COMM 290: Communication Problems and Research

• A standard search will retrieve information containing all of the keywords.
  • Example: Peshtigo fire will retrieve materials that include both keywords.
• Searching a person's name will retrieve information BY and ABOUT the person.
  • Example: Isabel Allende
• Use quotation marks to search exact phrases.
  • Example: "data mining"
• Use an asterisk(*) for truncation searching.
  • Example: organic farm* will retrieve: organic farm, organic farms, organic farmers, organic farming, etc.

The default settings will search for all terms appearing anywhere in article records.

1. Enter your keywords. You can also use “quotation marks” around your terms to search for an exact phrase.
2. Use the drop-down menu to search in a specific field, such as author, article title, and journal title.
3. Separating terms with AND will search for all terms; alternatively, separate terms with OR to find any of the terms.

On the search results screen, click on the title of an article to view additional information and access or request the full text.

1. The Title of the article appears along with its authors, journal, volume and issue (if applicable), year, and page numbers.
2. The Abstract provides a brief summary of the article.
3. Additional details can be found as you continue scrolling down the page. They include subject terms, additional author information, and the article's DOI, etc.
4. A few important things about the Tools options:
   • If you intend to save a link to the article, always use the permalink tool option, rather than the URL at the top of the page.
   • The Email, Print, and Save buttons will only apply to the abstract unless the full text appears as a tab on this page.
   • The Cite button will give you an idea of how to cite the item, but it's not perfect. You should still review the citation before using it in an assignment.