Online Databases

• To access all databases containing articles:
  1. Go to the library's Web site (www.oc.edu/library)
  2. Select: Find Articles
  3. Select: Subject area OR database title (e.g., Psychology or Academic Search)
   
• Databases are categorized by type (full text, general, etc.) and subject (Literature, Business, etc.)



• Databases that contain materials related to Adolescent Development:


1. Academic Search

Online database that covers all disciplines. Entries are full text, abstracts, or citations.

 

2. ArticleFirst

Online database that covers all disciplines. Entries are citations.

 

3. PsycInfo (under Psychology)

Indexes articles from scholarly journals in the area of Psychology. Many of the entries have abstracts, but some are just citations.

 

4. Professional Development Collection (under Education)

Includes articles in the field of Education. Entries are full text, abstracts, or citations.

 

5. Education Research Complete (under Education)

Includes articles in field of Education. Entries are full text, abstracts, or citations.

 

6. ERIC (under Education)

Includes articles in field of Education. Entries are mostly citations, with some full text.



• Searching Tips
  1. Boolean operators
     1. AND - will retrieve articles that have both terms. Example: If you search on "cat AND dog," you'll get articles about both cats and dogs.
     2. OR - will retrieve articles that have either term. (Be sure to put parentheses around words connected by OR.) Example: If you search on "cat OR dog," you'll get articles about cats, about dogs, and about cats and dogs.
  2. Truncation
     1. Truncation allows you to search for different versions of the same word. Basically, you substitute an asterisk (*) for one or more letters. This is a quick and easy way to include plurals, tense variations and alternate spellings. Example: "religio*" will find religious, religion, religions, etc.
     2. Be careful when using truncation; "cat*" will find cat, cats, catastrophe, catalog, catapult, etc.
  3. Scope of databases
     1. What are the date limitations? Example: PsycInfo includes journal articles back to 1887.
     2. What are the subject limitations? Example: ERIC covers primarily journals in the field of education.
  4. Limitors
     1. Using dates to limit your search - do you want only the most recent material?
     2. Using journals to limit your search - do you want to restrict your search to certain journals?
     3. Using language to limit your search - do you want to restrict your search to articles in English?
  
  
• How to get articles
  1. Email
  2. printing

• CD-ROMs that contain materials related to Adolescent Development:
  • Family Process, 1962-1997 (full text of the articles published in this journal from 1962 to 1997)
  
  
• To access CD-ROM databases:
  1. Check out the CD from the front desk.
  2. Put the CD in the CD-ROM drive in the computer lab in the library.
  3. Select: Start
  4. Select: Programs
  5. Select: CD-ROMs
  6. Select: Database of choice

• After finding a citation to an article, use the OC Catalog to determine:
  1. Is the journal in the OC Library? (If not, consider requesting it through interlibrary loan; articles requested through interlibrary loan usually arrive within two weeks.)
  2. Is the journal on paper, fiche, or film?
  3. Does the OC Library have the right year?
  
  
• To see if journal or magazine is available online, check the E-Journals List, which is linked from the library's home page ( www.oc.edu/library).