Library tutorial for Humanities and Social Sciences

Section 4: Searching databases for journal articles on a topic

• General principles
• Database checklist
• Search strategy
• Search results
• Questions

General principles

Do not use the Library catalogue to search for journal articles, as it lists journal names but not individual journal articles.

Instead you will need to use databases to find details of journal articles on your subject. In Humanities and Social Sciences there are many potentially useful databases - some of the most valuable are the multidisciplinary ones. A good place to start is at the Library's website - then either click on the databases tab to view a list of general databases or subject specific ones, or choose the Resource Guides from the Library's website - then find your subject or course to see the recommended databases.

Most databases can also be accessed from computers outside the library, such as a home computer. You will be prompted to enter a username and password.

Database checklist

When using a new database it's a good idea to check its features using the Help option.

1. Does it use Boolean operators, where you combine search terms with AND, OR operators?

2. How do you truncate terms, search singular or plural forms of a word, or variant spellings, e.g. behavior/behaviour?

3. Is there a thesaurus which lists synonyms and related terms to use in your search?

4. How do you search for articles by a specific author or in a particular journal?

5. How do you display references or mark them for saving, printing or emailing them?

Search strategy

Before you search for information you'll need to formulate a search strategy.

1. Identify the key concepts from your essay or research topic.

2. Work out alternative terms for these concepts.

3. Decide whether you want to restrict your search to a certain country, date, or group.

Your topic

Imagine that your topic for research is:

"Discuss the effect of climate change on the Australian economy."

Before beginning your search in a database, consider your search strategy:

Your search may look something like this:

("climate change" or "global warming") and Australia* and econom*

Search results

1. Too many results? Try search limiting or refining your search.

You can often reduce a large result to something more manageable and more relevant - look for features which allow you to limit or refine your search -
e.g limit to English language, limit by a range of years or a specific date, limit to full text articles, limit by geographic region, etc.

2. Too few results?

• Rethink your topic - is it part of a wider topic that you could search?
• Rethink your terms - are there related terms you could use to broaden your search?
• Rethink your search strategy - are you searching for words as a phrase when you should be using individual keywords (i.e. use AND between each word?

3. No links to full text?

A database citation may give a link to a full text electronic article, often in pdf format which you can save or print. Your results list may include some articles which are not available as full text. Search for these using the Library catalogue - N.B. remember to search for the name of the journal not the article title.