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Database tips
Truncation: A symbol at the end of a word to retrieve all variations. For example diet$ searches for diet, diets, dietary and dietition. Each database uses its own truncation symbol. Some databases automatically truncate.
Proximity searching: Allows you to specify where your search terms will appear in relation to each other. The closer your search terms appear to each other, the closer the relationship of those terms.
For example pain w/10 morphine will search for the words pain and morphine within "10" words of each other. This command varies with each database.
When determining the value of the number consider:
- Use w/3 to find terms in the same phrase
- Use w/10 to find terms in the same sentence
- Use w/50 to find terms in the same paragraph
Email alerts: Set up email alerts to notify you when new material is added to a database which matches your profile.
EndNote: EndNote is a software program that allows you to organise references in an EndNote library and link these references to your Word document.
Thesaurus: A thesaurus provides a list of preferred words and/or phrases which you can use to improve your search and retrieve more relevant results. The thesaurus lists spelling variations, synonyms, broader, narrower and related terms. The thesaurus can also be called a subject headings or controlled vocabulary list.
ACLS Humanities E-Book | |
| Truncation - * | Fulltext |
| Phrase search - automatic | |
| Has separate tabs for proximity, boolean and known title search | Ask a question |
ACM Digital Library | |
| Truncation - * | Fulltext |
| Phrase search - e.g. "3D interaction" | 3 users |
| Unable to mark fulltext for email. Each article must be saved to the desktop, then emailed | Ask a question |
Alexander Street Press | |
| Classical Music Scores | |
| Truncation - * | Fulltext |
| Phrase search - " two violins" | Ask a question |
American Chemical Society (ACS) | |
| Truncation - automatic | Fulltext |
| Phrase search - e.g. "diffusion feedback" | Email alerts |
| Unable to mark fulltext for email. Each article must be saved to the desktop, then emailed | Ask a question |
| EndNote - direct export available | |
American Geophysical Union | |
| Truncation - * , auto-stemming | Fulltext |
| Phrase search - automatic | 3 users |
| EndNote - Choose “Refer(EndNote)” format, and save as a plain text file with a “.ref” (Refer) or “.enw” (EndNote) extension | Ask a question |
American Institute of Physics | |
| Truncation - none? | Fulltext |
| Phrase search - e.g. "plasma instability" | |
| Has search options once you choose a journal, otherwise use Scitation search | Ask a question |
American Physical Society | |
| Truncation * | Fulltext |
| Phrase search - e.g. "amplification scheme" | |
| Advanced search option only found under Journal Search tab | Ask a question |
American Physiological Society | |
| Truncation none | Fulltext |
| Phrase search - e.g. "lymph gland" | |
| Uses Google search | Ask a question |
Annual Reviews | |
| Truncation - * , auto-stemming | Fulltext |
| Phrase search - e.g. "gene target" | Email alerts |
| Unable to mark fulltext for email. Each article must be saved to the desktop, then emailed | Re-run saved searches |
| EndNote - direct export available | Ask a question |
ASCE | |
| Truncation none | Fulltext |
| Phrase search - none | Email alerts and RSS feeds |
| EndNote - direct export available | Ask a question |
| SciMapper to map results geographically | |
| EndNote - direct export available | Ask a question |
Asia-Studies Full-text Online | |
| Truncation - choose stemming | Fulltext |
| Phrase search - "fish farming" | |
| Proximity search - e.g. mathematics w/5 teaching | Ask a question |
| EndNote - direct export available | Ask a question |
ASME Digital Library | |
| Truncation - * | Fulltext |
| Phrase search - "thermal transport" | |
| Proximity search - e.g.optical near/3 systems | Ask a question |
| EndNote - direct export available | |
ASTM Standards | |
| Truncation - automatic for common word endings | Fulltext |
| Phrase search - "steel gate valves" | |
| Ask a question | |
AustArt | |
| Truncation - * | |
| Phrase search - automatic | |
| Does not support Boolean operators. Dates need to be entered in abbreviated form e.g. 07 | Ask a question |
AustEdOnline | |
| Truncation - * | Ask a question |
| Phrase search - automatic | - |
| Proximity search - e.g. mathematics w/5 teaching | - |
| Unable to mark records | - |
AustLII | |
| Truncation - * | Fulltext |
| Phrase search - automatic | Ask a question |
AustLit | |
| Truncation - * | Preferred browser - IE 4, Netscape 5 and above |
| Phrase search - automatic | 1 user |
| Boolean operators AND, OR and NOT - must be capitalised | Email alerts |
| - | Ask a question |
Australian Accounting and Auditing Standards | |
| Truncation - * | Fulltext |
| Phrase search - use textbox in advanced search | Preferred browser IE, Firefox does not handle the advanced search |
| Boolean operators AND, OR and NOT - use textbox in advanced search in the basic search &=and |=or | |
| - | Ask a question |
Australian Bureau of Statistics | |
| Phrase search - "finance sector" | Fulltext |
| Help on ABS website | |
| Citing ABS sources | Ask a question |
Australian Key Journals | |
| Truncation - automatic | |
| Phrase search - automatic | |
| Does not support Boolean operators | |
| - | Ask a question |
Australian Standards | |
| See SAI Global | |
Bibliography of the History of Art (BHA) | |
| Truncation - ? | |
| Phrase search - e.g. "naive art" | |
| - | Ask a question |
Biomed Central | |
| Truncation - * | Fulltext |
| Phrase search - e.g. "red blood cell", or select "exact phrase" from the drop down menu | Registration required - free |
| - | Re-run saved searches |
| - | Email alerts |
| - | Ask a question |
BMJ Best Practice | |
| Truncation - * | RSS and email alerts |
| Phrase search - e.g. "myocardial infarction" | - |
| Boolean operators AND, OR and NOT - must be capitalised | - |
| Proximity search - e.g. "breast tumour"~5 | Ask a question |
British Education Index | |
| Truncation - % | Ask a question |
| Phrase search - e.g. "lifelong learning" | - |
| Proximity search - e.g. teacher near5 shortage | - |
Cambridge Journals Online | |
| Truncation - * | Fulltext |
| Phrase search - e.g. "gene target" | Email alerts |
| Boolean operators AND, OR and NOT - must be capitalised | Re-run saved searches |
| Unable to mark fulltext for email. Each article must be saved to the desktop, then emailed | Ask a question |
Cengage (GaleInfoTrac) | |
| Academic Onefile, Computer Database, Expanded Academic ASAP, Health Reference Centre | |
| Truncation - * | Partial fulltext |
| Phrase search - e.g. "information technology" | Computer database - 10 users Health Reference - 10 users Times Digital Archive - 1 user |
| Articles in PDF format must be saved to the desktop, then emailed | Ask a question |
| To reformat a document for printing, select "Print" from the left hand side bar | - |
| EndNote filter and save format | - |
| Tutorials, product tours etc. provided by publisher | - |
| Search using subject headings Click on Subject Guide to browse / identify subject headings and subheadings | |
CHemAlert | |
| Truncation - automatic | fulltext |
| Phrase search - automatic | |
CIAO | |
| Truncation - * | Fulltext |
| Phrase search - select from the drop down menu | Ask a question |
Cochrane Library | |
| Truncation - * | Partial fulltext |
| Phrase search - e.g. "mental health treatment" | Re-run saved searches |
| Proximity search - e.g. antidepressant NEAR/10 narcolepsy | Ask a question |
| EndNote filter and save format | - |
CRCnetBASE | |
| CHEMnetBASE, ENVIROnetBASE, | |
| Truncation - * | Fulltext |
| Phrase search - automatic | Ask a question |
| Proximity search - e.g. water w/4 filter | - |
| Tutorials, product tours etc. provided by publisher, in ChemNetBase tours are under individual books. For EnviroNetBase please see Getting Started | - |
CSIRO | |
| Truncation - * | Partial fulltext |
| Unable to mark fulltext for email. Each article must be saved to the desktop, then emailed | Ask a question |
Current Index to Statistics | |
| Truncation - % | Ask a question |
| Phrase search - automatic | - |
| EndNote - select "Refer" output format, save the results from your browser as a .txt file, use the EndNote Import filter | - |
Duke University Press Journals Online | |
| Truncation - * Also uses automatic stemming | Fulltext |
| Phrase search - e.g. "signal transduction" | Email alerts |
| Possible to download into Endnote | Ask a question |
EBSCO | |
| Academic Search Complete, Business Source Complete, Cinahl fulltext, Communication & Mass Media Complete, Computers & Applied Sciences Complete, Econlit, Environment Complete, GreenFILE, Health Business Elite, Health Source, Humanities International Complete, LISTA, LGBT Life, Medline fulltext, Newspaper Source Plus, Political Science Complete, Religion & Philosophy Complete, SocINDEX with fulltext | |
| Truncation - * | Fulltext |
| Phrase search - e.g. "hedge funds" | Email alerts |
| Proximity search - e.g. private N3 equity | Ask a question |
| EndNote - direct export available | - |
| Tutorials, product tours etc. provided by publisher | - |
Ed/ITLid Digital Library | |
| Truncation - * | Fulltext |
| Phrase search - e.g. "distance learning" | Email alerts |
| Proximity search - e.g. math <SENTENCE> science, math <PARAGRAPH> science | Ask a question |
| Unable to mark fulltext for email. Each article must be saved to the desktop, then emailed | - |
| EndNote - direct export available | - |
Education-line | |
| Truncation - $ | Ask a question |
| Phrase search - e.g. "higher education" | - |
| Proximity search - e.g. learning near6 organisation | - |
Emerald | |
| Truncation - * or check the truncation box | Fulltext |
| Phrase search - e.g. "market research" or check the phrase box | Email alerts |
| Boolean operators AND, OR and NOT - must be capitalised | Re-run saved searches |
| EndNote filter and save format | Ask a question |
| Search using subject headings Find a relevant article. Click on a term within the Keyword field | |
Engineering Village | |
| Truncation - * comput* returns computer, computers, computerize, computerization plus automatic stemming - management returns manage, managed, manager, managers, managing, management | |
| Phrase search - "near field scanning" | |
| Proximity search - e.g. water near5 pollution | |
| EndNote filter and save format | Ask a question |
| Tutorials, product tours etc. provided by publisher | - |
ERIC Education Resources Information Center | |
| Truncation - * | Ask a question |
| Phrase search - e.g. "higher education" | - |
eTG Complete | |
| Truncation - * | Ask a question |
| Does not support phrase searching | - |
| Boolean searching- Uses AND by default supports OR | |
Factiva | |
| Truncation - * | Preferred browser - IE |
| Phrase search - automatic | Fulltext |
| Proximity search - e.g. water near5 pollution | 6 users |
| EndNote filter and save format | Ask a question |
| Tutorials, product tours etc. provided by publisher (This is on the ProQuest site) | - |
Searching
Displaying results
| |
FinAnalysis | |
| Use the search forms provided. You can choose from the search options, which will be displayed depending on the other options chosen | |
| Truncation - not available | Fulltext |
| Phrase search - not available | |
| Ask a question | |
Grove | |
| Grove Art, Grove Music, also known as Oxford Art Online and Oxford Music Online | |
| Truncation - * | Fulltext |
| Phrase search - e.g. "gold medal" | Grove Art - 3 users Grove Music - 3 users |
| ~ preceding a search term matches words that sound alike - e.g. ~mikelanjelo will find Michelangelo | Ask a question |
Hein | |
| - | Preferred browser - IE |
| - | Fulltext |
| - | Ask a question |
| Tutorials, product tours etc. provided by publisher - and YouTube presentation site | - |
HighWire Press | |
| Truncation - * | Fulltext |
| Phrase search - e.g. "human disease" , or select the phrase radio button | Email alerts |
| - | Ask a question |
IEEExplore | |
| Truncation - * | Fulltext |
| Phrase search - " " | 15 users |
| EndNote - direct import available. | Email alerts |
| - | Ask a question |
| Search using subject headings Find a relevant article. Click on a term within the Index Terms field | |
Informaworld | |
| Truncation - * Can also check "stemming" box in advanced search | Fulltext |
| Phrase search - e.g. "gene therapy" | Email alerts |
| - | Ask a question |
| Tutorials product tours etc. provided by publisher | - |
INFORMIT | |
| A+ Education, Account, AGIS plus, AHB, APAFT, ATSIhealth, DELTAA, , ENDANGER, ENGINE, Engineering Collection, EVA, Health Collection, Humanities and Social Sciences Collection, MAIS, SNIPER | |
| Truncation - * | Partial fulltext |
| Phrase search - e.g. "information technology" | Unlimited users |
| Proximity search - e.g. water %5 pollution | Re-run saved searches |
| EndNote filter and save format | Ask a question |
| Tutorials product tours etc. provided by publisher | - |
Targeting databases for your topic Search multiple databases Search using subject headings | |
Ingenta Connect | |
| Truncation - * | Partial fulltext |
| Phrase search - e.g. "feminist theory" | Email alerts |
| - | Re-run saved searches |
| - | Ask a question |
JCR (Journal Citation Reports) | |
| Download PDF guide for JCR | |
JSTOR | |
| Truncation - ?. Use 3 question marks to replace up to 7 characters e.g. bird??? | Fulltext |
| Phrase search - e.g. "feminist theory" | Ask a question |
| Proximity search - e.g. "marine pollution"~10 | - |
| Unable to mark fulltext for email. Each article must be saved to the desktop, then emailed | - |
| EndNote filter and save format | - |
| Tutorials product tours etc. provided by publisher | - |
LawLex | |
| Truncation - * | Recommended browser - IE |
| Phrase search - e.g. "beyond reasonable doubt" | Fulltext |
| Unable to mark fulltext for email. Each article must be saved to the desktop, then emailed | Email alerts - legislation |
| Printing and saving varies between jurisdictions | Ask a question |
Legal Online | |
| Truncation - * | Recommended browser - IE |
| Phrase search - e.g. "beyond reasonable doubt" | Fulltext |
| Proximity search - e.g. "resource acquisition"@5 | Ask a question |
| Unable to email search results | - |
Lexis.com | |
| Truncation - ! | Preferred browser - IE |
| Phrase search - automatic | Fulltext |
Proximity search - e.g.
| Email alerts |
| Click on Focus to modify a search | Ask a question |
Selecting a Source
Searching by segments
| |
LexisNexis AU | |
| Truncation - ! | Recommended browser - IE |
| Phrase search - automatic | Fulltext |
Proximity search - e.g.
| Ask a question |
LexisNexis AU offers a range of search options. Each is designed to search a particular type of content. Common Tasks search Quick Sources search Tab search | |
Libraries Australia | |
| Truncation - * | - |
| Phrase search - select "as a phrase" from the menu | 2 users |
| - | Ask a question |
McGraw-Hill | |
| Access Engineering, Access Medicine, Harrison's Online | |
| Truncation - not supported suggest enable autoselect | Fulltext |
| Phrase search - automatic | Ask a question |
| Search engine finds similar terms that match the concept | - |
MathSciNet | |
| Truncation - * | - |
| Phrase search - e.g. "invertible matrix" | Ask a question |
| Proximity search - e.g. module adj3 differential | - |
MDConsult | |
| Truncation - * auto synonyms search | Fulltext |
| Phrase search- Use quotation marks (“) to locate exact phrase | Ask a question |
MIMs Online | |
| Unable to mark records. Each records must be printed separately | Fulltext |
| - | Email alerts |
| - | Ask a question |
NBER Working Papers | |
| - | Email alerts |
| - | Ask a question |
New York Review of Books | |
| Does not support truncation | Fulltext |
| Does not support phrase searching | Ask a question |
NSW Legislation | |
| Truncation - ? | Fulltext |
| Phrase search - automatic | Ask a question |
| Proximity search - e.g. right %3 appeal | - |
OECDiLibrary | |
| Truncation - * | Fulltext |
| Phrase search - automatic | Email alerts |
| Boolean operators (AND OR NOT) must be in capitals other they are keywords | Ask a question |
| Proximity search - university NEAR education | |
| Seems to use some form of automatic stemming - The search tips are yet to be loaded on the site 28th Nov. 2011 | |
OVID | |
| Georef, Inspec, LWW 100, Medline, Philosophers Index, PsycArticles, PsycInfo | |
| Truncation - $ | Partial fulltext |
| Phrase search - automatic | Email alerts |
| Proximity search - e.g. animal adj5 behaviour | Re-run saved searches |
| EndNote filter and save format | Individual databases have specific limits |
| - | Ask a question |
| - | - |
Select Change Database to re-run your search terms in another OVID database Search using subject headings | |
Oxford Journals | |
| Truncation - *, auto-stemming | Fulltext |
| Phrase search - e.g. "market research" or check the phrase box | Ask a question |
| Articles in PDF format must be saved to the desktop, then emailed | - |
| Endnote - direct export available | - |
| Tutorials product tours etc. provided by publisher | - |
Physical Review Online Archive | |
| Truncation - * | Fulltext |
| Phrase search - e.g. "chaos theory" | Email alerts |
| Proximity search - e.g. optical <NEAR/3> systems | Ask a question |
| EndNote - direct export available | - |
Popline | |
| Truncation - * | Ask a question |
Project Muse | |
| Truncation - * | Fulltext |
| Phrase search - e.g. "paradise lost" | Ask a question |
| Articles in PDF format must be saved to the desktop, then emailed | - |
| EndNote filter and save format | - |
ProQuest Central | |
| ABI/Inform Global, Dissertation Abstracts, ProQuest ANZ Newsstand, ProQuest Research Library | |
| Truncation - * | Partial fulltext |
| Phrase search - e.g. "management strategy" | Email alerts |
| Proximity search - e.g. marine w/5 pollution, select "WITHIN 3" from the menu | Ask a question |
| EndNote filter and save format | - |
| Tutorials, product tours etc. provided by publisher (This includes Factiva) | - |
Search using subject headings Limiting by article type | |
PubMed | |
| Truncation - * | Partial fulltext |
| Phrase search - e.g. "health planning" | Email alerts |
| EndNote filter and save format | Re-run saved searches |
| Boolean operators AND, OR and NOT - must be capitalised | Ask a question |
| To limit to fulltext type in your search adding AND free full text [sb] - e.g. insulin AND diabetes AND free full text [sb] | |
Royal Society of Chemistry | |
| Truncation - *, auto stemming | Fulltext |
| Phrase search - e.g. "fuel cell" | Email alerts |
| Author search, use Boolean and between given and family name e.g. Alan and Jones | Ask a question |
SAGE Journals Online | |
| Truncation -* | Fulltext |
| Phrase searching - automatic | - |
| Endnote - direct export available | Email alerts |
| - | Ask a question |
SAI Global | |
| Phrase search - automatic | Fulltext |
| - | 2 users to access fulltext Unlimited users to search the database |
| - | StandardsWatch - Email alerts |
| - | Ask a question |
ScienceDirect | |
| Truncation -* | Fulltext |
| Phrase search - "water pollution" | Email alerts |
| Proximity search - e.g. water w/5 pollution | Re-run saved searches |
| Articles in PDF format must be saved to the desktop, then emailed | Ask a question |
| EndNote filter and save format | - |
SciFinder Scholar | |
| Enter search query as a sentence or phrase. Understands regular English phrasing | Available as web browser software or using client software but the client software is no longer being updated Need the correct java for the web version. |
| Fulltext links are not necessarily to titles subscribed to by the University | 4 users - two for each platform |
| EndNote - save as Tagged Format [*.txt ], use the SciFinder [CAS] filter | Ask a question |
| Tutorials, product tours etc. provided by publisher | - |
SpringerLink | |
| Lecture notes in computer science | |
| Truncation - * | Fulltext |
| Phrase search - e.g. "fuzzy logic", select 'Exact' phrase from the dropdown menu | Email alerts |
| Proximity search - e.g. human near geography | Ask a question |
| Articles in PDF format must be saved to the desktop, then emailed | - |
Ulrichsweb | |
| Truncation - * | Ask a question |
Is the journal Peer Reviewed? Is the journal Academic / Scholarly? Which database indexes the journal? | |
Web of Knowledge | |
| Catalysts and Catalysed Reactions, Current Contents Connect, Index Chemicus, ISI Proceedings, Web of Science (keyword search) | |
| Truncation - * | Email alerts |
| Phrase search - "gene target" | Re-run saved searches |
| Proximity search - e.g. gene near target | Ask a question |
| EndNote filter and save format | - |
| Tutorials, product tours etc. provided by publisher | - |
| Download PDF guide for Web of Science - Citation Index | |
Westlaw | |
| Truncation - ! | Fulltext |
| Phrase search - e.g. "beyond reasonable doubt" | Ask a question |
Proximity search - e.g.
| - |
Wiley Interscience | |
| Truncation - * | Fulltext |
| Phrase search - e.g. "gene therapy" | Email alerts |
| Proximity search - e.g. cancer near/5 prostate | Re-run saved searches |
| Articles in PDF format must be saved to the desktop, then emailed | Ask a question |
| Tutorials, product tours etc. provided by publisher | - |
WorldCat | |
| Truncation - ? | Free site |
| Phrase search - automatic | Ask a question |
Content by: Electronic Services Librarian
Last reviewed: 2 May, 2012
