How to use Science Direct

How can I access Science Direct Science Direct can be accessed from :  The Jotello F Soga Library’s “The Virtual Library in your office” (  The complete list of databases of the University of Pretoria (

2. Click on “Veterinary Databases” or “Library in your office” 1. Go to the Jotello F Soga Library’s website (

Scroll down and select “Science Direct”

Enter your student/ personnel number ( e.g ) If you have a PIN type it here. If not click on SUBMIT and choose a new PIN on the next page You must be a registered Library user. If not, please complete a Library registration form and to: or Fax to:

Select one of the 2 options and click on “Continue”

How to construct a search Plan your search strategy before you start your search  Formulate your information need e.g. Stress factors in dairy cattle in South Africa  Select the important keywords from this sentence e.g. stress, dairy, cattle, South Africa  Always think of all the synonyms of words or terms e.g. (dairy or milk), (cattle or bovine or cow or cows)  Combine your terms with and e.g. (dairy or milk) and (cattle or bovine or cow or cows) and “south africa” Keep your search simple. Remember your Boolean operators (and, or, not). Keep in mind the different American and English spelling. Two (or more) terms that are always used together, in the same order, can be use as a term. (e.g. “babesia canis” and treatment)

Boolean operators AND  Use AND to retrieve records containing both search terms: all terms must be included in the record. Use AND to narrow your search and retrieve fewer records.  Example: elephants AND lions retrieve records containing both the keywords. OR  Use OR to broaden your search and retrieve a greater number of records. Use OR for synonyms or spelling variations.  Remember always to put your terms in brackets when using "or" e.g. (dog or dog or canine)  Example 1: (milk OR dairy) retrieves records containing either milk or dairy, or both the keywords. Example 2: (behavior OR behaviour) NOT  Use NOT to exclude certain items from your search.  Example 1: “dog” not “tick” (will retrieve all articles containing the word dog, but will exclude all articles containing the word tick)

Click on “Search”

Select a database by double-clicking on it. Type keywords and combine them with the use of Boolean operators Click on Search

Retrieved results for the search

Records can be selected for further use Results can be refined by using the left hand column

Will this article be suitable? Click on Preview and read the Abstract Evaluating the results

Link to full text Articles marked with a clear box are not available full text because we are not subscribed to it Articles marked with a green box are available full text

View / read record Click on the PDF icon – The size of the file is added

Your article !!

To Save or Print your article make use of Adobe’s Save and Print options. Save, Print

Mark the articles you want and click on articles

Complete the form and click on Send

Click on “Export citations” Export results

1. Decide on the Content Format 2. Select Refworks Direct Export 3. Click on Export

Should you ever come across this page click on “Continue to this website”

Please feel free to contact the library if you have any suggestions or questions