This 90 minutes workshop is the first part of the library training series, designed to enhance the library knowledge of the front-line support staff in basic search skills.

1. Basic Search Training
Staff Training Session
Slides prepared by C. Yip

2. Overview
II. Searching for
I. Locating Resources Known Items
By By
Matt Sally
IV. Finding information
on a topic in
III. Searching for
Journal indexes/
Unknown items
databases
By By
Michelle Candy

3. I. Locating Resources
Where and how to find what?
 Full-text journal articles
 Peer-reviewed articles (also called
refereed journal articles)

4. How to Find the Full Text of an Article
Online?
 Start by checking to see if you are
searching a full text database.
 If you have searched a full text database,
use the Get It! Button to find full text
sources.
 Look for the “Full Text” or PDF buttons in
your search results.
 Look up the journal in the library
catalogue.

5. Does my Database have Full Text?
 You can find out if a database provides
full-text articles before you choose it by
clicking on “Read More” after the database
name, or by consulting the database
“help”.
 The next image shows you the Scholars
Portal link with the “Read More” link
highlighted. Click on the Image to see the
“Read More” page for Scholars Portal.

9. If you have searched a full text
database, use the to find
full text sources.
 “Get it U of T Libraries” is a library service
which links database citations to full-text
articles when available.
 This menu of options will provide links to
the full-text of the article if the library has a
subscription.
 It will provide a link to search the library
catalogue to see if the library has the
journal or book.

10. Searching Databases and Indexes
for Full Text Articles
 When searching any database, your
search results will lead you to a list of
articles on your topic or subject.

11.  In the example below, the citation from the
Scholars Portal database informs you that
the “Full-Text PDF” file of the article is
available. If there is no Full-Text link in
your search results look for the Get-It!
button. You may still be able to find the
full text of the article.

12. What If the Full Text is Still Not
Available?
If you have a journal citation, and need a
quick way to see if the journal is owned by
the University of Toronto Libraries, click on
the article finder link located at the bottom
of the Library catalogue homepage.

13. How Do I Know If My Article Is
Peer-Reviewed?
 Go to the library catalogue
 Go to E-Resources
 Click Article Databases & Indexes
 Type in “Ulrich’s Periodical Directory”.

16. What is a Peer-Reviewed Article?
 The main purpose of a scholarly journal is to
report on original research or experimentation in
order to make such information available to the
rest of the scholarly world.
 Articles are documented using foot notes and/or
a bibliography or a works cited list of sources
used.
 Articles are written by a scholar in the field or by
someone who has done research in the field.
The affiliations of the authors are listed, usually
at the bottom of the first page or at the end of
the article--universities, research institutions,
think tanks, and the like.

17. Exercise Time
Are you ready?
Hahaha!
!!

18. A student came in and asked the following:
“Computer in Industry”
“ISSN 0166-3615”

23. II. Searching Library Catalogue for
known items
 What is a citation?

24. What is a citation?
Definition:
 Information which fully identifies a publication.
 A complete citation usually includes author, title,
name of journal (if the citation is to an article) or
publisher (if to a book), and date. Often pages,
volumes and other information will be included in a
citation.

25. Book citation
vs.
Journal citation
Examples – Printed bibliography/works cited list:

26. Different types of citations
A book:
Damasio, A. R. (1994). Descartes’ error. New York:
Grosste/Putnam.
A chapter/an article in a book:
Bless, H. (2000). The interplay of affect and cognition:
The mediating role of general knowledge structures. In
J. P. Forgas (Ed.), Feeling and thinking: The role of
affect in social cognition (pp. 201-222). New York:
Cambridge University Press.
Journal:
Argyle, M. (1985). Social skills training. Bulletin of the
British Psychological Society, 38, 340-341.

27. Reading Journal citations
(a) From an online index:

28. Online Journal citation
TI: How self-reliant imagination affects memory for
behaviour
AU: Thomas, Ayana K; Hannula, Deborah E; Loftus,
Elizabeth
SO: Applied Cognitive Psychology. Vol 21(1),
Jan 2007, pp. 69-86
* The title of the journal is (Applied Cognitive
Psychology), volume (21), issue (1), pages (69-86), and
the date of publication (January 2007).

29. Reading Journal citations
(b) From a printed bibliography/works cited
list:
Thomas, Ayanna K; Hannula, Deborah E; Loftus, Elizabeth F. (2007) How
Self-Relevant Imagination Affects Memory for Behaviour. Applied
Cognitive Psychology, 21(1), 69-86
*Author. (year of publication). Title of article. Title of
Journal. Volume, pages.

30. Exercise Time
Are you ready?
Hahaha!
!!

31. III. Searching for unknown items in
the Library Catalogue
Subject search:
 When you know the correct subject
heading which is a formal set of
vocabulary called “Library of Congress
Subject Headings”

33. Library of Congress Subject
Headings (LCSH)

34. Keyword search:
 Use when you are not sure of the correct
subject heading
 Results more relevant as you master more
advanced techniques such as boolean and
truncation

35. Truncation
 Truncation: $ (U of T library catalogue)
Used to find variations in spelling and tenses, words with
similar roots but different suffixes
Rules:
- any number of letters (0-100) in or at the end of word.
behavio$r will find “behavior”, “behaviour”;
- can set an upper limit.
behav$3 will find “behavioral”, “behavior”, “behaving”
- must precede by at least three letters.
employ$ will retrieve “employ”, “employs”, “employee”,
“employment”, “employer”, “employed”

36. Wildcard
 Wildcard: ? (U of T library catalogue)
Used when you are unsure of the spelling.
One letter in or at the end of search word.
Multiple wildcards can be used to substitute for an equal
number of characters.
Examples:
wom?n will find “woman”, “women”
economi?? will find “economies”, “economist”,
economics
(can use truncation to replace wildcard in this case:
economi$2)
196? Finds all dates in the 1960’s

37. Truncation vs. Wildcard
Tips:
 Different databases use different truncation and
wildcard symbols. For example, U of T library
catalogue uses “$” for truncation, Proquest
database uses “*”
 Truncation can replace any number of letters in
or at the end of a word, though a limit can be
set; wildcard replaces only one letter.
 Note where to put the truncation symbol: too
soon in the word, get lots of irrelevant results.
Example: “eco$” may retrieve “ecology”,
“ecologist” etc. instead of “economy”,
“economist” etc.

38.  When using truncation or wildcard, you
must be aware of what field you are
searching in, because the results will vary
drastically.

41. Exercise Time
Are you ready?
Hahaha!
!!

42. IV. Searching Journal
Indexes/Databases

43. What is an index or a database?
What is an index?
 any organized collection of information.
 store information about people, books, products,
or anything else.
 Most, but not all, databases are computerized.
Examples:
 Telephone directory
 Yahoo subject directory
 Library catalogue

44. Telephone Directory
- Organized collection of information about
people

45. Yahoo Subject Directory
- A subject directory contains an overview of subjects, subdivided
into often quite broad categories such as art, recreation, science.

46. Library Catalogue
- an organized database of books and other collections in
the library

47. Types of databases
Main types of databases:
• Bibliographic: library catalogues, article indexes
• Full-text: Jstor, Project Muse
• Numeric databases: CANSIM (Canadian Socio-
economic Information Management System)
Journal database/index is a searchable database
of citations to articles published in a field.

48. Database consists of……
Records
Each record represents one item in the database.
Example: Library catalogue
This is a
record.
This is a
record.
These are
records too!

49. Each record consists of……
Fields
Each field provides a particular piece of information about
the item, e.g., author, title, publication year etc.
Example: Library catalogue
Author
Title
Publication information
Subject
ISBN

50. Searching Journal Indexes/Databases
• Analyze the topic
Research = Analysis + Synthesis
• Concept map
 Concept maps are diagrams that can be used
to organize ideas relating to a particular topic.

51. Concept Map
Related Issue Example
Example
Example
Example
Related Issue Topic/Main Idea Related Issue
Example
Example
Example
Related Issue
Example Example

52. Concept Map
Discuss the benefits of exercise to reduce stress.
Advantages
Good for Of Anytime,
health exercises anywhere
Tennis
Relaxed
Swimming
Outcomes Sleep
Exercises can well
Exercises of
reduce stress exercises
Gym
Sense of
well-being
Running
Results of Nervous
stress
Sleepless Feeling
-ness sick

53. How to find journal articles on a
topic?
Step 1: Summarize your topic
State your topic in one or two sentences.
Example:
I want to find information on how television
affects children’s aggressive behaviour.

54. Step 2: Identify Concepts
 Underline or circle the main concepts/ideas
represented in your topic statement.
 Most topics can be broken down into 2 or 3 main
concepts.
Example:
I want to find how television affects children’s
aggressive behaviour.

55. It will look like this:
Concept 1 Concept 2 Concept 3
television children aggressive
behaviour

56. Step 3: Select concept words/phrases
 Create a list of words/phrases which describes
each of your underlined/circled concepts
identified in step 2.
 Think of synonyms, various forms of spelling,
and/or related words
Keywords 1 Keywords 2 Keywords 3
television children aggression
tv child aggressive
media teens behaviour
youth violence
adolescence violent
adolescent

57. Step 4: Connect words and concepts
Use boolean operators – OR, AND, NOT
 Boolean logic takes its name
from British mathematician
George Boole (1815-1864)
 A system of logic designed to
produce better search results
by formulating precise queries.

58. OR operator
Step A: Connect words/phrases with the OR operator within
EACH concept
OR broadens a search. Any of the listed words can appear in
the same concept or article.
Records here contain keyword “aged” or
“seniors” or both as shown by the area
shaded in green
Aged Seniors
 Broadens the search for alternate terms, synonyms, and related concepts
 Get more results

59. Step B: Connect different concepts with the AND or NOT
operator.
AND operator
Records here contain keyword
Stress AND health “stress” and “health” as shown by
Results: 72 citations the area shaded in green
Stress Health
Results: Results:
255 citations 780 citations
 Narrowing your search to records with keywords you have chosen

60. NOT narrows a search by specifying that a word or concept
must not appear in the same article.
Example: To find articles on the Jurassic era, but exclude
anything on the novel, "Jurassic Park."
jurassic not park
NOT operator Records of these two areas will be
eliminated. Results only include
the shaded green area.
Jurassic Park
 Narrowing your search by exclusion

61. It will look like this:
Concept 1 Concept 2 Concept 3
media children aggression
OR OR OR
AND AND
television child aggressive
OR OR behaviour
tv teens

62. How to find journal articles on a
topic?
Select appropriate index

63. How to find journal articles on a
topic?
Steps:
 Go to the U of T Library home page
 Click on “Let us recommend the best database for your
topic” link
(Alternatively, go through the
UTM library home page >Students >Article Databases)
 Choose one of the subject areas listed on the page. For
example: Social Sciences, then, click on the “Go” button
 Select one of the databases listed on the page under the
heading “Best Article Databases”.
 Now, you can start your search using keywords on your
topic.

64. Overview:
 Analyze the topic
 Identify concepts
 Select keywords and appropriate use
of search strategies
 Select appropriate search tools
 Search the article

65. Exercise Time
Are you ready?
Hahaha!
!!

66. How to find journal articles on a
topic?
Tips:
 In developing keyword lists, consider possible hierarchical
relationships
Example:
Broader term vs. narrower term: Handicraft vs. miniature craft
Country vs. particular geographical location: Canada vs. Ontario vs.
Toronto
 Use Boolean operators “and” to combine multiple concepts, “or” to
combine multiple terms for each concepts and put them in sets of
brackets.
Example:
(children or child or kids) and (television or tv or mass media) and
(violence or violent)

67. How to find journal articles on a
topic?
 Use truncation (“$” or “*” etc.) (depends on database)
to broaden your search and for various spellings
Example in Proquest:
(child* or kid*) and (television or tv or mass media) and
(violen*)
 Consider using proximity operators, for example, NEAR,
to retrieve relevant results
 Limit searches to field, language, year, publication type if
necessary
 Critically evaluate the results
 Revise search strategy and repeat the search in the
same database or other databases.

68. Application of search strategies in
Library Catalogue
Tips:
 Beware of different symbols use : Truncation,
wildcard
U of T library Scholars Portal,
catalogue: Proquest:
Truncation: $ Truncation: *

69. Example Searches –
U of T Library Catalogue
Find books on the effects of television
violence on children
(tv or television) and violen$ and (child$ or
teen$ or youth$ or adolescen$)

70. Example Searches –
Scholars Portal
Find articles on the effects of television
violence on children
(tv or television) and violen* and (child* or
teen* or youth* or adolescen*)

71. THANK YOU!
Thank you all for your participation in the
workshop!