Introduction to Human Services Library Instruction Session September 13, 2011

Overview Library Website Refworks E-Reference Resources Subject Guides HS2000 Course Guide Refworks E-Reference Resources Article Databases ERIC PsycINFO ISI Social Sciences Citation Index

http://library.villanova.edu

Subject Guides Try Education & Psychology Guides

Library Course Guide – A summary of today’s presentation

E-Reference Resources Great for background information

Journal Finder Use the Journal Finder when you already have an article citation, and you want to see if Falvey Library owns that journal.

Refworks – A web-based citation management tool. Use any username and password when setting up your account. You will still need to access Refworks through the Library’s website, even after you have set up your account.

What is a scholarly article? Scholarly articles have undergone a peer review process prior to being published in a reputable journal. According to the Encyclopedia of Evaluation, peer review is: Peer review refers generally to the evaluation of professional performance or products by other professionals and, more specifically, to a set of procedures for evaluating grant proposals and manuscripts submitted for publication. For peer-reviewed journals, content-matter specialists are asked to judge a manuscript, often using specified criteria and blinded to the author's identity. The journal editor considers reviewers' comments and decides whether the paper should be published, rejected, or revised and resubmitted. Similar procedures are used to review grant applications. Critiques of the peer review process focus on the low reliability of reviewers' recommendations, but the goal of peer review is to make good and defensible judgments rather than to have high reliability. Peer review is an example of an expertise-oriented approach to evaluation.

What is a database? From the Encyclopedia of Health Care Management A database is an organized collection of data that can be manipulated to produce information specific to a user's needs. Conceptually, a database is an electronic filing system with an indexing structure linking to specific data elements. …The basic element of a database is a field, or variable. Each field in a database is specified as a fixed (maximum) number of characters, each equivalent to a byte of data. The data elements may be text, such as a patient name, or numeric, such as a birth date…A group of related fields is called a record.

Scholarly Articles – ERIC ERIC, or the Educational Resources Information Center, is a database of educational literature sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education. There are several ways of searching ERIC: ERIC through ProQuest, a subscription provided by the library that links to our full text holdings. ERIC through WilsonWeb, a subscription povided by the library that links to our full text holdings. Also allows simultaneous search with Education Full Text database. ERIC.ed.gov – The government’s official ERIC website. Search functions are not as powerful, but it is sometimes updated before subscription services. Linking to full text can be more difficult.

ERIC through WilsonWeb From library website, select Education Full Text Open Database Selection Area Unmark Selected Databases Check ERIC Use the Thesaurus to identify the controlled vocabulary used to search ERIC You can also search ERIC simultaneously with Education Full Text, or any of the databases listed in the Database Selection Area However, the controlled vocabulary will not work across the databases, so you will have to keyword search

Education Full Text Video Tutorial

ERIC through WilsonWEb

Thesaurus The editors of ERIC use a controlled vocabulary to describe each article record added to the database. This vocabulary is your most powerful search tool. Discover it using the Thesaurus.

Thesaurus Start your search 1 – Select all desired terms

Search Results Use the suggestions to narrow your results or create a new search

Click any hyperlink to begin a new search. to Refworks! Search for full text Click any hyperlink to begin a new search.

FindIt – Connect to Full Text Request items the library doesn’t own for electronic delivery within 3-5 days.

Search History – Return to Previous Searches or Create New Ones

Get Marked Records

PsycINFO

Or, start at the Advanced Search screen. Truncation: an * placed at the end of a root tells the computer to search for all words containing that stem. Example: disab*=disability, disabled, disable, disabilities

Scroll all the way down to edit your search Scroll all the way down to edit your search. Narrow by language, subject population, subject age, etc.

Results

Narrow your search

Article Record.

Use the descriptors to narrow or expand your current search, or start a new search.

Mark the record for later; Save, Print, Email (and export to Refworks), or FindIt in full text.

Request items the library does not own.

Search History Use the search history to retrieve past searches or to combine searches.

Kristyna Carroll Research Support Librarian Kristyna.carroll@villanova.edu 610-519-5391 Phone Email Chat Group & individual research appointments Stop by! Contact Me