AIDS FOR SEARCHING

PROQUEST, EBSCOHOST,

PSYCINFO, ERIC, AND CHILD ABUSE AND NEGLECT

ProQuest Research II and ProQuest Criminal Justice Online version:

The Internet web version of ProQuest Research II (with over 1,000 full-text magazines and journals, and ProQuest Criminal Justice Periodical Index (with about 54 full-text magazines and journals) may be accessed from the EU library web page.

On the initial page click on Connect to ProQuest.

  1. Researches may go to the Products box and choose which database they want to search.
  2. Choose Search Method: a) Basic, for simple searches; b) Advanced, for searches where the researcher selects the desired limiters; c) Guided, where the researcher selects from among pre-selected limiters.
  3. Choose Date Range: a) Current: 1999-Present; b) Backfile: 1986-1998; c) Deep Backfile: Prior to 1986.
  4. Choose if only Full-Text Articles are wanted.
  5. Choose if Peer Reviewed (only journals) articles are wanted.
  6. For an introduction to the different ways searches can be limited go to Search Guide.
  7. To use Truncation, use ? for truncation at the ends of words and use * to replace any single letter in any position.

While the Search Guide covers most of the basic ways searches can be limited, there are buttons, which may be clicked to provide additional or parallel information.

  1. Article Types shows how to limit a search to a type of article (editorial, reviews, statistics, obituary, etc.). It also provides examples for the searches to be made.
  2. Adjacency or Proximity Searches may be found by clicking Operators. Words expected to appear near each other may be found using the Within search, i.e., Computer W/3 careers will locate the two words within 3 words of each other but in no particular order. The search World pre/3 Web will locate the words within 3 words of each other and only in that exact order.
  3. Click on Basic Search to limit a search to a basic search field (author; title; abstract; name of company, person, geographical area or product; source; or full-text of an article).
  4. Other Search Fields may be opened to find additional lists of limiters. Examples of searches are provided for each type.
  5. A Thesaurus may be clicked to locate a term and its Broader Terms and Related Terms.
  6. Clicking on Topic Finder provides subject trees, guiding the researcher from very broad topics to more focused, narrow searches.
  7. Clicking on Browse Lists provides lists of Personal Names, Locations and Places, Companies, and Subjects.

ProQuest CDRom

Simple searches in ProQuest can be made by Keyword, by Source, or by Topic. Just click on the appropriate buttons towards the left side of the top menu bar.

When you have a word but would like to know other terms, click on Thesaurus and type the word. Then click on Description and it will provide Narrower Terms, Broader Terms, and Related Terms for your use. These then may be linked with or and placed in parentheses, i.e., (crime or arson). Other Boolean operators that may be used are and and and not.

Advanced searches include limiting the search by fields. The fields available are:

  1. SU Subjects. Searchers should use this to limit the search to articles where the subject is important enough to have a subject heading itself: su(arson) and su(insurance).
  2. AU Authors
  3. CO Companies
  4. NA Name
  5. JO Journal Name
  6. JG Journal Groups (Academic, Arts, Business, Commentary, Health, Lifestyles, News, Sci/Tech, Socio/Environmental). To search for journal articles you may enter the subject(s) plus the limiter: crime and jg(academic). This will provide Academic (journal type publications) on the subject of crime.
  7. GEO Geographical Places
  8. TY Article Type (Arts/Exhibits Review, Audio Review, Book Review, Commentary, Corrections, Dividend Report, Editorial, Editorial Cartoon, Feature, Fiction, General Information, Instructional, Interview, Letter, Movie Review, News, Obituary, Performance Review, Poetry, Product Review, Recipe, Restaurant Review, Review, Speech, Statistics, Television Review, Video Review). To search for an article type you may enter the subject(s) plus the article type: environment and ty(editorial) would find editorials on environmental issues.

Proximity Searches

Many searches can be shortened if the two terms are expected to appear in close proximity. Use Pre/n where “n” specifies how close the first term should be to the second term: fourth pre/2 July should find Fourth of July.

For searches where word order is not important use W/n where “n” specifies how close the terms should appear. Child W/6 psychology should find all occurrences of the terms if they are within 6 words of each other.

Truncation Operator (?)

Use the ? character to search for words containing a common word root, with any number, or combination of characters following the root For example, operat? will find articles containing operations, operational, and operating.

Wild Card Operator (*)

Use the * character to search for a specific number of characters, in any combination. Use one * for each character you are unsure of. For example, wom*n will find articles containing: woman, women, and womyn. And educat** will find articles containing educated and educator.

The periodical’s location is available by clicking on the icon to the left of the citation.

EBSCOHost

Aside from the Boolean operators and, or, and not, the Proximity Operators N* (near) and W* (within) may be used. Statue W2 Liberty would mean Liberty should appear within two words following Statue. Statue N2 Liberty would mean Liberty should appear with two words before or after Statue.

Researchers using EBSCOhost may use (?) for wildcard searches and (*) for truncated searches.

Reviews may be located by adding AND review to a search.

It is suggested that researchers on the first screen should click on Advanced Search. On that screen they can then limit the search by Field, by Peer Reviewed, Full-Text, by Magazine Name and Dates, or by Cover Story.

EBSCOhost permits concurrent searching of multiple databases. Besides the two general databases, its selection includes: Health Source: Nursing Academic – almost 540 full text titles; Health Source: Consumer Edition – over 190 full text general health titles; Alternative Medicine titles; Primary Search – some 50 full text children’s magazines; Military Library FullTEXT – over 330 full text titles..

PsycINFO, ERIC, Child Abuse and Neglect, PsycARTICLES, AIDSSearch

These databases have very similar search techniques. To improve or focus a search, click on Search Mode: Expert on the initial screen.

On the Search Screen, right click while the cursor is in a search bar in the Expert Search. This will open a list of the two-letter codes that may be used to limit a search. Look for those used to identify Key Words, Key Phrases, Major and Minor Key Words, and Publication Year. These are some of the most useful limiters. To use the limiter as part of a search, type in the two letters (for example to seek an author use au=jones, ralph w.) followed immediately by an equal sign and the desired word(s).

Other useful hints:

  1. You may combine searches. To combine a search made on the first line with a search made on the second line of the search screen use: #1 and #2 This would be typed on search line 3. This may be repeated using searches made on other lines if you use their line numbers.
  2. Proximity searches may be made by using NEARx or ADJx where you supply the interval number, i.e., child NEAR3 abuse would yield citations containing the two words appearing within 3 words of each other but in any order. Child ADJ3 abuse would yield citations only when abuse was found within 3 words following child.
  3. Truncation allows searching for similar words that share the same initial letters, i.e., psycholog* would find psychology, psychologist, psychological, etc. The asterisk (*) is the symbol for truncation.
  4. An ERIC search may be limited only to journals by adding “and sf=CIJE” to a search. ERIC searches may also be limited to the full-text documents by adding “and sf=ERIC digests”. A PsycINFO search may be limited in various ways by adding “and” with one of the following: pt=journal article; pt=edited book; pt=book; pt=chapter; pt=dissertation abstract.

Search tips for Beginning Searchers using ERIC, PsycINFO, and Child Abuse and Neglect databases:

  1. On initial screen, on the right hand, choose Search Mode: Expert and click OK.
  2. Click Continue on the next screen
  3. On the screen with several search lines, place Cursor on a search bar and Right Click mouse to open a drop down menu. Choose either Expert Fields Guide, or, Insert Field Tag (list for a quick refresher)
  4. To more quickly focus a search use Field Tags. Researchers must check the list for each database to find the correct letter combinations. Those which may be quite useful are:

ERIC PsycINFO

km= (yields only major subject headings km= Major key terms

kw= (yields both major and minor kt= Major or minor key terms

Subject headings)

pt= publication type pt= Publication type

sf= source file kp= Key phrases

To use one of these, use this format as an example: km=physical education and kw=elementary school students.

To limit a search to a specific publication type, for PsycINFO use pt= followed immediately by: Journal Article, Authored Book, Book, Chapter, or Dissertation Abstract. For limiting an ERIC search use pt= followed by Journal Articles, Reports – Research/Technical, Reports – Descriptive, Viewpoints, Speeches, Conference Papers, Statistical Data, Guides, Reference Materials, Collected Works, etc.

To exclude all documents from an ERIC search, add: “and sf=CIJE” to a search. This will provide only journals indexed in CIJE (Current Index to Journals in Education).

  1. For ERIC and PsycINFO searches, use the printed Thesaurus of Descriptors (or Index Terms) volume for each database. Look for SN: Scope Note (a brief definition used for the term); B or BT: broader term; N or NT: narrower term; R or RT for related term.
  2. On the split screen following a search 1) the search will be visible above, 2) the short citations will be below.
  3. In the left middle section you will find the word, Citations. If you click on it a menu will provide alternative display options: 1) Citations; 2) Only years and titles; 3) Full record; 4) Alternative (shortened) full record.
  4. To the right of “Citations” are located images of two small books. Click on the left one for Short Record Display. Click on the right hand one for Long Record Display (including the abstract describing the item).
  5. To provide more room for reading the abstracts, look immediately below the search bars for a down arrow, equal sign, and an up arrow. Click the up arrow. To split the screen again, click the equal sign.
  6. Items may be marked for printing by clicking the small square to the left of the citation.