1. Searching techniques
Library and Information Services

2. Ebooks
Searching for ebooks on the catalogue
(if accessing offsite the URL is http://library.yorksj.ac.uk)
– Use the library catalogue to find the following
ebook and go to the full text:
Gower handbook of leadership and management
development
– You may wish to watch the online demonstration

3. The searching process
 Step one - Spend some time thinking about your topic
 Step two – Considering your search terms
 Step three - Linking your search terms together
 Step four - Choosing your databases
 Step five - Searching and modifying your search online
 Step six - Relevant results retrieved! Next steps

4. Step one
 Spend some time thinking about your topic to
define and clarify your research question
 Break down search topic into sections
 Think of keywords to describe the topic

5. Step two
Think about the search words
 Generic words can be omitted eg: discuss,
assess, importance
 Consider alternative terms- look at Oxford
Reference online business dictionaries
 Alternative spellings such as organis/zation or
behavio(u)r: use asterisk eg: behavio*r
 Search for different word endings such as
leader, leaders and leadership: truncate using
asterisks eg: leader*

6. Step three
Linking search words together
 AND search – combining two different subjects
together
 OR search – alternative words, often crucial to
success of the search eg: workplace OR organization
 Words as a phrase eg: “transformational leadership”.
May be a phrase search option, or use quotation
marks.

7. Step four
Choosing your database
 For articles
– Emerald full text
– Academic OneFile
– PsycINFO and possibly Greenfile (EBSCO)
 Business and market data
– Marketline
– Mintel (only accessible once registered with a YSJ email
address)

8. Step five
Searching and modifying online
 Different databases will use different search terms to describe
same subject
 Check what subject terms (called keywords in Emerald) are
used for your topic and modify the search if necessary
 Limit to searching within different indexes eg: subject, article
title, author
 Limit to years of publication
 Limit to type of document eg: books, book chapters, journal
articles, conference papers, reports.

9. Step six
Relevant results retrieved!
 Item is full text – go direct to article, linking via a
database or via library catalogue
 Item has abstract only – can you access or request
the full article via your local library?

10. Leadership styles and employee
engagement
 Emerald
– Leader* (all except full text)
AND “employee involvement” (phrase all except full
text)
 PsycINFO
– Leadership style (subjects)
AND employee involvement or employee motivation
(subjects)

11. Emotional intelligence and leadership
 Emerald
– Emotional intelligence (keyword phrase) and
leader* (keywords)
 Academic OneFile
– Try browse subjects option: emotional
intelligence, then search in results for leadership
 PsycINFO
– Emotional intelligence and leadership (subjects)
and link to article in Journal of management studies

12. Summary of useful links
 Ebooks - online demonstration
 Emerald - online demonstration
 Business subject page
 How to plan a search strategy
 Search techniques