search50 – using search results

With search⁵⁰ you can select the areas you want to search in, and define your search much like a CompartheMarket.com for library resources. Instead of cheaper car insurance you are presented with lists of search results from different resources.

The results page displays results in the order they are returned. The activity bar on the right hand side of the screen indicates if the search is completed, but you can interact with the search results as soon as the first list is displayed. Search results are displayed in sets. You can click on the database name in the list below the activity bar to go to the first set of results returned from that resource. You can click on Next Set… for more results. At the top of the results page you have the option to reorder the results returned by Author, Title or Date.

For more information on a search result, click on View. This will be displayed in the resource that result was returned from. You can also link directly to the full-text of a journal article, where it is available, from the results screen. It’s not uncommon to search an online database only to find that you do not have full-text access to the article you find. In most instances this is because the Library does not maintain the necessary subscription.

If there is no Full-text or PDF View link, the seven thousand online academic journals and 150 online databases we do subscribe to can be found on the Databases and Journals pages on the Library website. It is also possible to order articles located through search50, but unavailable in online full-text, through inter-library loan. There’s an icon on the resource list in search⁵⁰ indicating whether access on a particular resource is to full-text, partial full-text, or in the case of library catalogues, no full-text.

You can select all results returned from a specific resource, or make your own selection. This information can then be printed out, emailed to your choice of email account or saved. There are various options for the format in which you can save results, whether as a text file or for use with EndNote or other bibliographic software. You also have the option to export directly into EndNote or RefWorks.

For more information or assistance with any aspect of online searching or support for EndNoteWeb contact the Library, browse through some of our previous postings on this blog, and look out for our information skills workshop sessions.

Iain Young
Resources Manager

search50 – tips for searching

search⁵⁰ lets you complete a keyword search that returns information from a variety of different online sources, much as you would expect from Google. Just enter your chosen search terms in the box and click Search. You can be as general as you like with the terms chosen, but if you’re searching across a wide range of resources you should expect a long list of results, again like Google. Try to focus your search by using the subject categories.

There are some basic steps you can take to conduct a more effective search, and to make sure you retrieve more relevant results.

You can use the drop-down menus to select where search terms appear in your results. The default is Keyword searching, but select All and your results list will include records where your search terms appear anywhere within the record. You can be more specific and look for search terms within defined parts of the record, the Title, Author names, words from the article Abstract or Subject terms.

You can also decide how the search terms are linked together. Select And, Or or Not from the drop-down menus for Boolean Searching. Quite simply, selecting And returns results which include both terms, Or returns results which include one or other of the terms, and Not returns results which include one term but not the other. The default is And.

It’s also possible to truncate, or shorten, your search terms using a question mark – ?. Search for “manag?” and your results will include records containing the words manager, management, managed or managing. You can use the ? within words as well. Search for “organi?ation” and your results will include records containing organization or organisation. search⁵⁰ will also, on occasion, offer you alternative suggestions for search terms on the results page through Did you mean. This can be useful to correct spelling mistakes.

If you need assistance or advice on any aspect of online searching contact the Library, browse through some of our previous postings on this blog, and look out for our information skills workshop sessions.

Iain Young
Resources Manager

search50 – subject based online searching

The Library subscribes to over seven thousand online academic journals and 150 online databases to support learning and teaching, and research at the University. Little wonder knowing which resources to use is a challenge, not to mention how time-consuming it can be to search them all individually.

When you are working on an essay or assignment, or conducting a literature search, search⁵⁰ will let you combine a selection of the Library’s full-text journals, online resources and the Library Catalogue and find lots of different resources online with just one Google-like search.

It’s unlikely that you would ever want to search across all 50 resources, and we wouldn’t recommend it as a search strategy, so we have made it easy for you to select those most relevant to your subject. Check the box next to a subject category and all resources covering that subject will be selected for searching. It’s possible to combine subjects if required. You can also click on the subject category and be taken to a page listing only those resources relevant to that subject.

Where we see the true benefit of search⁵⁰ is as an excellent starting point, especially if you don’t know where to begin searching for a topic. If you know which resources you’ve found most useful in the past you can check the box next to them in the resource list and define your own combinations. For more sophisticated and flexible searching you’ll want to go through the individual database interfaces. You can do this by clicking on the resource name in the list. We will continue to support our Databases and Journals pages on the Library website for information on, and access to, the full range of resources available from the Library.

If you need assistance or advice on any aspect of online searching contact the Library, and look out for our information skills workshop sessions.

Iain Young
Resources Manager