Chapter 6: Searching Databases And Online Journals

Question 1

Bibliographic database

Answer 1

Contains summary representations of documents including the title, abstract and keywords of a document. It states who the author of a document is and when and where the
document was published. Bibliographic databases do not contain the full text of the documents.

Question 2

Comprehensive search

Answer 2

Searching a variety of sources, for example one or more databases, using Google Scholar and other internet search tools

Question 3

Controlled vocabulary

Answer 3

A way of using standardised terminology to represent a document, typically as broad categories of topics.

Question 4

Database

Answer 4

A collection of logically organised records.

Question 5

Database service provider

Answer 5

A company that makes one or more databases available, for example Proquest and EbscoHost. The concept is used interchangeably with ‘information service provider’

Question 6

Descriptor

Answer 6

A word, concept or phrase (also referred to as a subject heading, keyword or indexing term) that a human indexer chose from a controlled vocabulary, for example, a
thesaurus or list of subject headings, to describe the intellectual or subject content of an item, object or entity such as a journal article.

Question 7

Exporting (search results)

Answer 7

Sending search results (i.e. references) to another source, for example a reference management system, an email address, HTML or PDF document.

Question 8

Full text

Answer 8

The whole article, book or report rather than only the reference or bibliographic detail.

Question 9

Full-text database

Answer 9

Contains the complete text of for example, journal articles, book chapters, encyclopedia chapters, financial reports or newspaper clippings. When searching a full-text
database you do not need to trace the full text.

Question 10

Indexed

Answer 10

Representing an information source in terms of keywords.

Question 11

Information service provider

Answer 11

A company that provides access to databases, full-text journals and other forms of information. The term is often used interchangeably with the concept ‘database service
provider’.

Question 12

Iterative information search

Answer 12

It is often necessary to repeat a search for information to allow for different angles and a change in approach to ensure you get exactly the information that you need. This is
referred to as iterative information searching or an iterative information search.

Question 13

Keyword

Answer 13

An individual word searchable in any field of a record, for example, in a bibliographic record in a bibliographic database. It is sometimes used interchangeably with terms such
as ‘descriptor’ or ‘indexing term’

Question 14

Natural language

Answer 14

Language in active use by a community of people, including the authors of books, journal articles and the users of databases such as students, academics, professionals and
researchers. It refers to the words used by the authors of a publication in the title, text and abstract fields. It also refers to the words experienced users of databases and
subject experts use based on their own experience and subject knowledge.

Question 15

Online journal

Answer 15

Available in electronic format mostly via the www. It may require a subscription, or it may be available for free.

Question 16

Open-access journal

Answer 16

Refers to journals where an author of an article makes the content freely available. This can be done on the internet before the article is published in the journal (pre-print) or
after it has been published (post-print).

Question 17

Personal profile

Answer 17

Used by databases and information service providers to allow users to personalise information provision and use according to their needs. One example is to save search
strategies so that you can keep up with new information, save and share documents and specify other preferences, for example the design of the interface.

Question 18

Record structure

Answer 18

Includes the fields of a record needed to describe an item, object or entity, such as a journal article, book, and so on, as well as the indexes that are created to ensure it is
easy to search for information in a field, for example, the author field, title field or descriptor field.

Question 19

Saving strategies

Answer 19

Some databases allow users to save their search strategies for later use or to run them against new updates to the database. This ensures that they stay up-to-date with the
latest developments in a topic or field of interest.

Question 20

Search strategy

Answer 20

One or more search statements (a word, concept or phrase, or a combination of words, concepts and phrases combined with Boolean operators) that are used to find
information.

Question 21

Descriptors

Answer 21

Descriptors are selected from a controlled vocabulary such as a thesaurus or list of subject headings. Some databases refer to descriptors as subject headings, major descriptors, keywords or
indexing terms.

Question 22

Identifiers

Answer 22

Identifiers are selected from natural language because the terms are not included in a thesaurus. However, they give sufficient indication of the content of a publication to be assigned by a human
indexer

Question 23

Indexing terms

Answer 23

An indexing term is a synonym for a descriptor. Databases differ regarding which term they use, but the meaning is the same. It is a word, concept or phrase (also referred to as a keyword or
descriptor) that was chosen by a human indexer from a controlled vocabulary, for example, a thesaurus to describe the intellectual or subject content of an item, object or entity such as a journal
article.

Question 24

Subject headings

Answer 24

Similar to an indexing term or descriptor, a subject heading refers to a word, concept or phrase that was chosen by a human indexer from a controlled vocabulary, for example, a list of subject
headings to describe the intellectual or subject content of an item, object or entity such as a journal article. Some databases use a thesaurus to assign indexing terms or descriptors and others use
lists of subject headings to assign subject headings.

Question 25

Abstracts

Answer 25

The abstract may be the author’s own abstract or it may be adapted or rewritten by an abstractor or indexer. The abstract also represents the intellectual content of the publication or other entity. See
Chapter 4, section 4.1.1 and section 4.5 for additional information about natural language and controlled vocabulary.

Question 26

Controlled access

Answer 26

-Academic libraries
-Subscription journals

Question 27

Academic libraries

Answer 27

Provide access to hundreds of online journals on a wide variety of topics.
Resources are subscription based and must be accessed through the institutional
library’s website
Users receive a username and password.
Quite expensive but the institution covers the platform fees for all authorised
users

Question 28

Subscription journals

Answer 28

Mostly peer reviewed and of an acceptable academic quality.
Limited to registered users and will require a password
Some subscription joumals may be available free after a certain period, which
means you will be able to access the older issues of these journals without being
a member of a library.

Question 29

Open access

Answer 29

-Digital libraries and subject portals
-Free journals and databases
-Pre-print archives
-Open-access repositories

Question 30

Digital libraries and subject portals

Answer 30

Valuable additional channels for finding sources of acceptable academic quality.
Can supplement sources identified through databases and subscription journals.

Question 31

Free journals and databases

Answer 31

Useful when you are no longer a member of an academic institution.
Sometimes only bibliographic information is free and full text requires payment.
Do not need a username and password to search on the platform.
Authors and copyright holders grant free access to a publication on a worldwide
basis but authorship of the publication must always be acknowledged.

Question 32

Pre-print archives

Answer 32

Archives of scientific or technical documents that are circulated electronically for
comments by peers, such as fellow researchers.
Excellent method for keeping track of research results.
Mostly in draft format so no guarantee that documents are error free

Question 33

Open-access repositories

Answer 33

A collection of publications that is maintained by an academic institution, scholarly
society or government agency available to use for free.

Question 34

Novice search forms

Answer 34

A novice search form is easy and straightforward to use. There are, however, fewer options to refine your search strategy to ensure that you retrieve only the most relevant information. The most
basic forms allow you to type in only a single topic, such as a word or phrase. This is sometimes referred to as a quick search.

Question 35

Advanced search forms

Answer 35

Advanced search forms are meant for experienced searchers as they offer more options for sophisticated searching. Unlike the basic search boxes, you can be much more specific in your search
strategy to ensure that you retrieve only highly relevant information.

Question 36

Truncation

Answer 36

Truncation expands a search to include all forms of the root or stem of a word. For example, manage* will retrieve manage, manager, managers, managed, management and managerial. Some
systems allow you to specify the number of characters that may follow on the root word, for example, only one, two or three characters. This is useful when searching for a short word where you only
need the singular and plural forms.

Question 37

Wildcards

Answer 37

Wildcards replace characters in the middle of a word. A single character or multiple characters can be replaced. Sometimes different symbols are used for these. This is useful when searching for
words with British and American spellings or for some singular and plural forms. For example, behav*r will retrieve behaviour and behavior, organi?ation will retrieve organisation and organization
and wom?n will retrieve women and woman.

Question 38

Order of words

Answer 38

This means words must be in the order specified, for example health economics and not economics health. You can specify that one of the words must come before the other, for example social
BEFORE security to search for social security. You can also specify that words may come in any order, for example soccer playing and playing soccer.

Question 39

Number of intervening words

Answer 39

This specifies the number of words that may come between the specified words. For example, the search strings database* NEAR design* and database* WITHIN 3 design* will retrieve
combinations such as database design, design of bibliographic databases and design of web-driven databases. The 3’ indicates that three words or fewer may appear between the specified
words.