How do I get ready for my research?

• One of the very first things to do before you start using our library databases to look for articles is decide what exactly it is you would like to look for! You see, there is a big difference between a "subject area" of research interest and a "research topic." Subject areas are quite broad and cover too much material for a meaningful research project.  A very common problem students have in their searches is that they often select subject areas rather than specific topics, which can make your search experience overwhelming, frustrating, and lacking of focus.
• If you have a "subject area" in mind that you find interesting, then the next thing you need to do is to consider the focus of your specific topic. A good practice is to state your research topic as a question - if you can't phrase your research as a question, this may mean that you need to define and narrow down your topic further.
  
  For example: "Depression" is a very broad subject area. There are thousands of articles written on it!  To make this topic more manageable, you will need to focus on just one aspect of it, such as:
  
  Depression --> Is there evidence of a link between vitamin D and depression?
  

So, what tools should I use to look for articles on my specific topic?

Let me show you! First, click on the link "Library" on the right frame of this page to go to the COCC Barber Library homepage.

Look for this pull down menu:

Pull down the menu, select Health sciences and click on the "Go" button. Next, click on any of the Ebsco health related databases such as Health Source Nursing.

Note that Health Source Nursing is a great database for professional, journal articles, whereas Alt HealthWatch and Health Source Consumer are wonderful with more "popular," consumer oriented article publications.  

Once you enter Ebsco, you may be asked to select again one of the databases (or you may select more than one...) and then click on "Continue." 

   How do I search these Ebsco databases?

After you enter an Ebsco database, you will  be directed automatically to the  Advanced Search mode, which gives you guidance on how you may build your search.

Specifically,

- Enter your search terms in the search box(es). Be careful here!   Do not use unnecessary words that may limit your search results - focus on the "key" terms that describe your topic!

For example if your topic is:

"Is there evidence of a link between vitamin D and depression?"

... then the "key" terms for your search should be:

vitamin D and depression

-Select one of the connectors AND, OR, NOT from the next pull down menu to broaden or narrow your search.  Specifically, use:

• And to combine search terms so that each search result contains all of the terms.
  
  For example:
  depression and vitamin d
   
  ... finds articles that contain both terms.
   

• Or to combine search terms so that each search result contains at least one of the terms.
  
  For example:
  depression and (vitamin d or vitamin c)
  
  ...finds articles that contain either the term vitamin D or the term vitamin C.
   

• Not to exclude terms you do not wish to have in your results
  
  For example:
  depression and vitamin d not women
  
  ...excludes articles that contain the term women

-  Finally use the asterisk symbol, *, to ask the database to look for alternate endings in your terms.

For example:
nutrition* will retrieve results with variations of the word nutrition, nutritional, nutritious, etc

  Can I limit my search to just full text articles, scholarly/peer-reviewed  journals, etc.?

Look to the right of your results after you do a search. As you can see (see also the screenshot below), Ebsco allows you to limit your search in the  "Limit your results" panel to the right.

You may limit your search by:

• Full Text - limits search results to articles you may retrieve on your screen.

• Scholarly (Peer Reviewed) Publications - limits your results to scholarly/professional articles - a really handy feature to use! 
  

  Note: Click here for an explanation of the difference between Journal articles versus Magazine articles

  
  

• The slider bar - limits results within a specific time range.

  My search results -  what do they mean?

Once you click on "Search", the results will appear with matches displayed from newest to oldest.  You may change the way your results are listed by using the "Sort by" feature on the top right of your results:

In your list of results each article will be represented by a citation (i.e.,  title of article, author, date, page numbers).

For some items you'll see the indication HTML Full Text  or PDF Full Text. This means that you may read the whole article on your screen by clicking of the HTML or PDF link.

Once you click on a result, you may also print it out, email it, or even save it.  Just click on the icon to print, to email, or to save.

Another nifty feature is that Ebsco provides you complete guidance on how to cite each of these articles in your bibliography! Just click on the icon to get the article's full citation in a variety of formats (APA, MLA, etc)!

  So, what happens if my article is not available in the database as full text ?

If the article you are interested in does NOT include the notaion HTML Full Text  or PDF Full Text, this means that you are unable to retrieve this article on your screen.

If the full text of an article is not available, check the "Notes" line under the article citation:

a. If you see, "Notes: Available at Campus Library Periodicals" this means that the COCC library probably has the periodical issue where the article was published. 

b. If our library doesn't have the journal listed (i.e., you will see, Notes:  This title is not held locally), you have the option to use the link "Request via Inter-Library loan."  By filling out the interlibrary loan form, you should expect to receive your article within 7 working days or so. We usually email your article to your COCC email address; so, look for it there!

created on 9/2008