Library Workshop - Searching 101
Contact Information: | 888-628-1569
summary | This workshop will introduce students to basic search techniques for conducting research in the Library’s Roadrunner Search.
learning objectives | Upon completion of this workshop students will know how to:
· Access the Research Process – Preparing to Search pages on the Library’s website
· Access and use the Library’s Roadrunner Search
· Effectively conduct keyword and subject searches
· Select appropriate database search limiters
· Effectively conduct database searches involving Boolean operators, truncation, and phrases
· Search for a publication using the Library’s Find a Resource tool
· Locate dissertations in the Library
I. research process | A thorough overview of the research process may be found on the Library’s Research Process page. Part of today’s workshop will correspond to the section titled Preparing to Search. Consider the main elements of your topic and break them down into keywords. Understanding how to narrow or broaden your topic, as well as learning how to turn your topic from a research question into a hypothesis statement, are important.
II. Roadrunner | Roadrunner searches most of the library’s database content, including articles, e-books and videos. Some databases, however, contain information that can't be displayed in the Roadrunner Search interface. It excludes databases with special content such as Mergent Online, ReferenceUSA and many academic videos and dissertations. Using Roadrunner Search is a great starting point for your research. The search strategies used within Roadrunner will apply to other databases, as well.
III. search limiters | Limiters are ways in which you may limit your search according to set criteria so that your results set is more narrow. Examples of search limiters include: full-text only, scholarly/peer-reviewed publications, date range, and publication type. Limiting your results to full-text and scholarly publications are the most common types of limiters used. For further information about limiters, visit the Library's Search Limits page.
IV. scholarly/peer-reviewed limit | Unless you know that you can only use scholarly/peer-reviewed sources, try your search first without any limits. This will give you a larger set of search results. Then you can start applying limits to lower your number of search results until it is appropriate for your topic. To determine if a journal is peer-reviewed, see the Peer-Reviewed Journals FAQ.
V. phrase searching | Phrase searching uses quotation marks to find words in the exact order you type them, and with no other words in between them. This is useful if you are searching an established phrase (like “social psychology”) or if you are searching a book or article title. For further information about phrase searching, visit the Library's Phrase Searching page.
VI. Boolean operators | Library databases use Boolean operators to combine keywords in searches. The Boolean Operator words AND, OR, NOT are used to combine keywords and thus broaden or narrow your search results. You will typically see these options available in the drop down boxes on a database’s Advanced Search screen. For further information about limiters, visit the Library's Boolean Operators page.
VII. truncation | Truncation lets you search for a word that could have multiple endings. A truncated word search will return a larger set of search results than a regular word search. The symbol for truncation is usually an * at the point where the spelling of the word could change. For example, PTSD AND music* would find articles with the terms PTSD and music/musical/musician/musicians/musicality in them. For further information about truncation, visit the Library's Truncation and Wildcard Symbols page.
VIII. subject searching & thesauri | Looking at the subject headings for relevant articles can help guide your search. Try adding those terms to your search by changing a search field drop-down box to Subject. Additionally, many databases will show you hyperlinked “Suggested Topics” or “Suggested Subjects.” Finally, database thesauri allow you to look up subject terms used within the database. Using thesauri can help you figure out which synonym to use, which spelling to use, or which combination of terms to use. For further information, visit the Library's Subject Terms and Database Thesauri page.
IX. folders & search history | Adding articles to database folders and viewing your search history is available for your current browsing session only; if you close your browser window, those articles will no longer be in your folder. However, to save articles and searches long term, you may create individual database login accounts, or export your article citations into RefWorks. See the Personal Database Accounts page for more instructions.
X. publication search | The easiest way to locate a particular journal within the Library is to use Find a Resource, located directly to the right of Roadrunner Search on the Library’s home page. If your publication is available, the results screen will tell you which years you have access to and in which databases. If you would like to determine whether or not a particular journal is peer-reviewed, search for the journal name in Ulrichsweb, available from the Library’s A-Z Databases page. See the Peer-Reviewed Journals FAQ for more information.
XI. dissertations | The Library’s Dissertation Resources are not accessible in full text from the Roadrunner search results. The Northcentral University Dissertations database is searchable by title, abstract and author. Use ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global to search over 2.1 million full-text documents by keyword, author, university/institution, subject, and more.
XII. additional resources | Please visit the below links for additional information on resources related to database searching.
· Quick Tutorial Video – Find a Resource
· Quick Tutorial Video – Search Like an Expert
· Quick Tutorial Video - Ulrichsweb
· Quick Tutorial Video - Using a Thesaurus
quiz | Answer the questions below to reinforce what you have learned in today’s workshop.
1. A search of telev* would NOT return which words in your search results?
a. Television
b. Televised
c. Telephone
d. Televisual
2. When you are beginning your Library research, it is always a good idea to:
a. Consider how your topic or research question breaks down into searchable keywords
b. Consider if you should use only Roadrunner Search, or if you need to use individual databases
c. Review the search limits available within the database
d. All of the above
3. The Boolean operators are:
a. AND, OR, INCLUDES
b. NEAR, OR, NOT
c. AND, LIKE, NOT
d. AND, OR, NOT
4. To find the exact phrase social psychology you could search:
a. “social psychology”
b. Social psychology*
c. ~social ~psychology
d. Social psychology?
5. Use a database thesaurus to find:
a. Keywords
b. Subject terms
c. Search symbols
d. Journal titles
6. Selecting only Peer-reviewed/Scholarly Journals is an example of:
a. A truncated search
b. Applying a search limit
c. A journal title
d. A subject search
7. Leadership AND motivation would return search results with:
a. The word leadership or the word motivation included
b. The words leadership and motivation right next to each other
c. The words leadership and motivation included
d. The phrase leadership motivation as a subject heading
8. To move from a keyword search to a subject search you could:
a. Use the database thesaurus
b. Look at the subject terms of articles you found with a keyword search
c. Look at the suggested subject terms on your search results page
d. All of the above
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