Advanced Searching in Omnifile

Start at the library homepage: http://www.scu.edu/library/

Click on O in the Alphabetical List of Databases

Click on O in the Alphabetical List of Databases

The 2 nd database listed is Omnifile.

The 2 nd database listed is Omnifile.

Click on it.

You are now looking at the Advanced Search screen.

Let’s look a little closer at the search boxes.

Let’s look a little closer at the search boxes.

Let’s imagine we wanted to look for articles that might help us answer this question: “Does all the violence in some video games make children more violent?”

The first thing we need to do is decide what the most important KEYWORDS in that question are.

It is important to just use the most concrete, unambiguous words when searching library databases.

Our question again: “Does all the violence in some video games make children more violent?”

“ Does all the violence in some video games make children more violent?”

“ Does all the violence in some video games make children more violent?”

“ Does all the violence in some video games make children more violent?”

Let’s put children in one box.

Let’s put children in one box.

And violence in another.

And violence in another.

Finally put “video games” in the 3 rd .

You need to put quotes around phrases, like “video games”, in Omnifile, just like in OSCAR.

And now we are ready to click Start

You are now looking at the Search Results screen.

There’s a lot to notice! Let me point out a few very important things . . .

Look at how many articles were retrieved!

151 . . . probably more than you want, but a good number to look through.

Notice that some have links to FULLTEXT, the entire article.

Notice that some have links to FULLTEXT, the entire article.

Sometimes you have a choice of HTML or PDF.

Sometimes you have a choice of HTML or PDF. HTML

Sometimes you have a choice of HTML or PDF. PDF

HTML fulltext is a webpage version of the original printed article . HTML

A PDF file is a photograph of the original printed article, with all the graphics, layout, etc. PDF

You could say the PDF, therefore, is more REAL! PDF

For citing from articles in research papers, having the page numbers is a real plus, too! PDF

Think back now to the discussion about scholarly journals earlier in this tutorial …

Look more closely at the first few cited articles here . . . they certainly don’t look scholarly . . .

For one thing, they are very SHORT, 1 or 2 pages.

For one thing, they are very SHORT, 1 or 2 pages.

I know Newsweek isn’t scholarly!

Look closely at this screen..

There’s a quick way to see how many of these 151 ARE in scholarly journals . .

These tabs sort the results for you.

PEER REVIEWED are the scholarly journals!

Click on that tab to view just the results in peer-reviewed journals.

Only 22 of the 151!

That’s quite a difference!

Here’s something else you always want to look at on the Results screen.

The list of SUBJECTS in that Content Discovery area can be extremely helpful!

Think of this as your dictionary for the language of this database. Or a source of clues to better words for searching in this database.

I see a couple of possibly useful alternative words and phrases for our 3 main ideas.

How about “computer games” ?

Or, how about “ electronic games”?.

Those would both seem to be as logical as “video games” for this topic.

And, is aggressiveness another way of getting at the idea of violence?

Are children also youth ?

Sounds rather nitpicky, doesn’t it?

Hard to believe those details are that important, isn’t it?

But, you have to remember –

You are not searching GOOGLE!

This nitpicky stuff makes a huge difference in these databases.

So, the next step is to click MODIFY SEARCH and make some changes based on what we just learned!

Looking at the SUBJECTs in the CONTENT DISCOVERY area, we discovered some alternative words and phrases to use in our search grid.

We are going to put these after OR in each case.

Adding all those OR alternatives should increase our search results significantly!

And, it does! We now have 248 instead of 151 .

How many of those are peer-reviewed?

48. Sounds like a pretty good number to browse through, doesn’t it?

Let’s scroll down and look at a few more closely . . .

The 1 st three do not have a link to FULLTEXT . . .

The 1 st three do not have a link to FULLTEXT . . .

The first 2 are just 1 or 2 pages . . .

A commentary doesn’t sound all that exciting either . . .

But, that 3 rd one looks pretty good . . .

In fact, that article could be just a couple of quick clicks away!

Is your key to getting the fulltext in virtually all the library’s databases.

Click on it, and another browser window will open up either in front of, or, unfortunately, BEHIND the search window.

This window could say a number of different things. For example . . .

It could say: and provide you with a link directly to the fulltext of the article!

Or, it could say: which means “Here’s link to the journal in a database that has fulltext of it”. You’d still need to search for your specific article.

Or it could say: which is a link to an online form you need to fill out to have a PDF file sent to your email. This can take a few days sometimes.

In the example here, we get yet a different message:

It is a link to the OSCAR record for the PRINT journal because we do not have it online.

Click on that link.

And a TAB opens in your search results window, displaying the OSCAR record for that journal.

Look closely at the OSCAR record for the journal.

Notice that each volume/year of the journal has its own line.

And its own Request from ARS button!

You will need to scroll down to find the volume and year you need and click on the Request from ARS button for that year/volume.

Unless you remember the volume/year, you’ll have to click the SEARCH RESULTS tab & have a look!

We need volume 38, number 10, October 2008.

That’s beyond this window, so click the View additional . . . Button.

And, scroll down . . . And down . . .

And down . . . to 2008

Click on the button for volume 38 number 10 . . .

The computer will respond with a request:

After you submit your request, you will be able to pick the journal up at the Circulation Desk in just a few minutes.

The end. Now you’re ready to go out & search library databases!