Journal databases
Learning objectives
On completion of this module, you will be able to:
- search a database using descriptors
- use an online thesaurus
- search an author index
- create a list of marked records
- download search results to EndNote.
This module is designed to help you search the journal databases available to the UNE researcher.
We will focus on the journal databases hosted on the Informit platforms. The techniques learned in this module can be applied across many other databases.
Informit
Informit is a collection of databases that index and abstract a range of Australian publications. If your topic relates to almost any aspect of Australian society, you will find the Informit databases extremely useful.
Subject areas covered include: public affairs, law, criminology, policing, family studies, health, education, history, Indigenous peoples, heritage, business, economics, management, engineering, environment, agriculture and Asian resources.
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How to use InformitTo learn the basics of searching the Informit database, watch this on-screen video: Although this video is intended for students in Health, the techniques described can be used by anyone. |
Thesaurus
This function is available in specific Infomit databases. It allows you to search controlled subject headings including broader, narrower and related terms to retrieve highly relevant results.
To find the correct thesaurus item:
- Click on the Thesauri tab at the right
- Choose the relevant thesaurus from the drop-down menu..
- Enter the your keyword or phrase in the Search Subject Terms: box.
- Click on Search Thesaurus. Informit will display any matching terms in the Search Term box.
To know more about a particular thesaurus term, click on the term in the Search Term box. This will display any related terms.
Clicking on a related term will take you to additional information.
To retrieve all entries in the database which include a particular term, click on the Search Subject button when the required term is displayed next to the words Browse Term: (Fig 10).
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Figure 10: The Informit Thesaurus
Remember that if you limit your search to thesaurus terms, it is better to search databases individually, as each database has its own thesaurus.
Marking records
To make your own list of article citations, click in the box next to each record in the list of search results.
To see your list of marked records, click on View Selected above your results list.
You can Save, Print or Email your marked list of results by clicking on the appropriate button.
Saving your Informit results to EndNote
To save the results of your search to EndNote, follow these steps:
- Mark the records you wish to save.
- Click on View Selected
- Click on Save.
- Click in the appropriate check box under the words Records to Save (usually Marked Records).
- Select Complete Record from the Fields to Save pull-down menu.
- Deselect Save Search History by clicking in the check box.
- Choose EndNote Direct from the Output Format pull-down menu.
- Click on Save Records.
- Nominate the EndNote library in which you wish to place your records.
- Click on Open in the Task Panel that appears.
Remember to edit any references you load into your EndNote library.
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Online Help
To access the online help for Informit from the Search Screen, click on the Help link at the top of the screen.
Summary
This module is dealt with the following topics:
- using descriptors
- using an online thesaurus
- searching an author index
- creating a list of marked records
- downloading search results to EndNote.