Info Lit Tip 93 What do they look like? HTML result, PDF result, citation, abstract, and more

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1 1 Info Lit Tip 93 What do they look like? HTML result, PDF result, citation, abstract, and more There are a lot of new words to learn when students start doing college-level research. Many of those words are abstract and hard to grasp, because they are usually pages you see on computer screens, not objects you can hold in your hands. To help you understand, here are some of the new words and what they look like on screen: Research Database A research database is a searchable collection of academic articles, books, videos, documents, maps, and other information. You can t see a research database except as a long list of computer files, but here s how our Cambridge College Online Library databases are described on our EBSCOHost Choose Databases page. You can see the entire page by going to the home page of CCOL. In the Direct to Databases box, click EBSCOHost (Journals and More)

2 2 Results Page Every result has different choices. But it is always true that if you click on the title of the result, you will get the citation. Look for the links to HTML Full Text; PDF Full Text, Full Text in ERIC and Find it in WorldCat. These terms are explained below. You will not find all of these in every result. Sometimes you will find one, two, or three.

3 3 Citation The citation gives you the bibliographic information about the article or other item, but not the article itself. You can see it by clicking on the title of the article in the result list. You can use this information to decide if you want to see the whole article. You can also use the information to write the brief citation for your APA References List. Often the words listed as Subject Terms are helpful as additional search terms.

4 4 Full-text result When the result of your search looks like this, showing links to HTML Full Text and/or PDF Full Text, then you will be able to see the entire article online in CCOL. In this second full-text result, the link is harder to see. It says Full Text from ERIC.

5 5 Citation-only result Sometimes only the citation is available, not the full-text, although almost all the databases in CCOL are linked so that if the article is available in full-text anywhere, it will give a full-text result. If there is no full-text available, you will not see any links to HTML, PDF, or Full Text. You will only see the link Find it in WorldCat Check library holdings in your area. Click it and it will bring up a list of libraries that have the print version of the journal so you can see the full-text. Set the list to your zip code, and be sure to call the library first to make sure you can visit and see the print journal.

6 6 Abstract Many people use the terms citation and abstract as if they mean the same thing, but they don t. The abstract is just one part of a citation. It is the part that summarizes what is in the article, book, or other item. Here is a citation with an arrow pointing to the abstract.

7 7 PDF Full Text Result The PDF result is a photo of the way the article looked in a printed journal. It can be more difficult to read and to copy and paste than the HTML version (below). You don t always get both versions.

8 8 HTML Full Text Result This is what an HTML Full Text result looks like in most of our databases. Compare it to the PDF result. The HTML result does not look like the original printed page. It has all the same words but is modified to be more readable and easier to copy and paste from. It may have a Table of Contents and other features not found in the PDF result.