Cross Search by Subject
I am going to walk you through finding the journal index that you want using SearchIt.
At points along the way I will tell you to pause the podcast so that you can complete a step. When you have completed that step resume the broadcast.
First, bring up the library website.
Type in www.wsulibs.wsu.edu
Type in www.wsulibs.wsu.edu
Now you see the main library webpage. In the center there are boxes with headings like search, services and research. Above these boxes are three tabs” WSU Libraries Catalog”, ”Find Journal Articles”, and the third says “your record”.
Click on the tab labled Find Journal Articles.
Look at the box in the center of this screen. On the left hand side you are offered 3 ways to find an article using an index.
Since we want to search several indexes at the same time, we will choose the third option under “Find articles by topic or title”
Go to the fourth item in the list, and click on “Cross Search - (Search Multiple Databases)”
PAUSE
The “Cross Search: multiple databases” screen comes up. This is the main screen for searching multiple indexes.
Lets take a moment to orient ourselves on the this screen.
Lets take a moment to orient ourselves on the this screen.
At the top is the Library Header, and the tabs that allow you to exit directly to the library catalog or back to the main "find journal articles" screen.
Underneath this are a series of buttons. The top row is Quicksearch | Find Database of Articles | Cross Search: Multiple Databases . The second row is Search | Database List of articles and Database List. Note that there is a Help button to the far right of the upper screen.
These buttons will be at the top of each searchit screen. They will bring you back to the page you desire. The page we are on now is FIND DATABASE of Articles.
Below these buttons is a box labeled. Cross Search: multiple databases.
The header on the left hand side of that box is a column identify database.
Below this header is a box. The word subjects should be in that box. If it is not, select it.
Below this you will see a box below that says Select subject.
Click on the arrow next to these words, and scroll down to medicine. Click on medicine.
Look at box to the right.
The top of the right hand side has two tabs: simple and advanced. Clicking either of these tabs will give you a simple search screen or an advanced search screen.
Leave the simple search screen up.
Immediately below is and empty box.
Type bird flu in this box.
Below the search box is the list of indexes that you can choose from.
At the top if the list is Subject Search: Medicine--General followed by the number of databases this subject contains.
Not all of these databases will be searchable with cross search, only those that have a check box next to the name.
Below is the list of indexes and databases.
The first column contains a checkbox. This indicates that this database can be searched with cross search. If a database can not be searched with cross search it will not have a checkbox.
The second column contains the title of the database.
The third column indicates the type of database. It might be an index, encyclopedia or dictionary, and image file, a directory, and ejournal or ebook, or a subject gateway.
The fourth column contains an I in a circle. This button will give additional information about the resource.
Pause while you scroll down the list of titles. Note which ones are searchable with cross search. Look to see what kind of resource they are. Resume the audio file when you are ready.
PAUSE
Now click the I in the circle next to Pubmed.
PAUSE
A new box has popped up on the screen.
What you see now is a more complete description of the database. Please note the timespan the database covers. You will be able to find articles that were published from 1966 to present. For older articles you will need to go to older print indexes or to other online indexes that cover the timespan you need.
Scroll down further and you will see search hints for using this database in cross-search.
Click on the x in the upper right hand corner to put away the pop-up box.
PAUSE
Now it is time to select the indexes that we will use as we search for bird flu.
Click on the checkbox next to “Pubmed”. Note that a checkmark appears to indicate that you have selected it for the search.
Scroll down and click the checkbox next to “Journals at Ovid.”
You can search using as many of these resources as you want, but we will use only two to keep the search time short.
Click the Red Go Button next to the search box.
While it is searching you will see a screen that shows how many articles are being found in each database. Then the list of articles found will pop up.
Pause the audio file until the results of the search come up.
PAUSE
You now have a list of over 27,000 journal articles. Only the first 60 article citations have been pulled in from the databases we searched.
They are sorted by the year they were published. If you prefer to have them sorted in another way you can change the sort order by changing the sort by in the upper right hand of the search results box.
The column on the left hand side allows you to sort out other sets of articles by year of publication, topic, and journal title.
Look at the list of titles.
The author and title of the article are listed, along with the year it was published, and the database it came from.
If you want to see more information about the article, click on the title.
Click the second title in the list that came up. A new screen appears.
Look over the citation and other information about this article.
On the left side, under the second gray line on this screen you will see the FindIt Button and perhaps a "full text" button on the left hand side. You will see the symbols of a disk letter and page on the right hand side of the screen.
If you click on the disk symbol, you can save this citation to your floppy disk or your computer. If you click on the envelope, you can email the citation to yourself. If you click on the page symbol, this screen will be sent to your printer.
If you know that you want to find this article, look at your options.
If you have a "full text" button, click it to be taken to full text of the article.
If you do not, click the FindIt button. The FindIt software will be activated to check the WSU Library system to see if we own this article.
Pause while you click the FindIt button and look at the FindIt screen. Resume the podcast when you are ready.
PAUSE
Put away the FindIt screen. You are back to your citation. Click on Results List to get back to your 60 article citations.
Pause here till you are back to that screen.
After you have reviewed the articles on this page, you can get to the next page of article citations by clicking next on the far right side of the second grey bar.
PAUSE
After you have finished with the first 60 article citations you can get to the next set of articles found by cross search, by clicking on “combine more” in the gray bar above the article list, and at the bottom of the screen.
Pause till you get your new list of article citations.
Anytime that you want to go back to see your number of articles found in each database, click on the “view results by database” button
Do So now.
Note that more article citations were found in Pubmed.
This suggests that Pubmed is a better database for our avian flu research project.
Please Note:
If you are trying to do an exhaustive literature search CrossSearch is not the best tool.
Because CrossSearch is software that tries to search many databases with one search, it does not work well with all databases. For many you will get fewer article citations than when you search just that database in the usual way.
One really good way to use CrossSearch is to check to see which databases get the most hits, then go search them individually.
PAUSE
Now it is your turn to do a search using Cross Search.
Click CrossSearch: Multiple Databases under the near at the top of the screen.
Choose a subject
Type your search term in the empty search box.
Review the databases available, and mark the ones you want to search.
Good Searching
