Topic: How to conduct searches for
journal articles as a student from UMUC.
Step 1: WebTycho sign in
Sign in to WebTycho as if you are logging in to
your class. One the "Class List" page or even if you are in one
of your classrooms, click on the LIBRARY button at the top right of
your screen. A mini-menu will pop up and you want to then go to
LIBRARY DATABASES.
Step 2: Choose database(s)
You should now be on a page that lists all of
UMUC's databases and e-journals. Under "Resources by Topic" click
on Psychology
(or if your topic is more socially based, then click on Social
Sciences). You will see a list of databases that you can use
for your search.
Fortunately for you, UMUC
subscribes to
PsycARTICLES, which is a full-text database. PsycARTICLES is a
full-text subset of the main research database in psychology:
PsycINFO. As a general rule, conduct your search in PsycARTICLES
first, then use PsycINFO if you need additional resources.
Click
on your desired database. UMUC's library page has information on all
databases. Here is a brief synopsis on a few that I recommend:
| PsycINFO |
PsycINFO contains more than one million
citations and summaries of journal articles, book chapters, books,
dissertations and technical reports, all in the field of
psychology. Start your searches here and then you can look
for full-text versions in other databases.
|
| PsycARTICLES |
PsycARTICLES
is the full-text version of PsycINFO, with less coverage of
articles. All full
text publications included in this database are indexed in PsycINFO. |
Psychology &
Behavioral Sciences Collection
|
The Psychology
& Behavioral Sciences Collection is a
comprehensive database providing nearly 550 full text publications,
including more than 500 peer-reviewed journals. Examples of
publications include: American
Journal of Family Therapy, Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, Clinical
Neuropsychologist, and Journal
of Psychiatry & Neuroscience. The Psychology &
Behavioral Sciences Collection
can be searched independently, but also allows users to conveniently
link to full text from citations within PsycINFO. All full
text publications included in this database are indexed in PsycINFO.
The majority of full text titles in this database are available in
native (searchable) PDF, or scanned-in-color. Full text information in
this database dates as far back as 1965.
|
| JSTOR |
JSTOR has full text articles for many
different topics. For Psychology, the list changes but has
included full-text for Child
Development and Monographs of
the Society for Research in Child Development. All full
text publications included in this database are indexed in PsycINFO. |
| WilsonSelect Plus |
Science,
social sciences, computers, humanities and literature, accounting,
marketing, finance, human resources, general business. More than
1400 full-text titles from 1994 - present. NOTE: Some
journals in this database may not be suitable for your psychology
course. Consult your professor. |
| Academic Search Premier |
Academic Search Premier, designed
specifically for academic institutions, is the world's largest
scholarly, multi-disciplinary full text database containing full text
for nearly 4,000 scholarly publications, including more than 3,100
peer-reviewed publications. In addition to the full text, this database
offers indexing and abstracts for all 7,373 journals in the collection.
NOTE: Some
journals in this database may not be suitable for your psychology
course. Consult your professor.
|
Note: Selecting PsycINFO, PsycARTICLES, or Academic Search
Premiere will send you to the EBSCO HOST search engine - see below for
those specific steps. Selecting Wilson or JSTOR will send you to
different search engines but the same basic searching techniques
apply.
Step 3: Log in to the library
(note: you may or may not have to do this step)
Now you must log in to the UMUC library
system. Enter your information and click LOGIN.
Step 4: Sign in to My EBSCO
At this point, you are ready to conduct
your searches. However, I highly recommend signing as a user of
EBSCO prior to any search. In the upper left part of your screen,
click on: Sign
In to My EBSCOhost. Why? As stated on the web page, "My
EBSCOhost is a personal folder in which you can save Result
List items, persistent links to searches, saved searches, search
alerts, journal alerts and web pages, organized for ease of viewing,
adding to/deleting from or editing. After you sign in to My EBSCOhost,
the EBSCOhost
logo displays a "MY" banner on the corner to signify that you have
logged in to your own personal folder. Items saved in your personal
folder will remain from session to session, until you delete
them." Also, using My EBSCOhost
means being able to conduct searches with more than one database.
Step 5: Conduct your search
Now you are ready to conduct your
searches. Click on the ADVANCED SEARCH tab at the top part of the
screen. EBSCO Host has a lot of interesting and helpful tools at
your disposal. For general information on how to conduct
successful searches, click on this Cyberlab
tutorial. For specific information on how to use EBSCO's
advanced search features, click here. For a complete list of EBSCO tutorials,
click here.
Step
6: Working with your searches
Once you conduct your searches, you can easily
save a search for printing or emailing by clicking on the  button. At the top right part
of the screen, you will see that your folder now has items in it:
 My Folder has items. Once you click
on MY FOLDER, your list of saved searches will be displayed. From here,
you can print an article, save it to a disc, or email it. Or you
can
keep it in your folder for a future visit. If the
article is in full text, you will see one of the following:
 PDF Full Text |
Best option.
This means the article is available in the original format, with intact
tables/figures. Your computer will need Adobe Acrobat to view it
(available as a free
download from the company). |
 HTML
Full Text |
Your next best
option. This means the article is available as a web page file
(no need for Adobe Acrobat) and usually has the full article with
scanned in tables/figures. |
 Linked Full Text |
This means the
article is available but the tables and figures may not be easy to
read. You may lose important information with this option. |
 /  |
SFX
is a system that dynamically interlinks numerous
electronic resources and can be used in a wide range of digital
libraries (learn more here).
See below for additional information.
|
Step 7: Understanding
SFX /
Once you click on this link, if the
article is available in full-text, you will receive that
information. You may be prompted to enter the
publication information or it will be entered for you. Once
entered, the full-text article will
be displayed.
However, just because you see the SFX button,
it
does not mean the article is available full text. If that is the
case, you will see this:
No Electronic
version available for your library via SFX.
What you need to do at this
point is to find out if any library within the University System of
Maryland has this holding. To do so, click on Holdings in
catalogUSMAI and see if and where it is
available. Or you can order the article/book by clicking on the
link that reads Request document
via
Interlibrary Loan (ILL).
EBSCO Host offers a lot of
interesting
services. Check out the tutorials and have fun with your searches!
|
