FindIt@Bham

The 'Using FindIt@Bham to search for journal articles' video tutorial outlines how to search for journal articles effectively:

The easiest way of finding journal articles in FindIt@Bham is to enter your search terms into the simple search bar and select the Articles button below the search box. You can leave the dropdown options set to Everywhere and Everything. If you are using the Dubai version of FindIt@Bham, leave the dropdown options set to Dubai Campus and Everything (Dubai).

For example, to search for articles on the phenomenon of 'code switching' in the speech of bilingual children:

This will search through a large number of electronic full-text collections of academic journals which we subscribe to. It is a powerful search which extends over all subject areas, so you can be quite specific and detailed in your search terms. You should combine your search terms with Boolean operators (AND/OR) and make use of search techniques to make your search as precise as possible:

• AND e.g. Weber AND capitalism. This will search for all records which contain both these terms.
• OR e.g. speech OR communication. This will search for records containing either of these terms. An OR search will find more hits than an AND search. It is useful if your terms are synonyms or if they refer to similar concepts.
• PHRASE SEARCHING e.g. “group dynamics”. This will find only those records where these terms are found together, and will not find the words in any other contexts. In most databases, phrases can be indicated by double quotation marks around them.
• BRACKETS e.g. dyslexia AND (diagnosis OR assessment). Brackets can be used to combine any of the operators above. This will find records containing ‘dyslexia’ as well as either ‘diagnosis’ or ‘assessment’.
• TRUNCATION e.g. sociolog*. This will find any records which have words beginning with this root: sociology, sociological, sociologist, etc. Truncation is indicated by an asterisk (*).

[N.B. The operators AND and OR need to be typed in capitals]

Select the search button   , and a list of results will be generated, the most relevant being listed first:

Each result will also display a number of options to access the full text of the article:

• View Full Text will link you through to a list of the platforms where full-text is hosted. Selecting one of these platforms will link you through to where the full-text content is hosted.
• View Article PDF or Read Article will link you either directly to the full PDF or to the full-text of the article on the publisher's platform. This won't appear for every result, but where it does it will reduce the number of links that need to be followed before full-text is reached.
• Browse Issue Contents will link you through to the full issue of the journal in which the article has been published. This can be useful for checking to see if there are other articles published in the same issue that are applicable to the topic you are researching.

If your search produces too many results, use the Tweak my Results column appearing on the left to narrow down your results. This column contains filters such as:

• Date of publication; 
• Subject;
• The journal or collection it was published in.

Watch the 'Improve your FindIt@Bham results using filters' video to learn more about this functionality:

Another way of finding articles is to use one of the specialist bibliographic databases (sometimes known as indexing or abstracting databases). Go to the Database A-Z tab, choose Resource Type and select Bibliographic Databases from the menu. This will list all the bibliographic databases we provide access to.

If you go to the Subject Guide for your subject, and select the Journals tab from the right-hand side, this will suggest the best bibliographic databases to use for your subject.

Bibliographic databases work on the same principles as FindIt@Bham using combinations of keywords and Boolean operators.

Using specialist databases is preferable to using FindIt@Bham, Google or Google Scholar because:

• They are restricted only to your subject, so there is less danger of irrelevant hits
• They often have sophisticated search features such as limiters, controlled vocabulary, filters by subject and types of publication which are appropriate to that subject
• They can save search histories, set up alerts, export results to EndNote, etc.

Libraries and Learning Resources provide training in the use of specialist databases, as well as access to printed guides and webinars. See our Skills and Research Support page for details.

The 'Using FindIt@Bham to search for journals' video tutorial outlines how to look up print and electronic journals effectively:

To find a specific journal title and see which years and issues of it we have, enter the name of the journal into the FindIt@Bham search bar and select the search button. Use the Resource Type filter in the Tweak my results column on the left-hand side to filter results by 'Journals' or 'eJournals'.  

Alternatively, go to the Advanced Search in FindIt@Bham, select Title from one of the search menus, enter the title of the journal, and limit the search scope to Library Catalogue.

E.g. to find the Journal of Experimental Biology:

If we have it, there will be a View Online link:

This then displays one or more links to providers of this journal. Check the dates covered by each link to ensure that it has the years and issues you want, and click on the title to access the full text.

BrowZine

If you wish to see which electronic journal titles we have in your subject, click on the link to Browse journals with BrowZine from the FindIt@Bham home page under the heading Improving your Search Experience. This links to the BrowZine service which arranges our holdings of eJournals in broad subject categories and provides links to the full text of issues to which we have subscribed. The titles can be arranged alphabetically or by impact factor. You can set up a personal bookshelf so that every time new articles are published in journals added to your bookshelf, you'll receive an email alert. This is a great way to keep up-to-date with key journals in your subject area.

For details, see our separate online guide to BrowZine. Alternatively, watch the 'Using FindIt@Bham to explore eJournals' video tutorial: