Slide 1

Transcript: Module Five This module will answer the following questions:  How do I choose the best library databases to search for articles on my particular topic? How can I get the best results from my search? What do the results of my search mean? How do I find the text of an article that I want to read? And, where is the paper copy of the journal I need on campus? There will be quiz questions throughout this module.

Module Five

Will answer the following questions:

1.  How do I choose the best library databases to search for articles on my particular topic?

2.  How can I get the best results from my search?

3.  What do the results of my search mean?

4.  How do I find the text of an article that I want to read?

5.  Where is the paper copy of the journal I need on campus?

There will be quiz questions throughout this module.

Slide 2

Transcript: Remember, library journal databases provide organized, searchable access to published articles.  They are free to you via the libraries’ web site.

Library Journal Databases:

▪ Organized

▪ Searchable access

▪ To published articles

▪ They are free to you as a UW-student

▪ Via the Libraries' web site

Slide 3

Transcript: Just as searching the yellow pages can provide a list of business that meet your particular needs...

Slide 4

Transcript: Library databases give  you a list of articles that are on your topic.

Slide 5

Transcript: And for your college-level assignments, the type of articles that you'll most ofen need will be Scholarly Journal Articles, which are written by experts in the field...

Remember...

Scholarly Journal Articles =

Written by experts in the field.

Slide 6

Transcript: They're the results of original research and they've been deemed worthy of publication by others in that same field.

Scholarly Journal Articles =

Results of original research.

Deemed worthy by others in that same field.

Slide 7

Transcript: They're what you'll need for most of your major college-level papers and projects, and they're highly expensive.  For example...

They're what you'll need for most college-level papers and projects.

Highly expensive!

For example...

Slide 8

Transcript: A one-year subscription to the Journal of Geophysical Research costs more than fourteen thousand dollars, Journal of Applied Polymer Science - nearly seventeen thousand dollars, and Brain Research - over twenty-two thousand dollars.

One-year subscription to:

Journal of Geophysical Research = $14,175
Journal of Applied Polymer Science = $16,995

Brain Research = $22,386

Slide 9

Transcript: Fortunately, the UW Libraries subscribe to these journals for you to use.

Fortunately...

The UW Libraries subscribe to these journals for you to use.

Slide 10

Transcript: Because of this, these databases are the most efficient way to identify and locate published articles on a topic.

They also provide the journal databases...

 The most efficient way to

identify and locate

published articles on a topic.

Slide 11

Transcript: Let's take a look at where to begin finding these databases.

Slide 12

Transcript: From the libraries' home page, click on the E-Resource Gateway.

Slide 13

Transcript: ...which we see here.

Slide 14

Transcript: Use this screen if you know the title, or the database name, you wish to search.

Slide 15

Transcript: In most cases though, you'll want to pick a database to search by the topics it covers.  To do this, click on the By Subject tab.

Slide 16

Transcript: The libraries' databases are organized by subject and then further divided by sub-category.

Slide 17

Transcript: Each subject has its own set of sub-categories.

Slide 18

Button One:  Review Where to Begin
Button Two:  Continue on to Quiz Question One

Slide 20

Transcript: Let's say that you're an engineering student who's  interested in the environmental impact of  wind power.

wind power

Slide 21

Transcript: With our topic in mind, we'll make our first selection from the left-hand, By Subject column.

Select Engineering/Computer Sci

Slide 22

Transcript: Now we can select our subcategory from the second column.  In this case, let's go with Civil and Environmental Engineering since it matches our interest in environmental aspects of wind power.

Select Civil and Environmental

Slide 23

Transcript: Then we'll click on Go.

Click on Go

Slide 24

Transcript: Here we're given a list of resources that all cover our subject area.

Slide 25

Transcript: Simply click on the name of a database you'd like to search.

Slide 26

Transcript: Conversely, if you're not quite certain which subject your topic falls under, you may want to select Mulitidicsiplinary from the first column.

Select Multidisciplinary

Slide 27

Transcript: And then, select the sub-category Introductory Resources.

Select Introductory Resources

Slide 28

Transcript: And click on Go.

Slide 29

Transcript: Again, we get an appropriate list of resources to choose from.

Slide 30

Transcript: The first option in our list is Academic Search, an article database, let's click on that to search it.

Select Academic Search

Slide 31

Button One:  Review Selecting a Database by Subject
Button Two:  Continue on to Quiz Question Two

Slide 33

Transcript: Now, let's search the database using the strategies we learned back in Module Three.

Searching the Database

Slide 34

Transcript: We'll enter our search strategy in the Find box.

Enter your search strategy

Slide 35

Transcript: And then, as usual, we'll click on search.

Click Search

Slide 36

Transcript: Our results here are quite different than what we might find out on the free web.  The reason for this is that each numbered item represents a published, copyrighted article.  Notice that these articles are in reverse chronological order rather than ranked by relevancy.

Slide 37

Transcript: This means that the perfect article for our topic could be on page two, three or even five.  All the more reason to use the search strategies you learned in module three to get the most relevant results.

Slide 38

Transcript: If an article looks interesting, we can click on its title to learn more about it.

Click on the Article Title to learn more

Slide 39

Slide 40

Button One:  Review Searching the Database
Button Two:  Continue on to Quiz Question Three

Slide 42

The Full Record

Slide 43

Transcript: Here we'll see all the information the database has about that article.

Slide 44

Transcript: Much like MadCat, it gives us some basic information about the article:  The title of the article, its authors, the source (which is the journal its published in), and the volume and issues numbers.

Slide 45

Transcript: Subject terms which describe the topic of the article...

Slide 46

Transcript: And finally, the incredibly helpful Abstract, which is a short summary of the article itself.  This can help you decide whether the article is worth reading.

Slide 47

Button One:  Review The Full Record
Button Two:  Continue on to Quiz Question Four

Slide 49

Finding the Full Text

Slide 50

Transcript: If after reading the abstract, you decide you want to read the whole article, sometimes you'll find a link that will lead you directly to the full text.

Select PDF Full Text

Slide 51

Transcript: In this case, we get the PDF of the article.

Slide 52

Transcript: Other times you may get a link to the HTML full text.

Select HTML Full Text

Slide 53

Transcript: When neither of these links are present, click on the Find It button.

Slide 54

Transcript: Doing so, will launch the Find It menu.

Slide 55

Transcript: Use the Find It Menu from the top down.

Slide 56

Transcript: At the top of the Find It Menu, you'll see the citation information for your article.

Citation Information

Slide 57

Transcript: Below this, the first bullet point will include a link to the full text when its available in another database.

Select Lexis-Nexis Academic Universe

Slide 58

Transcript: Click on it to find the full text online.

Select Lexis-Nexis Academic Universe

Slide 59

Transcript: If there is no link of full text, or if you'd like to find the paper copy, click on MadCat Library Catalog.

Click on MadCat Library Catalog

Slide 60

Transcript: This will open up MadCat in a new window and do a search for the journal title for you.

Slide 61

Transcript: Here we see the MadCat record for the journal New Scientist.

Slide 62

Transcript: To find out where the journal is kept on campus, we need to look at the location part of this record.

Slide 63

Transcript: This is a little bit more tricky for journals than it is for books.

Slide 64

Transcript: That's because we need to match our exact citation and volume information for our article to the holdings on campus.

Slide 65

Transcript: Our article is from New Scientist, June 18th, 2005, Volume 186.

Slide 66

Transcript: Let's see if College Library has the one we need.  Yep, here it is.

Slide 67

Transcript: Here we see that volume 186 at College Library is kept with the New journals.

Slide 68

Transcript: Recent issues are often kept in a separate location, so be sure to check for this when you're looking in MadCat.

Slide 69

Button One:  Review Finding the Full Text
Button Two:  Continue on to Quiz Question Five

Slide 71

Transcript: Remember...

▪ Library journal databases are the most efficient

    way to search for published articles for college-level assignments.

▪ Use the "E-Resource Gateway" link from the libraries' home page to select the best databases to search for your topic.

▪ To learn more about a particular article from your search results, click on the article title and read the subject headings and abstract.

▪ To read the text of an article, click on the link to full text when one is available or use the Find It Menu.

▪ When using MadCat to find a paper copy on campus be sure to check the holdings to see if a library has the exact volume and issue you need and where it is kept.

Slide 72

Bravo!  You've reached the end of CLUE.

Button One:  What’s in a database record?
Button Two:  Go to a library database

See you in class!