This document provides guidance on searching for literature through online resources. It discusses searching for books through databases like Amazon and WorldCat. It recommends ProQuest for finding theses. For articles, it advises searching journal websites after finding the full journal name. The document also outlines general search strategies and techniques for novice and experienced researchers, including using Google Scholar, Boolean operators, phrase searching, and limiting searches. It provides examples of searching bibliographic databases like Scopus, ERIC and online full-text sources like ScienceDirect.

1. Searching Literature through Online Resources
Written By: Naveed Akhtar

2. 1.BOOKS
Keepinmindnotallbooksareonline/orexistaspdf.
AMAZONisabigdatabaseofonlinebooks.
http://www.amazon.com/.
Thereareotheroptionssuchas
World’sLargestCatalogue:http://www.worldcat.org/
Youmaybeabletofindoutwhichlibraryownsthat
booknearyouruniversity.
WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING FOR?
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3. 2.THESIS
Gotothefollowingdatabasestolocatethelinkofthe
requiredthesis:
Networked Digital Library of Thesis and Dissertations
British Library EThOS
ProquestDissertations & Thesis Database
PROQUEST IS AN IDEAL SOURCE FOR CHECKING THE THESES.
WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING FOR?
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4. 3.ARTICLES:Thisiswhatmostpeoplearelookingfor
WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING FOR?
HOW TO FIND DIRECT LINKS if a reference article is required i.e. year, volume and pages are known.
1.Find out the full name of the journal.
2.Google the full name of the journal. This will lead you to the direct publisher’s/ journal website.
3.Search your article from the journal websites. The ABSTRACTS are FREE.
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5. GENERAL RESEARCH STRATEGIES WHEN YOU ARE DOING A LITERATURE SURVEY
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6. GENERAL SEARCH ENGINES
YOU MAY BEGIN FROM HERE:
•GOOGLE (www.google.com)
SIMPLE SEARCH OPTIONS
GOOGLE ADVANCED OPTIONS
GOOGLE SCHOLAR-a very useful FREE resource
or
Start from SCOPUS (Contains 49 millions records)
www.scopus.comor
http://www.info.sciverse.com/scopus
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7. SIMPLE SEARCHES
Google Simple Search-the easiest approach
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8. ADVANCED GOOGLE OPTIONS
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9. GOOGLE SCHOLAR-A USEFUL FREE RESOURCE
Go to: www.scholar.google.com
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10. ADVANCED SEARCHING TECHINIQUES FOR EXPERIENCED RESEARCHERS
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11. ADVANCED SEARCHING TECHINIQUES FOR EXPERIENCED RESEARCHERS
•Formal ways
–University libraries-Please visit them! Not all knowledge isonline
–Special libraries
–Inter-library loan
•Informal ways
–Contact Authors –An underutilized resource! Findout the author and request the article by email
–Personal libraries of experts
–Your friends who are studying inforeign universities
•Online databases
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12. ADVANCED SEARCHING TECHINIQUES FOR EXPERIENCED RESEARCHERS
•Boolean Operators
•Phrase Searching
•Truncation / Wildcard Searching
•Proximity Searching
•Focusing / Limiting a Search
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13. Boolean Operators
AND
OR
NOT
Booleanoperatorsallowyoutojointermstogether,widenasearchorexcludetermsfromyoursearchresults.Thismeansyoucanbemorepreciseinlocatingyourinformation.ManydatabasesrelyonAND/OR/NOT
Options.
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14. EXAMPLE: Boolean Operators at Emerald
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15. ADVANCED SEARCHING TECHINIQUES FOR EXPERIENCED RESEARCHERS
PHRASESEARCHES: Allow you to search an exact quote
Itnarrowsyoursearchdownbysearchingforanexactphraseorsentence.Itisparticularlyusefulwhensearchingforatitleoraquotation.Usuallyquotationmarksareusedtoconnectthewordstogether.
Forexampleentering“EffectofGoldNanoparticlesonTotalCellProteins”Willmakethesearchenginefindtheexactphraseintheliterature.
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16. ADVANCED SEARCHING TECHINIQUES FOR EXPERIENCED RESEARCHERS
These search techniques retrieve information on similarwords by replacing part of the word with a symbol usually a * or?.However, different databases use different symbols, so check what is used.
In truncation the end of the word is replaced. For example physiother*will retrieve physiotherapy, physiotherapeutic, physiotherapistand so on.
In wildcard searching, letters from inside the word are replaced. For example wom*nwill retrieve the terms woman and women.
TRUNCATION / WILDCARD
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17. ADVANCED SEARCHING TECHINIQUES FOR EXPERIENCED RESEARCHERS
Therearemanywaystofocusyoursearchandallsearchtoolsofferdifferentwaysofdoingthis.Someofthewaysoflimitingyoursearchareasfollows:
1.Date
2.Language
3.Place
4.Publication type
5.Age groups
6.Type of material e.g.you could just need to find case studies
Focusing / Limiting a Search
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18. ONLINE DATABASES
•Bibliographic databases
–ERIC, EI, SCI, CSA, PsychINFO
•Numeric databases
–ACS, Common Database
•Full text databases
–ScienceDirect, Emerald,
–AIAA, PQDT, IEEE, ELSEVIER, JSTOR,
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19. ONLINE DATABASES: Example of SCIENCEDIRECT
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20. THANKS
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All the best.