ECONOMICS 481* (Fall 2007)
M.G. Abbott
Bibliographic Searches at Queen's University: An Introduction
Queen's University Library not only provides extensive bibliographic resources for researchers,
but also offers some excellent information on how to use these resources. This memo is intended
to help you get started using the online catalogue and bibliographic search facilities that you will
need to locate and obtain books, journal articles, working papers and book reviews on the topics
you are researching.
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The Queen's University Library Home Page
URL: http://library.queensu.ca
One easy way to get to the Queen's University Library Home Page is from the ECON 481 web
site, the URL for which is http://www.econ.queensu.ca/pub/faculty/abbott/econ481/.
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Accessing Queen's Libraries How Do I …? Guides: Find How to …
URL: http://library.queensu.ca/libguides/
To access the How Do I …? guides from the Queen's University Library Home Page: select
(click on) How Do I …? in the HELP drop-down menu.
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Queen’s Libraries provide a very useful Survival Guide for Students. To access the
Survival Guide for Students from the How Do I …? web page, find the heading Learn to
Use the Library and select (click on) Library Survival Guide for Students.
URL: http://library.queensu.ca/webisi/survivalguide/.
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For general information on finding journal articles at Queen’s, go to the How Do I …? web
page at http://library.queensu.ca/libguides/; under the heading Find Journal Articles,
select (click on) Consult the Summary Guide – How to Locate a Journal Article.
URL: http://library.queensu.ca/webisi/survivalguide/how_do_i.html#find_articles.
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For general information on finding books at Queen’s, go to the How Do I …? web page at
http://library.queensu.ca/libguides/; under the heading Find Books and Other types of
Material, select (click on) Books.
URL: http://library.queensu.ca/webisi/survivalguide/how_do_i.html#find_books.
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ECONOMICS 481* (Fall 2007)
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M.G. Abbott
For general information on finding book reviews at Queen’s, go to the How Do I …? web
page at http://library.queensu.ca/libguides/; under the heading Find Books and Other
types of Material, select (click on) Book Reviews.
URL: http://library.queensu.ca/inforef/bookreview/.
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Information on Using QCAT, the Queen's Libraries Online Catalogue
If you are not familiar with using QCAT, you are strongly advised to read the available online
guides to using QCAT at URL http://library.queensu.ca/libguides/guides_qcat.htm. To get to
the QCAT Guides, go to the How Do I …? web page at http://library.queensu.ca/libguides/;
under the heading Learn to Use the Library select (click on) QCAT, The Library Catalogue HELP Guides.
Two QCAT Search Guides are available, and can be accessed from the QCAT web page at URL
http://library.queensu.ca/libguides/guides_qcat.htm.
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The Quick QCAT Guide provides a brief guide to the basics of using QCAT. Under the
heading QCAT Search Guides, select (click on) Quick QCAT Guide.
URL: http://library.queensu.ca/inforef/guides/qcat.htm
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The Detailed QCAT Guide provides hands-on tutorials on using QCAT. Under the heading
QCAT Search Guides, select (click on) Detailed QCAT Guide.
URL: http://library.queensu.ca/inforef/tutorials/qcat/qcat1.htm
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Guidelines for Finding Journal Articles, Books, and Working Papers in
Economics
The basic rules for finding these three types of publications in economics are:
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To find journal articles, book chapters and working papers in economics, use CSA Illumina
to search the EconLit electronic database.
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Use the Queen’s University Library’s online catalogue called QCAT to do the following:
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Find out if the Library has a book whose title you know;
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Find out if the Library has a journal whose title you know, and whether this journal is
available in electronic or print form;
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Find out the Library’s holdings for an author whose name you know.
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ECONOMICS 481* (Fall 2007)
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M.G. Abbott
Accessing Detailed Information on EconLit
URL: http://www.econlit.org/
EconLit, produced by the American Economic Association, is the most comprehensive
electronic database of journal articles, books, book chapters, book reviews and working papers in
Economics published in English. It is easily accessible at Queen's.
Consult the EconLit web site (http://www.econlit.org/) for an up-to-date list of all indexed
journals and information about the Journal of Economic Literature. For tips on searching
EconLit, click on Search Hints.
You may also want to consult the Library’s online information on EconLit at URL:
http://library.queensu.ca/inforef/guides/databases/econlit.htm
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Accessing Information on Using CSA Illumina
CSA Illumina is the electronic bibliographic search engine that is used at Queen’s to search the
EconLit electronic bibliographic database.
The most concise online information on using CSA Illumina to search electronic bibliographic
databases is that contained in the CSA Illumina Quick Reference.
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The easiest way for you to get a copy of the CSA Illumina Quick Reference is to go to the
ECON 481 home page at and click on CSA Illumina Quick Reference under the heading
Finding and Retrieving Journal Articles, Books, Working Papers, etc..
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The CSA Illumina Quick Reference can also be downloaded from the CSA web site at URL
http://www.csa.com/. Just click on Quick Reference Card under the heading Help Links.
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What is Get It! @ Queen’s?
Get It! is a fairly new article linking service which links citations in online electronic databases
(including EconLit) to full-text articles or books (where available online) and to other related
web services provided by Queen's University Library.
When you see the Get It! @ Queen’s button beside a citation in an online database such as
EconLit, click on the button to see a menu of options to:
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View the full-text of the article if the Queen's Library has a subscription to the full text.
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ECONOMICS 481* (Fall 2007)
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M.G. Abbott
Search the Queen's Library catalogue (QCAT) to see if the Library has a copy of the journal
or book.
Download the citation to a citation manager such as RefWorks.
To obtain online information on the Get It! @ Queen’s citation linking service, go to the How
Do I …? web page at http://library.queensu.ca/libguides/; under the heading Find Journal
Articles, select (click on) Use Get It! @ Queen’s – An Article Linking Service.
URL: http://library.queensu.ca/libguides/getit_faq.htm.
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Conducting a Bibliographic Search of EconLit Using CSA Illumina
To get to the CSA Illumina search page from the Queen's University Library Home Page
(http://library.queensu.ca):
1. Click on Find Journal Articles (& More) in the RESEARCH TOOLS section. This will
get you to URL http://library.queensu.ca/db_index.htm. Follow either steps 2 or 3 below.
2. Under the heading ALTERNATIVELY: Locate a Research Database by:, type EconLit
in the dialog box under the subheading Database Title and click the Go button. Then click
on EconLit @ Scholars Portal. You will now be at the CSA Illumina Advanced Search
page.
3. Alternatively, instead of step 2, click on E under the subheading Database Title -- Browse;
then click on EconLit @ Scholars Portal. You will now be at the CSA Illumina Advanced
Search page.
You will want to become familiar with how to use CSA Illumina to perform the following
tasks in searching the EconLit bibliographic database:
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Enter a search request using both the Basic Search and Advanced Search facilities
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Mark selected records in your current search results
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Print your current search results (either all records or marked records only)
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Save to disk your current search results (either all records or marked records only) in any
of several different formats
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E-mail your current search results to yourself
4. To end a CSA Illumina search session, click the Logout button on the CSA Illumina search
page.
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