Indexes to A to Z
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 2 ways to find an article using an index.
The first is ”Find Articles by Topic or Title”, the second is ”Find E-Journals by Title. We will be working with ”Find Articles by Topic or Title”.
Since we are looking for an index or database that we already know the name of, we will use the top option under “Find Articles by Topic or Title”, on the left side of the box.
Go to the first option in the list, and click on “databases A to Z”.
The “Find A Database of Articles” screen comes up. This is the main screen for finding indexes.
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.
Two tabs show at the top “A-Z” and “Subject”.
You should already be on the tab that says A-Z. If not, click it.
PAUSE
There are two ways to search: choosing a title from an A-Z list, or searching for a title your know.
Choosing from the A-Z listing is simple. Click on the letter corresponding the the first letter in the name of your index.
We are looking for a database called Academic Search Complete.
Click on A to find Academic.
PAUSE
Now scroll down to Academic Search Complete.
PAUSE
Note that a box beside the title that says FULL TEXT. This notes that it includes full text documents as well as indexing to articles.
Below each name you see a brief description of the database. Beneath that is an “I” in a circle. This provides more information on that database.
Click this “I”.
PAUSE
What you see now is a more complete description of the database.
Academic Search Complete includes full text for 1800 publications as well as images, for nearly every academic field of study. It also indexes articles for which it does not offer full text. For those you will check the library holding to see if WSU owns the journal. Note that this index covers a wide range of topics.
Click on the x in the upper right hand corner to put away the pop-up box.
Next scroll down to ACM Digital Library. Click on the I.
Here you find different information for this database. This is not a broad index of materials by many publishers like Academic Search Complete. It is the full text of publications of from only 1 publisher-the Association for Computing Machinery.
Please note the timespan the database covers. You will be able to find articles that were published from that earliest date to present. For older articles you will need to go to older print or other online indexes that do cover the timespan you need.
Scroll down further and you will see search hints for using this database in cross-search.
For some indexes you will see a link to a tutorial for the database at the bottom of the pop-up box.
Click on the x in the upper right hand corner to put away the pop-up box.
PAUSE
After you have finished putting away the pop-up box you are free to continue browsing through the list of indexes.
At this point you can click on the name of the index/database that you want to use. You will be taken directly into the search screen for that index. At that point you search the index as usual.
Click on the title and look at the index/ database main page. Sometimes when the main page of the index you selected is slow in appearing, your will see a message that the computer is connecting to the native interface.
Note that new webpage pops up for your chosen index. This way you can go to an index, then put that page away, and you are still in your Searchit list.
Pause while you look at the search page. Then put the index away, and restart this audio file.
PAUSE
You may wish to pause now and try finding indexes using the A-Z method. Restart this audio file when you are ready to use the search box to find an index.
As I said the second way to find the index you want is to use the search box.
Scroll to the top of the screen and click the “Find Database of articles” button. This takes you back to the main A-Z SearchIt screen.
PAUSE
This time we will type in some words from the name of a database that we want.
Next to the search box you will note that there are 3 ways to search: starts with, contains, or exact.
You will note that the “contains” button is already marked. This means that your search will bring up any index or database that has that word in it‘s name.
Type in HISTORY.
Click the red “go” button.
As you see we have a large number of indexes and databases that have the word history in the title.
Once again there is the “I” button to see more information about the index
Click the “I” under the name of the first index. In particular look to see if it contains the years that you want.
Pause here while you try to find another database that you like, using this search box and the “contains”.
Scroll to the top of the screen and click the find a database of articles button to take you back to the main Searchit screen.
PAUSE
This time we will type in the name of a database that we want.
We can type in the first words of the index we want “word-for-word”, and click the “starts-with” button.
Type in wildlife.
Click the “starts-with” button, to the right of the search box.
Click the red “go” button.
This brings up Wildlife & Ecology Studies Worldwide.
Pause here while you try to find another database that you like, using this search box and the “starts with button”.
Scroll to the top of the screen and click the find a database of articles button to take you back to the main Searchit screen.
You are now ready to search for indexes and databases by title.
Good Searching.
