-resources/information-skills

You would need to be logged in to the RCOT website with your email and self-selected password to view this page.

References

EBSCO Publishing (2015) Full Text Finder: advanced search: guide style find fields. Ipswich, MA: EBSCO. Available at: http://support.epnet.com/knowledge_base/detail.php?id=7381

Accessed on 08.08.18.

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