Databases:  How do I find magazine and newspaper articles?

Developed by Connie Fly, COS Librarian

Once you have defined your topic, the steps involved in finding information from magazines and newspapers are:

1. Select the appropriate periodical database or index.
2. Develop a search strategy using Subject Guide or Keyword Searching and display the results of the search
3. Interpret an individual citation
4. Print or E-Mail selected articles.

1.       Select an appropriate periodical database

What is a database?

According to Webster’s College Dictionary a database is “a collection of organized, related data, especially one in electronic form that can be accessed and manipulated by specialized computer software.”

What are the types of databases?

Since we are learning about databases provided by libraries they will be our focus. COS Library Databases are not discipline specific rather they cover a broad range of subject areas. The types of databases found in the College of the Sequoias Library are:

Bibliographic - A bibliographic database provides lists of source materials.  Each item in a database is referred to as a record.  This record describes the book or article but does not contain the complete text of the source material

Examples:    Library book catalog

Full-Text- A full-text database provides the complete text of some if not all of the source materials

Examples:

• InfoTrac Periodical Database – Provides full-text articles to some but not all of the sources

•  CQ Researcher – Full-Text Database

• LA Times Newspaper – Full-Text Database

• Lexis Nexis – Provides full-text articles to some but not all of the sources

Another type of database is Numeric which can contain statistics, financial data, census data, etc.  These types of databases are sometimes found on the Internet.

            Examples:     FAOSTAT contains multilingual databases currently containing over 1 million time-series  records covering international statistics in the following areas: Agriculture, trade, nutrition, etc..  The database is located on the Internet at:  http://apps.fao.org/default.htm

                               State and Country Quick Facts  - This new handy reference resource from the US Census Bureau allows users to access frequently requested Census Bureau information at the national, state, and county level. The database is located at: http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/06000.html

Advantages of Databases
 

·        Ability to review your search history

·        Ease of starting over

·        Ability to switch easily from one database to another

·        Ability to re-execute a search in another database

·        Ability to mark particular records, and print, download, or e-mail results.

Disadvantages of Databases

• Usually cover no more than 20 years so older material is not available.
• Not available when computers or networks are not functioning

2.       Develop a Search Strategy
 

In order to develop a search strategy it is important to understand the difference between Subject or Controlled Vocabulary Searching and Keyword Searching?

Subject or Controlled Vocabulary Searches

A subject search retrieves designated subject headings only, as listed in the subject headings field of each record in the database. A subject search often seems the place to start when searching for material on a topic. However, in most databases you have to know the exact subject headings for your topic (the controlled vocabulary), which may or may not be the words you are using to describe your topic.

While many subject headings are words and phrases that may be familiar to you, many times they are not. Subject headings are assigned to database records from predetermined lists. The predetermined list that is used depends on the database. In the case of books and other library materials, most academic libraries use the Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) as their official subject list. Journal indexes may use a list created by their own indexers.
Subject headings account for:
 

·        Synonyms

·        Different spellings

·        Acronyms

Example Question:  Is human cloning likely to to be able to produce healthy and normal children?

Example of Subject Search in the InfoTrac Periodical Database

A Subject Guide page appears after a successful Subject Guide search. The InfoTrac Database lists all subjects in which the words you searched for occur and the number of references found for each. Entries are displayed in groups and in alphabetical order within each group. First are the entries in which your search word(s) comes first. Next are the entries in which your word(s) comes second, and so on.
 

To select a Subject Guide entry, select its link.  Referring to the InfoTrac figure below:

A.     A main Subject Guide entry leads to a list of citations

B.     A Subdivision link leads to another Subject Guide page with a list of specific aspects of the main entry. Subdivisions are specific aspects of the subject with which they are associated.

C.     A Related Subject link leads to another Subject Guide page with entries for the related subject.

D.     Some Subject Guide entries do not have a direct link to citations but are followed by one or more entries that start with the link "See" followed by a subject heading. The Subject Guide's thesaurus associates phrases that aren't actually indexed as subjects with subject headings that are indexed, so that even if what you type isn't in the database you'll be shown equivalent entries.

Subdivisions of: Human Cloning

Selecting to the 3 articles under health aspects produces this screen. 

	Mark all items on this page
Mark	The promise of therapeutic cloning. Gina Kolata.       The New York Times Jan 5, 2003 pWK7(N) pWK7(L) col 1 (15 col in)    Citation
Mark	Fearing the worst should anyone produce a cloned baby. (Congress should ban reproductive cloning while it remains risky)(Column) Philip M. Boffey.       The New York Times Jan 5, 2003 pWK10(N) pWK10(L) col 1 (20 col in)    Citation
Mark	The cloning report: left of Bush but still a ban. Alissa Lyon.       The Hastings Center Report Sept-Oct 2002 v32 i5 p7(1) (768 words)    Text  | 1 full page PDF

Keyword Searching

A keyword is any word or phrase that is significant or meaningful in a topic statement. Usually, a keyword is a noun or an adjective, although sometimes a verb may also be useful.  Keyword searching and search operators are available in nearly all electronic databases, so learning how they operate is essential for taking full advantage of the capabilities of this search method Before choosing keywords, you must carefully determine your information need.  You must have a clear idea of your topic and what, if any concepts of the subject area you wish to focus on. 

Example:  Is human cloning likely to be able to produce healthy and normal children?

Here the key words are:  human cloning children

Now carefully examine each of your significant words or phrases and consider synonyms or related terms for each.  

Example:	Keyword One	Keyword Two	Keyword Three
Keyword or Concept	Human	Cloning	Children
Synonyms or Related Terms	Mankind	Clone Clones	Babies

How do I connect Keywords/Concepts in my search query?

Use logical (Boolean) operators – OR, AND , NOT —to connect the words/phrases and concepts which you have listed in your Keywords above. Operators are words or symbols that are inserted between keywords to instruct the computer about the relationship between the terms within each record. The most common types of operators and symbols are:

1. Boolean Operators (OR , AND , NOT)
2. Truncation - Truncation broadens your search by allowing you to retrieve different forms of a word stem, such as singular and plural forms or other variations. A particular character, such as a question mark (?) or an asterisk (*), is used to truncate your terms. This is sometimes referred to as a "wildcard." Consult the Help files in the database you are searching to determine which character is used.
3. Quotations - "" Quotation marks allow you to search for words as a phrase.
4. Parenthesis – ( ) Parenthesis allows you to nest similar concept words or phrases together with Boolean operators.

 A-B.    Boolean Operators and Truncation

Boolean Operator OR

Within each concept connect keywords/phrase with the OR operator. The operator - OR broadens a search by specifying that any of the listed words can appear in the same article. You will normally retrieve more articles with this operator.

• Example Keyword/Concept One – human* OR mankind (Using this *truncation will retrieve human, humans, humanity, humankind, etc.)
   

• Example Keyword/Concept Two – cloning OR clone* (Using this *truncation will retrieve clone, clones, cloned)
   

• Example Keyword/Concept Three – child* OR babies (Using this *truncation will retrieve child, children)

Boolean Operator AND

Connect different keywords/concepts with the AND operator.  The operator - AND will retrieve records in which BOTH of the search terms are present.  You will normally retrieve less articles with this operator

• Example:  human* AND clone* AND child*

Boolean Operator NOT

 Connect different keywords/concepts with the NOT operator.  The operator NOT - we retrieve records in which ONLY ONE of the terms is present.   You will normally retrieve less articles with this operator.

• Example:  human* NOT animal (Using the NOT operator will retrieve only records containing the word human.  If a record contains both words human and animal it will not retrieve it because it has the word animal in it.)

 C.    Use quotation marks "" to search for a phrase

• Example:  "human cloning"

• Example:  "genetic engineering"

D.    Use parenthesis () to nest similar keywords/concepts together with Boolean operators.

• Example:  (human* or mankind) AND (clone* or cloning) AND (child* or babies)

Keyword Search Query in INFOTRAC Periodical Database

Additional Ways to Limit your Retrieval is by: full-text, refereed publications and by date.

 

Limit the current search (optional)
to articles with full-text       (You can limit the results of your search to include only articles with full text thus eliminating citation only and abstract only articles) to refereed publications       (Refereed journals are those in which articles, before they are published, must be reviewed by a body of peers, experts in the same field as the author.)
by date   all dates   before   on   after     between    present any day 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 present any month January February March April May June July August September October November December present 2003 2002 2001 2000 1999 1998 1997 1996 1995 1994 1993 1992 1991 1990 1989 1988 1987 1986 1985 1984 1983 1982 1981 1980   and     present any day 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 present any month January February March April May June July August September October November December present 2003 2002 2001 2000 1999 1998 1997 1996 1995 1994 1993 1992 1991 1990 1989 1988 1987 1986 1985 1984 1983 1982 1981 1980

Result (Citation) List from KEYWORD InfoTrac Database Search

Search strategy:  (human* or mankind) AND (clone* or cloning) AND (child* or babies)

3.       How do I interpret an individual record citation?

Look at the record citation below and notice that the record provides information about the title of the article, author, date, beginning page and text. Each of these components describes a particular aspect of each magazine or newspaper article.  These aspects are called fields.  These fields are the parts of each magazine record that are searched within the database.

Mark	Prospect of human cloning poses dilemma for journals. Helen Pearson.       Nature Jan 16, 2003 v421 i6920 p199(1)    Abstract        (Summary of article only)
Title of article  → Mark     Title of periodical, date, volume & beginning page number→ Complete text of article is available Online→	Attack of the Clones : Even if reports of newborn clone babies turn out to have been greatly exaggerated, the political fallout looks all too real. And the United States has the most to lose. Fred Guterl, Karen Lowry Miller, Anne Underwood, Sandy L. Edry, Michael Hastings, Barbie Nadeau, Debra Rosenberg, Sonia Kolesnikov-Jessop, . ←Authors  Friso Endt        Newsweek International Jan 13, 2003 p40 (2393 words)   Text
Mark	Adapting to our own engineering; clones may soon be as acceptable as test-tube babies. (Column) Robin Marantz Henig.       The New York Times Dec 17, 2002 pA35(N) pA35(L) col 2 (50 col in)    Citation         (Bibliographic Information Only)

 4a.    How do I print or e-mail an article?

• While looking at the full-text of the article decide the type of format you would like to retrieve.

• Clicking on Print or E-Mail Retrieval will take you to the choices shown below.
• Select the type of format you desire.  To e-mail an article fill in the e-mail address in the E-Mail Address Box and click on

Print, e-mail, and other retrieval options

Browser Print — Full Text —
Reformat for printing (approximately 6 pages) from your browser. To return to InfoTrac, use the back function of your browser.

***Acrobat Reader — Full Text — 

Retrieve for viewing and printing from Acrobat™ Reader. Please allow a few minutes for the retrieval operation to complete (approximately 4 pages)

***This format requires that Adobe Acrobat Reader Software is loaded on your computer in order to view and/or print the document.  This format is referred to as .pdf which stands for portable document format.  If your home or office computer does not have this software you can download it free of charge from the Adobe Web Site at: http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html
 

E-Mail Delivery — Full Text —

We will send a plain text version to the e-mail address you enter (e.g. bettyg@library.com). E-Mail Address: Subject (defaults to title):

4b.    How do I locate full-text journal articles that are in abstract or citation form only?

• Consider searching other databases that may provide the full-text of the article.
• Check to see if the COS Library Periodicals Room subscribes to the magazine or newspaper in paper form at http://www.cos.edu/library/periodicalsalpha.htm
• Ask if the library can request a copy of the article from another library such as Fresno State Madden Library through the Interlibrary Loan Process.

As of October 22, 2003 you are visitor: 

 This page was last updated: November 13, 2006
For questions and comments, please mail to: connief@cos.edu

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