Printed Version
Periodicals
Books
Newspapers
Reference
tools
Electronic Version
Online Databases
Annual reports and
other publications.
BASIC CONCEPTS OF USING
ONLINE DATABASES

Most Online Databases provide the following
searching methods :
»
»
»
Basic Search
Advanced Search
Publication Search
1) Basic Search
Basic Search is an ideal way to start with. Just think of a word or phrase related to the
information you're looking for and type it into the designated field(s).
Basic Search returns more results, if your search terms can be found in anywhere of the
following: Abstract, Article Title, Author, Company/Organization, Geographic Name,
Subject, Personal Name, Product Name, Publication Name.
Basic Search Interface:
Ebsco & ProQuest
Advanced Search is a powerful way to search with. Enter your word or phrase, and
use the fields to focus your search.
EbscoHost Advanced Search
ProQuest Advanced Search
In a nutshell, to get most results, use “A
or B” ; to get results related only to A,
use “A not B” ; to get results related to
both, use “A and B”
Boolean Search Example one: A & B. Only
Articles with BOTH search terms are retrieved.
133 found.
Boolean Search Example two: A or B
Articles with EITHER of the search
terms are retrieved. 8585 found.
Boolean Search Example three:
A not B. Articles with only the
required search term are
retrieved. 3822 found.
3) Publication Search
Publication Search makes it easy to find the latest issue or
a specific back issue of a particular periodical.
General guide to using a database:
Key in any of the following:
1) Article Title
2) Subject
3) Author
4) Abstract
5) Article Text
Decide if an article is relevant
by having a look at its title and
abstract first.
Mark/save useful article(s) to
designated folder (one-off) or save
searches to a personal account
(until you delete them)
If needed, set up an alert and be
notified whenever new articles
related to your search are added to
a database
Print or email marked article(s) for
future reference
Glossary explained (1)
Boolean (Search) Operators: words (especially AND, OR, NOT) used
to expand or limit the results of a search.
And - combines search terms so that each search result contains all of
the terms. For example, education and technology finds articles that
contain both terms.
Or - combines search terms so that each search result contains at least
one of the terms. For example, education or technology finds results
that contain either term.
Not - excludes terms so that each search result does not contain any of
the terms that follow it. For example, education not technology finds
results that contain the term education but not the term technology.
Glossary explained (2)
Stop words: words, such as “the,” “a”, “an,” “of,” and “with,” that
are ignored in searches.
Truncation/Wildcard: symbols (*/#/?) used to return all values of
a parameter. To use the ? wildcard, enter your search terms and
replace each unknown character with a ‘?’ ; to use the #
wildcard, enter your search terms, adding the ‘#’ to where an
alternate spelling may contain an extra character ; to use
truncation, enter the root of a search term and replace the
ending with an ‘*’, which may also be used between words to
match any word.
Glossary explained (3)
Bibliographic citation: the information which identifies a book or
article, usually includes the author, title, publisher, and date ; whereas
the citation for an article includes the author, title of the article, title of
the periodical, volume, pages, and date.
Citation Styles: there are many styles and forms used to cite sources
used to support research. Most academic institutions have
standardized requirements for their students. Some of the most widely
used citation styles are APA, and MLA.
Abstract: a brief summary of a research article, thesis, review,
conference proceeding or any in-depth analysis of a particular subject
or discipline, and is often used to help the reader quickly ascertain the
paper's purpose.
Glossary explained (4)
Document ID: aka Accession Number, a numeric code assigned to each
article in a database for retrieval purposes. Searchable in Advanced
Search mode only.
Full-text: a term that indicates the availability of a document that is
electronically represented in its entirety in a database. Whether or not
images, graphs and charts are included depends.
Embargo: in academic publishing, an embargo is a period during which
online access through a host service is not available or limited (e.g.
subscription is needed, or only the abstract is available).
Glossary explained (5)
Peer-review: the scholarly process whereby manuscripts intended to be
published in an academic journal are reviewed by independent referees who
are experts in the same field so that the importance, novelty and accuracy of
the manuscript's contents is evaluated.
ISBN: the International Standard Book Number , a unique 10 or 13-digit
numeric identifier for a particular title and edition of a book.
ISSN: the International Standard Serial Number, a unique eight-digit
numeric identifier for a print or electronic periodical publication. The
equivalent of an ISBN number for journals.