The Library's Website,

Transcription

1 1 A Short English Guide to The Library's Website, and to Database Searches CONTENTS: A: THE LIBRARY'S HOMEPAGE ) THE LIBRARY'S HOMEPAGE...2 2) DATABASES OPENING PAGE...3 3) DATABASES BY SUBJECTS TABLE...3 4) WEB RESOURCES: FREE INTERNET SITES...4 B: DATABASE SEARCH BASICS ) DATABASE SEARCH: I: BASIC RULES...5 DATABASE SEARCH: II: FULL TEXTS...5 2) THOROUGH SEARCH OF DATABASES...6 3) COMBINING SEARCH TERMS...7 For comments and questions: benor@agri.huji.ac.il Last updated 15/01/06

2 2 A: The Library's Homepage 1) THE LIBRARY'S HOMEPAGE Legend: * Available on University computers only. *Databases, for the use of the Faculty of Agric. students/researchers Library Catalog, & catalogs of Israely Academic Libraries *Full Text E-Journals Access: by license *E-Books: Access: by license Free of charge importand databases, books, and other Internet resources *Request forms for InterLibrary Loan Service, and for other library purposes. Faculty Budget Nunber. - needed Guides for users of Library and Internet resources Scientifically evaluated, very updated - Database. Excellent tutorial

3 3 2) DATABASES OPENING PAGE LINKS TO THE LIBRARY DATABASES (ARRANGED IN THREE DIFFERENT WAYS) AND TO GUIDES (FOR HELP WITH SPECIFIC DATABASES). 3) DATABASES BY SUBJECTS TABLE Clicking on a subject heading, will display a list of available relevant databases (purchased or free of charge).

4 4 4) WEB RESOURCES: FREE INTERNET SITES Calendar of next 4-5 years of congresses, meetings, etc Links to professional Dictionaries and Encyclopedias (including Britannica) Patents databases. Searchable and including Full Texts Electronic Books: Scientific and Nonscientific Links to: Yahoo, Google, & Other Search Engines Statistics Databases, including FAOstat Agricultural Statistics Free Scientific Databases: Agricola (agriculture), PubMed (medicine) and more.

5 5 1) DATABASE SEARCH: I: Basic Rules B: Database Search Basics 1. SELECT AND ENTER A RELEVANT DATABASE - using the library homepage links. (see paragraph A-3 ). 2. SEARCH EFFICIENTLY: BE THOROUGH: Within the database, search for all terms / phrases that describe a certain subject. You may use the thesaurus, if the database has one. (see paragraph B-2). COMBINE TERMS: Use boolean operators (OR, AND, NOT) to limit or expand the search. (see paragraph B-3). MODIFY THE SEARCH : Redefine the search parameters, if desired, to focus or enhance the results. MARK SELECTED RECORDS in the set of results in order to prepare a selected set of records, for downloading/saving, printing, or ing. SAVE / DOWNLOAD; PRINT; marked search results, or entire set of results, if desired. EXIT / LOGOFF DATABASE SEARCH: II: Full texts Search results in bibliographic databases indicate sometimes, that full texts of articles, are available. There are 3 ways to reach desired full texts. Some records include direct link, to the entire article in Internet. By searching the web catalogs of libraries, or lists of accessible e- journals (via the library's homepage). It is possible to use the Inter Library Loan Service to find items which are not available in the library. It is possible to use the author's address/ , included in database records, to contact authors and ask for reprints.

6 6 2) Thorough Search of Databases Combine terms by "OR" ( see paragraph 3: boolean operators) SEARCH FOR EXAMPLES 1. All Synonyms medicinal plants or herbal medicine or phytomedicine 2. All Grammatical forms hormone or hormones or hormonal or hormonally 3. All Alternative spellings color or colour; fibre or fiber; post harvest or postharvest 4. Initials as well as Full phrases PCR or polyomerase chain 5. Use Truncation Truncation means the typing of an abbreviated term, accompanied by the truncation sign (*), either at the beginning, or at the end of the typed string, instead of the full word or forms of the word. The truncation sign varies among databases, it may be also: (?), or (+), etc. letters, In searches, this will retrieve all the records containing the typed string of including all the possible affixes. (Only suffixes, in Winspirs/Webspirs and Web-of-Science databases). For example: typing hormon* as a search query term, will retrieve records, that contain hormone, hormones, hormonally, and so on. Don't type very short strings, in order to avoid irrelevant results. 6. Use Thesaurus The thesaurus is a tool similar to a dictionary. It displays synonyms, related terms, and hierarchy of terms, for a given typed word. Some databases provide a thesaurus search. 7. Use Controlled vocabulary Controlled vocabulary is a listing of terms which describes the subjects of publications that entered a particular database. Since there are many different ways of describing the same subject, it can be valuable to be able to draw together under a single word or phrase, all the material that describes a particular topic. For this purpose, the person indexing the database uses a set of pre-determined terms (controlled vocabulary) which will be used consistently to describe certain concepts. Using those terms in a search query, frees the user from the need to remember and type all synonyms or other material that describe the subject of the search. The controlled terms can be found in database thesauri, or in the subject fields of records that were retrieved in regular searches (not necessarily controlled vocabulary searches).

7 7 3) COMBINING SEARCH TERMS (BOOLEAN OPERATORS) When listing terms in a search query, the way in which they are combined determines the scope of the result. Searching for apples or malus will retrieve all records containing apples and all records containing malus. Records containg both terms together will appear in the file only once. Use or to retrieve a comprehensive result. Searching for apples and irrigation will retrieve records containing both terms together. Use and to retrieve a specific and focused result. Searching for quality not size will retrieve records containing the term quality without the term size. Use not to remove unwanted data from the set of results. Note: When using not you may remove important or necessary as well as undesired - data. Define the terms carefully.