Library catalogs allow researchers

to search the local print collection

at their library. Typically the

catalog is a useful way to find print

books, though e-books,

microform, films, and special

collections are also likely to be

included. The ECU Libraries

catalog allows users to search by

author, title, journal title, subject,

series, ISBN/ISSN, publisher, and

call number; by default the catalog

will search all these fields at once.

Library Catalogs

TIP: When doing subject searches in the ECU Libraries catalog, you are not

searching the full text of the books and other materials indexed by the

catalog. Instead, you are searching though the subject headings each item in the

catalog has been assigned. These subject headings use a "controlled vocabulary"

that ensures the same language is used to describe similar topics. If your subject

search is giving you poor results, you may not be using the correct "controlled

vocabulary" to describe your topic.

For example, a subject search on "feline" is likely to give you

very few results, because books about felines use the

controlled vocabulary term "cats." One you have found an

item on your topic, you will see the subject headings that item

has been assigned. You can then click on the subject heading

to see every other item in the catalog that has been assigned

that same subject heading.

Researchers typically use databases to find articles from magazines,

newspapers, and scholarly/peer reviewed journals, as well as ebooks,

conference proceedings, etc. Most library databases are specific to

particular areas of study or specific information formats, such as

newspapers or ebooks.

If you are unfamiliar with databases and what they contain, you may find

the video on the next slide helpful.

If you are already familiar with library databases, you can skip the video.

Library Databases

TIP: The ECU Libraries Database List

groups databases together by subject

area, which can be helpful for finding

information relevant to your topic. But

ask yourself if your research topic has a

multidisciplinary angle and choose your

databases accordingly. For example, if

you are researching bullying in schools,

you may want to do your searching in

databases from a number of database

categories, such as Education, Sociology,

and Child Development & Family

Relations. Think about the whole range

of places published research on your

topic is likely to appear.

ECU's One Search is an example of a

discovery tool, or discovery

service. Doing a search in One

Search allows a researcher to

simultaneously search the contents

of the library catalog and many of

the larger article databases.

For many research topics, One

Search is all a researcher may need

to find quality information on their

topics. The limiters in One

Search allow for a high degree of

customization in your search

results.

One Search

TIP: One Search indexes the content of a large number of

databases and includes "limiters" that allow for powerful and

specific searches. That said, you may find individual

databases will contain even more specific limiters. Also, many

(such as the popular nursing database CINAHL w/FullText)

include unique subject heading search features and subject

thesauri that improve the quality of your keywords.

Google is a terrific tool for locating information across the 30 Trillion webpages it

indexes1. What can you expect to find with a Google search, and what is likely to

be excluded? While Google indexes and connects you to a massive amount of

information, it does not necessarily own the content. Books and journals are

typically not free, and so Google is a poor way to find these types of sources. Still,

Google can be useful for gaining a global understanding of an unfamiliar topic,

and can connect you to useful sources such as professional organizations and...

1http://www.google.com/insidesearch/howsearchworks

TIP: Vanilla Google searches can be made more powerful by taking advantage of a

few useful tricks. For example, you may want to only search a particular domain or

website. Do so by adding "site:" before or after your search terms. For example:

site:.org

or

site:ecu.edu

Google Scholar indexes peer reviewed articles in much the same way that

vanilla Google indexes webpages. Unfortunately, Google Scholar does not own the

content of the articles it indexes. So while a Google Scholar search may yield

genuinely useful, high quality results, the full text of the articles may not be

available.

Note, though, that there are two major exceptions:

Content owned by ECU

If the article in your Google Scholar search results is owned by ECU Libraries, you

can access it in your Google Scholar results. Just look for the "Full-Text @ ECU

Libraries" link (see the image below.) You will, however, need to let Google Scholar

know you are affiliated with ECU. If you are on campus, this process is

automatic. If you are off-campus, use the "Google Scholar" link on the library

home page whenever doing a Google Scholar search.

Open Access Journal articles

Because of the high cost of scholarly/peer reviewed journal subscriptions, a

number of journal publishers have switched to an open access publishing

model. In addition, many universities have adopted open access mandates,

requiring their researchers to make copies of their research freely available in

institutional repositories. East Carolina University maintains an institutional

repository called The ScholarShip.

TIP: The option to do an

"advanced search" in

Google Scholar only

appears after an initial

search. Once you have

done a search, look for the

downward arrow on the

right side of the screen to

select "advanced

search." From here you

can search for articles by

title, author, or

publication.