SOTL_Workshop
Library WorkshopWednesday, 14 May 2003
Instructor: Moira Smith
molsmith@indiana.edu
Indexes to Begin Your Literature SearchSteps to a Successful Search
- ERIC
- http://search.epnet.com/login.asp?profile=education (Ebsco version)
- or
- www.csa.com/htbin/dbrng.cgi?username=indi&access=indi437&cat=eric (CSA version)
- Eric indexes and abstracts materials in education and related fields. It includes document citations (from Resources in Education--RIE), journal article citations from over 775 professional journals (from the Current Index to Journals in Education--CIJE), and ERIC digest full-text records. The database also includes full-text from nearly 500 journals and full-text of most of the ERIC documents from 1996 to the present.
- Education Full Text
- http://hwwilsonweb.com/cgi-bin/auto_login.cgi
- This is the web version of EDUCATION INDEX enhanced with abstracts and full text. It provides abstracting and indexing to 427 core international periodicals, yearbooks, and monographs covering preschool, elementary, secondary, higher, and adult education. Full text is provided for articles from 133 titles since January 1996. Abstracts are included since August 1994. It includes about 90 periodical titles not covered by ERIC.
- Help file for this database (slightly out of date):
- http://www.indiana.edu/~libugls/Publications/ed_abstracts.html
- Discipline-Specific Indexes
- Go to the Find Information web page:
?pageId=16#- Click "Articles and Indexes"
- Click on the appropriate broad subject category for a list of online indexes in that area; OR
- Type a discipline name in the search box
Keywords vs. DescriptorsKeywords:
- Translate topic into keywords
- Choose indexes (no index has everything; try more than one)
- Perform key word search
- When you find a good record, examine the descriptors or subject terms (you might have to change the display to see them)
- Perform subject search using terms from previous step
Descriptors or Subject Terms:
- Search all or most parts of the database, including title, author, abstract, and subject/descriptor fields.
- In some full text databases, keyword search includes full text
- Use the same keywords in any index
- Results are large but include many false hits
- More keywords=results are fewer, but better
- Unique keywords=results are fewer, but better
Snowballing: Another Search Method
- Search subject/descriptor field only
- Vary from one index to another
- Use the thesaurus to find the right terms
- Results are smaller but more relevant
Starting from a known item (article or author) that relates well to your topic:
- Look them up in indexes to uncover appropriate subject terms
- Use Citation Indexes to find later articles that cite this item:
Other Library Resources
- Web of Science http://isiknowledge.com
- Selected Library Resources on the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning:
- Find a librarian here! Librarians for Subject and Area Collections:
