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Performing Research Using the Library’s

Resources

An introduction to basic research

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What resources does the library have?

Books

Videos

Magazines & Journals

Databases

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How do I find items in the library?

Search the library’s catalog-Can be found on the library’s homepage at http://library.msugf.edu/

-Click on “Library Catalog” under “Find Books, Videos, Course Reserves”

Ask a library staff member for assistance

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Practice

1. Open the MSU-GF homepage

2. Click on the Library link

3. Find and click on the Library Catalog link

4. Enter the word “fishing”

5. Write down the information you would use to locate Uncommon waters : women write about fishing

-call number

-year of publication

-type of publication

-location in library

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How do I access information not

physically in the library?

Request inter-library loan

Visit the library’s collection of indexes and databases

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Practice

How do you request an interlibrary loan?

-Write down the 6 steps you would take

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What do the databases do?

-Provide access to full-text journal articles

-Provide citations for articles that may be found using the full-text journal finder

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How do I access the indexes & databases?

Visit the library homepage and click on “Indexes and Databases” under the heading “Find Articles &

Research Information”

Off campus: access via Proxy server

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Practice

Locate the Indexes and Databases area of the Library site

-What is another name for Expanded Academic ASAP?

-What types of information can be found on this database?

-What is another name for Academic Search Premier?

-What types of information can be found on this database?

EBSCOhost Basic Searching for Academic Libraries

Tutorial

Welcome to EBSCO Publishing’s Basic Searching for Academic Libraries tutorial, a concise guide to the most popular EBSCOhost features, including tips on how to make the most of them in an academic

library environment.

We’ll begin by conducting a Basic Search on global warming. You can view available limitersand expanders by clicking on Search Options.

Under the Search Options, it is easy to limit or expand your search results. You can choose from one of the available Search Modes and depending upon the databases you have chosen, you may see the ability to limit a search by Full Text articles, Scholarly (Peer Reviewed) Journals, or a particular

publication that you enter in the field provided.

What is a Boolean search?Boolean search allows you to specify the

relationships among your keywords and phrases.

The most commonly used Boolean search terms include AND, OR, and NOT.

AND Searches: The Boolean search term AND allows you to

tell a search engine to locate all records containing one keyword and another. For instance, you could search for all records containing the keywords computers AND writing. This allows you to obtain a smaller number of results than you could by searching for one keyword or the other:

Search for: writing AND computers

Result: all entries containing the two keywords writing and computers

OR SearchesThe Boolean search term OR allows you to tell

a search engine to locate all records containing one keyword or another. For instance, you could search for all records containing the keywords writing OR computers. This allows you to obtain a larger number of results than you could by searching for one keyword or the other:

Search for: writing OR computers

Result: all entries containing either or both of the keywords writing and computers

NOT SearchesThe Boolean search term NOT allows you to tell a

search engine to locate all records that do not contain a particular keyword. For instance, you could search for all records containing the keywords composition NOT music. It turns out that the term composition is commonly used in both writing instruction and music instruction. If you are interested in looking only for sources that deal with written composition, you can use the Boolean term NOT to exclude sources dealing with musical composition.

Search for: composition NOT music

Result: all entries containing the keyword composition but not containing the keyword music

Complex SearchesBoolean search terms can be used in

combination with each other to construct complex searches. For instance, you could search for all records containing the keywords writing or composition and the keyword computers but not the keyword music:

Search for: writing OR composition AND computers NOT music

Result: all entries containing the keywords writing or composition and computers, but not containing the keyword music

If you misspell your keyword(s), the Spellchecker function will suggest alternate spellings. The Result List defaults to showing All Results, and can be filtered to view results by specific document type, such

as Academic Journals, Magazines, or Books/Monographs, using the links at the top of the list.

You can print, email, save, cite or export a single result from the detailed display when you click on a title link. To print, email, save, cite or export multiple results, add them to the folder, then click the

print, email, save, cite, or export icon inside the folder. Folder contents can be saved by clicking on the Sign In to My EBSCOhost link, and then setting up a personalized (My

EBSCOhost) folder account at no charge.

The Subject Terms authority file is a controlled vocabulary that assists in more effectively searching the database and is available by clicking on the Subject Terms link in the top tool

bar. If you have multiple databases selected, you can select the database in which you’d like to search for Subject Terms from a drop down menu.

For a specific subject, enter a term in the browse field, click Browse, then check the box in front of the desired subject term, click Add to place it in the Find field, then add search terms.

The Indexes authority file facilitates browsing through a drop-down list of database indexes, then entering terms to search for in the selected index field of all database records. Indexes are available by clicking the More link in the top tool bar. In the resulting drop down menu, choose Indexes and then select the database in which you would like to browse indexes.

Select the index you would like to browse and enter your term in the Browse field. Click the Browse button to see a resulting list of terms and how many articles in which they appear, with an exact

match first, when available. Check the box in front of the desired subject term, click Add to place it in the Find field, then add search terms.

The Cited References authority file enables users to extend a search beyond the initial Result List, to those records cited by an article. Cited References are available by clicking the

Cited References link in the toolbar above the Find field. From there, you can choose the database in which you would like to search the cited references.

Simply enter an author, source, title and/or publication year to view a list of cited references in the database articles. Check the box of a result and click Find Citing Articles to find article that have

cited your result.

HELP: At any time during your session, you can click on the Help link to view the complete online Help system. All topics on the left are active links that can be printed as handouts. You may also visit the EBSCO Support Site at support.ebsco.com to browse our Knowledge Base of FAQs, download Help

Sheets or User Guides, view additional tutorials, or see what’s new in our Top Stories. This concludes our Basic Searching for Academic Libraries tutorial.