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.

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.

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.

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).

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.

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.