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Effective Journal Article Search Strategies

This document provides guidance on searching for journal articles. It covers how to search databases effectively, including using Boolean operators like AND and OR. It recommends starting with broad keyword searches and refining terms based on results. Specific databases for business topics are listed, including Business Source Complete, Emerald, and ScienceDirect. Tips for managing searches, saving results, and following citations for related articles are also presented. The goal is to help students and researchers efficiently find relevant journal literature.

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BusinessLibrarianDCU
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7 views25 pages

Effective Journal Article Search Strategies

This document provides guidance on searching for journal articles. It covers how to search databases effectively, including using Boolean operators like AND and OR. It recommends starting with broad keyword searches and refining terms based on results. Specific databases for business topics are listed, including Business Source Complete, Emerald, and ScienceDirect. Tips for managing searches, saving results, and following citations for related articles are also presented. The goal is to help students and researchers efficiently find relevant journal literature.

Uploaded by

BusinessLibrarianDCU
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

Searching for Journal Articles

Jack Hyland
Business Librarian
[Link]@[Link]
This class will cover

• Presentation:
– How databases work
– Searching techniques
– Finding the right databases
– Managing your searches (planning, saving work
etc.)
• Practical
– Run your own searches
– Ask questions, seek advice
What am I asking Google for?

1. Sites/pages about the European Central Bank


2. Sites/pages that contain the words European,
Central, Bank
Search Tip: use parentheses
About Journal Databases

• Like search engines, most databases don’t know


what “about” means!
• They only search for a phrase appearing in an article
• But…
• You can specify where the phase appears:
Searching

• Searches everywhere in an article


– So many articles in your search may just mention
the ECB in passing
Searching

• More specific: if an article is about the ECB it will


have to mention it in the abstract
• But not all hits will be about the ECB
Searching

• Very specific - maybe too specific – it won’t find this


article:
• What about articles that mention “ECB” but not
“european central bank”?
• Easy: search for them both together:

• OR asks the database to return any article that has at


least one of these phrases in it
Using OR in searches

• Use OR to capture:
– Synonms

– Acronyms

– Plurals

– Spelling variations
Searching DBs: finding the right search term

• Run test searches and check your search results.


See what terms are used in the titles, abstracts,
subject terms – you may find better options
Combining Search Terms

• Example: I’m looking for papers on “the use of RFID


in supply chains”
• Search for two different topics together buy linking
with AND

• AND: find papers that contain all these phrases


AND and OR

• OR: find papers that contain at least one of these


terms

• AND: find papers that must contain all these terms


AND and OR

• You can even use AND and OR together:


• Example: I want articles about the Irish banking crisis
– (Irish OR Ireland) AND banking crisis

• Important: keep OR separate from AND - either in


brackets or in a separate search box
Example:

• “Examine the role of HRM in knowledge


management (KM)”
• Possible search terms:
– HRM | human resource management
– KM | knowledge management
Saving Searches

• Copy details to MS Word or an email to yourself


• Even better:
– Use RefWorks – regular classes in Library
Library Databases

• Lists of business databases available from the


Business Subject Page
Journal Databases
About Journal Databases

• There’s no master DB where


you can search everything

• With a lot of databases, we


don’t have access to
everything on it (You can
check the A-Z of Journals to
see if a journal is available
elsewhere)

• Not all DBs host full-text


articles (abstracts only)
Key Business Databases

Full-text
• Business Source Complete: ~2,000 business journals
• Emerald Management Xtra: ~200 business journals
• ScienceDirect: ~100 business journals

Abstracts only – links to full-text where available


• Web of Science: ~10,000 journals
• Scopus: 18,000 journals
Finding the right DB

• Try searching a selection of them


• Try Searcher
• Ask me: email me a brief description of what you
want and I will recommend the best DBs to use
Following the paper trail…

• Check interesting articles’ bibliographies for further


leads – you may find a key author or article you
haven’t discovered yet keeps cropping up
• Check citation databases (Web of Science and
Scopus)
– Sort your search by no. of citations to quickly see
the most discussed papers in a field
– If you find an interesting article that you’re going to
mention prominently in your paper, check it in
Scopus to see what other people have written
about it
Scopus
Scopus
Suggested search strategy

1. Single keyword / phrase searches (testing the water)


2. Checking terminology use in other papers
3. Combining search terms
4. Scanning search results and abstracts – select
relevant papers
5. Saving the papers you like (RefWorks)
6. Reading articles and keeping/discarding them
7. Take notes
8. Follow the paper trail (bibliographies and Scopus)

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