How to use Expanded Academic ASAP

What will I learn in this tutorial?

In this tutorial you will be introduced to the Expanded Academic ASAP electronic database, which is accessed via the InfoTrac website. You will learn how to:

• get access to Expanded Academic
• how to search in the database
• how to view and understand a record
• how to save what you find

Access to Expanded Academic is restricted to Monash students and staff and requires an AuthCate password.

Expanded Academic covers a broad range of subjects including: agriculture, arts, business, communications, law, economics, education, engineering, history, languages, literature, philosophy, women's studies.

What are electronic databases?

An electronic database is an organised list of published information sources (usually journal articles), either giving directions (a citation) to where you can find the full information or containing the information itself (full-text databases).

Each information source has an individual record. Each record is made up of fields. Each field contains a different piece of information about the source. The database searches for information contained in these fields.

Databases do not all function in the same way, but the same basic skills and knowledge will allow you to use most databases.

More on electronic databases

What's the difference between the databases?

Databases differ in subject matter, in forms of material included, the availability of full-text and in the access method. There are three ways of accessing databases at Monash (some databases can be accessed in more than one way):

• The CD-ROM was an early form of database, so people often still refer to all databases as CD-ROMs. In the Library this type of database is often only available as stand-alone - you have to go to the library that holds the actual disc and use it on a PC there.
• Networked databases allow more than one person to search at the same time because the Library loads all the information to a central server. These can be accessed from any Library site and will require an Authcate password.
• Online databases are stored elsewhere, and the Library arranges access to them. Some can be searched over the Internet (access using Authcate password), others require a dedicated PC in the library.

There is no direct cost to the Monash user for accessing these services. They are provided for the purpose of making the learning, teaching and research activities of Monash staff and students easier.

What can I find in a database?

In databases you can find details of material (journal articles, product reviews, documents, conference papers and in some cases, books) that can form the basis of, or add greater depth to, your research. You can also check bibliographic information about journal articles.

You might also find:

• a summary (abstract) of the information referred to
• entire articles or documents (full-text databases)
• very current information - some databases are updated daily or weekly
• links to Monash University Library holdings via the library catalogue

Important copyright note: Use of data extracted from electronic databases for purposes other than academic research or teaching/learning may be forbidden or restricted under the terms of our licences. Please consult with library staff if you wish to use the data for other purposes.

Which database should I use?

Most of the electronic databases available through the Library are sorted into subject on the Databases page. There is a wide variety of databases for every subject area. Many popular databases are available through the Library's database network or on the world wide web.

When choosing a database you need to check:

• what subject/s it covers
• whether its contents are mainly local or foreign based
• what time period it covers
• where you can access it from

Some databases might be more useful than others for particular topics, even if they deal with the same subject area. Always try more than one if possible.

More details about each database is available from its library catalogue record, or the Databases pages.

The Databases page is located at: http://lib.monash.edu.au/databases/

What is InfoTrac?

InfoTrac is an organisation that provides access to databases. Monash currently has access to three of these databases. When you try to search in one of them you will initially be taken to the InfoTrac page. From there you can choose which database you want.

Monash has access to three InfoTrac databases:

• Expanded Academic ASAP
• Computer Database
• LegalTrac

All these databases use the same interface for searching, so once you have learnt to use one, you will be able to use them all.

Why use Expanded Academic?

Expanded Academic is a useful database because it covers a wide range of subjects. The database is updated daily, so the material is very current. Many of the records contain this material in full so you don't have to find the original yourself.

Expanded Academic contains more than 1,800 indexed journal titles, with over 900 of them available in full text. Coverage includes 1980 to present. The range of subjects covered includes: agriculture, arts, business, communications, law, economics, education, engineering, history, languages, literature, philosophy, information technology and women's studies.

A list of journals indexed in Expanded Academic is available.

Although Expanded Academic covers a wide range of material it is always a good idea to search in more than one database.

How do I decide what to look for?

To search effectively it is important that you consider exactly what question you are trying to answer. This is called developing a search strategy.

Following these steps will help you to simplify your question:

1. What is your topic?
   
   
   
2. What are the key concepts in your question? List them.




3. Are there other ways in which you can express these key concepts?

When you complete these steps you will have a list of search terms to start with. Be willing to add and subtract from your list.

If you do not understand all the terms involved in your topic consult an encyclopedia or dictionary, or ask a fellow student, tutor or a librarian.

To increase the likelihood of finding relevant material, you need to think about alternative terms that can be used to describe the same concepts.

You should think about:

• synonyms (eg mobile telephones, cellular telephones)
• plural/singular forms (eg women, woman)
• spelling variations(eg behaviour, behavior)
• variations of a root word (eg feminism, feminist, feminine)
• acronyms (eg chief executive officer, CEO)

Many books, journals, webpages and databases are produced in the United States and therefore favour North American spelling and terminology, so include these in your alternative expressions if appropriate.

Sometimes using a thesaurus or specialised dictionary might help, particularly if you aren't clear about some terminology or concepts.

Here is an example of using the steps:

1. What is your topic?
   
   What effect do comics have on children's behaviour?
   
   
2. What are the key concepts in your question? List them.


comics, children, behaviour, effect


3. Are there other ways in which you can express these key concepts?



1. comics, comic books, cartoons
2. children, juveniles
3. behaviour, behavior
4. effect: a very ambiguous term, best left out of a search (but keep it in mind)

These terms will form the basis of your search. Link the words in each concept together with OR (eg. comics or comic books or cartoons) to form a concept set, then link the concept sets using AND. The following pages will demonstrate this.

Once you have searched with these terms you may need to review your results to see if your search can be improved.

Having devised a search strategy you are now ready to begin.

How do I get into Expanded Academic?

Access to Expanded Academic is available through the Monash Library Databases page.

To access this database you need to demonstrate that you are a Monash student or staff member, users will need their AuthCate password.

To access Expanded Academic from the Databases page:

1. Select Expanded Academic from the alphabetic list by clicking on its name.
2. Provide your AuthCate details.
3. Keyword search screen opens ready to commence searching..

The databases page is at: http://lib.monash.edu.au/databases/

How do I search in databases?

Essentially searching is simple - type a term (or terms) into the search window and click on the "Search" button. You will usually get some records (hits) in return. But by using a few simple techniques you can make your searching more effective.

To search databases effectively, with the maximum number of really relevant records being returned to you, you need to understand and apply the techniques described on the next few pages. Not all techniques will work in all databases, but if you understand these steps you will have the skills to search most of them.

Starting your search

The first screen you see is the Keyword search screen. This search can be useful, but for better initial results use the Advanced search.

To use the Advanced search, click on the heading at the left of the screen, as shown below.

Using OR with truncation

On the Advanced screen you can combine your first set of search terms. You do this using OR, which will allow you to find all records in the database that contain either or both of your terms.

You can also make it easier to find variations on the words comic and cartoon by using truncation (or wildcarding). Adding * to the end of a term tells InfoTrac to find all the words that begin with that term e.g. comic* will find comic, comics, comic-books etc.

Type comic* or cartoon* into the search boxes, choose the logical operator 'OR', then click on "Search".

Note: you can restrict your search to a particular field by choosing from the dropdown list beginning 'Key Word'. However, when you are starting a search and unsure of the contents of the database, keyword searching is the best to choose.

OR

You can combine multiple terms into one search to get more records or "hits". You do this by using the Boolean operator OR. Most databases offer Boolean searching.

For instance, if you type in itch or scratch the search engine in the database will find all the records that have either of these words or both words in them. So you should get quite a lot of hits.

Boolean is library terminology (derived from mathematics). All you need to know is that Boolean searching allows you greater control over the way that you search.

Truncation

Many searches can be made easier by using truncation (sometimes called wildcarding). To do this you use a symbol in place of a letter or letters in a search term.

For example, in the library catalogue you can key in Australia? and find all the words in the database that begin with Australia eg Australia, Australian, Australians. In other databases Australia$ might have the same result.

Most databases and search engines offer truncation, although the truncation symbol varies. They could be a $, ?, *, or #, if in doubt, check the Help files in the database you are using.

You can also use truncation to look for alternate spellings of terms eg colo?r would find both color and colour. This function is not available in the library catalogue, you need to specify the alternate terms eg color OR colour.

Your search has found 173310 records containing at least one of your terms. You can see these records by clicking on "View". (Don't worry if you try this yourself and you get a different number of records (or "hits") - the database will have been updated)

As it is unlikely that all of these records will be relevant you should enter you next set of terms. Type children or juvenile* into the search box.

Another type of truncation

This search has found 173312 records containing either the word children or variations of the word juvenile. Now you can look for behaviour.

As most databases are sourced from the US, you need to look for American spelling of words. By using ! you can find words that vary by one letter. Enter behavio!r to find behavior and behaviour.

Using AND

Behavio!r returns 191477 hits. Now you can combine the three searches using AND. This will find only those records containing at least one term from each of your search sets.

To combine the searches type r1 and r2 and r3 into the search box, and click on "Search". (the "r" numbers are the search numbers - they are visible to the left of each search).

You can combine your search terms to try and limit the amount of material or "hits" you get, or to make them more specific to your search. To do this you can use a Boolean operator, AND.

The AND operator is used to reduce the number of hits you get. When you use AND the search engine only returns records that have all the specified terms in them. For instance if you use fish and chips the database engine will only return records with both the word fish and the word chips in them.

There are 35 records containing all of your search sets. Click on "View" to see them.

Put it all together

The preceding pages broke the search down into steps to show the thought processes involved. Using Advanced Search it is possible to combine all the steps into one search. This is how to do it:

Note that the search results are the same.

How do I view and understand a record?

Titles Display

When you click on the "View" link a list appears. To see more of a record click on the links. There are three types of records:

• text: article is available in full. [A PDF (Portable Document Format) file will look the same on the screen as it does in print. So documents containing images, graphs, tables, etc print with formatting intact. The free Adobe Acrobat Reader is required to view them, download that from here]
• citation: currently displayed information is slightly expanded
• abstract: summmary of article is available

Fields

A record is divided into fields. Each field contains a different detail about an information source. Fields (and their names) vary between databases, but the most important ones are: author, title, source (which make up the citation you will need to find the information), abstract and subject headings. If you plan to use a record to look for the full text or to refer to in an essay, make note of the citation details (ie write down or save to disk or email to yourself).

Look at the following fields:

• Author - the person(s) or organisation responsible for producing the information
• Title - usually of the journal article, although in some databases it can be a book, thesis or book chapter
• Source - usually the name and details of the issue of the journal in which the article appeared, including the page numbers
• Abstract - gives you a brief summary of the article, book or thesis content. Not available in all records.
• Subject Headings - a concise description of the content of the information. Look for subject headings relating to your topic that you may not have considered already. These are not visible on the record screen in InfoTrac.

Other fields can help you to find material on the same subject, or can give you additional details about where the information you want can be found.

The complete record contains:

1. title and issue number of the journal article was taken from.
   NOTE: Sometimes this might appear to be a date in the future, because cover date of the journal is later than the current date.
2. title and author of the article
3. abstract (summary of article)
4. the article itself

The red rectangle contains the options for making a copy of this article. "Library Holdings" link enables a search of the library catalogue for this title.

Subject headings

Subject Headings are only available on records that have been been in the database for a month. They provide a concise description of the content of the article. Where available they display at the end of the record, and can be seen by clicking on the "Link" heading.

Use the subject headings shown to find other material on your topic. Click on "View" to see a full list of records assigned to that heading.

You can also search for subject headings. Return to the Subject Guide search page (use the headings on the left).

Enter comic books as shown. Note that as you have not put AND or OR between the words, InfoTrac will do a phrase search.

This produces a list of subject headings that contain the phrase comic books.

To see the records click on "View". To see similar or related headings click on "See also". This will produce another list of subject headings.

Reviewing your search

As you search you should be prepared to revise your search terms, and add to or subtract from them as necessary. Check the records you obtain for useful terms to use in further searches.

Some general tips on improving your search:

The database you are using will affect the effectiveness of your search strategy e.g. using music in a music database will return almost everything, while using symphonic in a general arts database might restrict you too much.

You may find that the terms you have chosen are too broad so you will need to be more specific, e.g. use classical music instead of just music.

Some terms might be too specific, and will return too few hits, e.g. try rock music instead of grunge.

Remember to use the subject headings or descriptors from records you think are useful to look for similar records. Use them in completely new searches, or link them with terms from your original search using AND and OR.

How can I improve my search?

Your first attempt at searching might not be successful. You may retrieve too few relevant records, or too many to be useful. The next few pages describe some tactics you can use to improve your search.

If you retrieve too few relevant records it could be that your search needs to be less restrictive.

If you retrieve too many records to be useful it is likely that your search has not been specific enough.

These are some ways of improving your search result. Experiment to see which works best for a particular search.

No hits?

If you get no hits try the following:

• check the spelling of your search terms
• consult a thesaurus or index for alternative terms
• make sure you have used any brackets or Boolean operators correctly

If none of these help, you may be using an inappropriate database for your needs. See what others are available.

Many databases offer a thesaurus or index of all the terms within the database, or even build a tree-like hierarchical structure of these terms to help you narrow down what you are searching for, especially in the Sciences. This is often a good way to find out which terminology a database is using eg heart attack or heart arrest.

Not enough hits?

If you get too few hits try the following:

• reduce the number of concepts you are using
• use an OR search to broaden your search
• consult a thesaurus or index for alternative terms
• try to use more general search terms
• use subject headings as search terms
• make sure you have used any brackets or Boolean operators correctly
• use truncation to get variations on your term, or use alternate spellings
• try searching across all the fields instead of a specific one

If none of these help, you may be using an inappropriate database for your needs. Check what others are available.

Many databases offer a thesaurus or index of all the terms within the database, or even build a tree-like hierarchical structure of these terms to help you narrow down what you are searching for, especially in the Sciences. This is often a good way to find out which term a database is using to describe something eg heart attack or heart arrest.

Too many hits?

If you get too many hits try the following:

• use an AND or NOT search to narrow your search
• consult a thesaurus or index for more specific alternative terms
• use subject headings as search terms
• make sure you have used any brackets or Boolean operators correctly
• try to use more precise terms
• remove any truncation
• try searching in a specific field instead across all of them

If none of these help, you may be using an inappropriate database for your needs. See what others are available.

Many databases offer a thesaurus or index of all the terms within the database, or even build a tree-like hierarchical structure of these terms to help you narrow down what you are searching for, especially in the Sciences. This is often a good way to find out which term a database is using to describe something eg heart attack or heart arrest.

Limiting

In many databases a search can be refined or narrowed by limiting a search to a range of set criteria. In Expanded Academic click the "Limit Search" icon on a results screen for a display of the options.

You can limit your search to:

• articles that are available in full
• articles that appear in referreed (i.e. academic) publications
• articles published at a particular time (click on the ? for more details on this option)
• articles from a particular journal

What parts of a record do I need?

Once you have found records that you think will be useful you need to note down where to find the information. You can do this by writing it down, or you can use the database to save the results to a floppy disk.

If you are writing down the results it is essential that you take note of the the author, title and source (including the volume, issue, date and page numbers) fields so that you can find the information later.

If you are using a database in the library it is always a good idea to bring formatted floppy disk with you.

Most databases will allow you to save records to a floppy disk so that you can refer to them or print them out elsewhere. The saved records can be viewed in virtually any word processing software.

Some databases have the facility to email the results to an address that you specify.

Check the help screens of the database you are using to find out the exact method of downloading.

How do I save what I've found?

As you view the records you are able to select any you want to save by clicking in the Mark box next to each record. After selecting the records you require from the search set, click on the "View mark list" heading in the bar on the left.

This brings up a screen of only the records you have marked. You are offered options to prepare them for printing/saving (Browser Print) or emailing.

If you choose "Reformat" the records will be displayed in full on the screen. Use the Print or Save options (under File) on your browser.

If you want to email the records complete the form. Enter your email address and click on "Submit E-Mail Request". You will receive all available information about each marked record.

How do I exit from Expanded Academic?

To exit from Expanded Academic you have the following options:

1. Click on "Gale Group Databases" in the left hand column to pick a different InfoTrac database to search
2. Click on "Library" to return to the Monash site
3. Point your browser to another page (e.g. click on "Home" or type a new URL in the address window)

Summary

The key points to remember about using databases are:

• subject coverage, emphasis, years covered and content vary between databases, so you may need to search in more than one
• think about the key concepts you are looking for before you start searching. Write them down if necessary. Look for alternative terms.
• if you want to get more records (hits) from a search combine terms using OR
• if you want to get fewer records from a search combine terms using AND, or use a limiting option
• use relevant subject headings (descriptors) as search terms.
• using database functions like Truncation (sometimes called wildcarding) or Limiting can make searches more efficient.
• always logoff once you have finished so that others can use the database.

if you need more help contact the library.