EBSCO MasterFile Select

1
EBSCO MasterFile Select

• In-class search examples to work with

2
Using the toolkit in MasterFile

• Boolean logic for combining terms - yes
• Controlled vocabulary - yes
• Field searching - yes
• Preview - tools in next lecture
• Proximity operators, phrase searching - yes, and
  yes
• Truncation, and wildcards - yes
• Pearl Growing a search strategy

3
MasterFile search options

• Go thru the tabs and links -
• Basic Search
• Advanced Search
• Keywords
• Subjects
• Publications
• Note the Help link!

4
MasterFile Subjects

• Use to
• Identify controlled vocabulary
• Identify titles of books, poems, companies,
  places, people (proper names of all kinds)
• Lot of value-added information
• Provides preview of number and type of articles
  available

5
Using the Subjects list

• My advice use it to check if something is a
  subject term
• If you are only looking for one thing (person,
  place, company, etc.) - fine to simply click the
  link(s) provided in the subject list
• But it offers no good way to construct a multiple
  term search!
• To set up a Boolean, field search - use what you
  find out in the Subject list, then simply click
  on Advanced Search and type the terms in yourself

6
A search

• I want to find out about the Mars lunar lander
• Synonyms? (space exploration, ?)
• Basic search mars lunar lander 1 (?!)
• Would you call this a false drop?
• Note the subject headings in this odd result,
  however
• Maybe we should check Subjects for Mars

7
Another search

• I want to find out about the impact of AIDS in
  Africa
• Subject list indicates use AIDS (disease), and
  Africa is also a Subject heading. Good. Lets go
  to the Advanced Search and set this up as a real
  Subject search.
• Note Enter it as AIDS (disease) - with quotes
• Yack! Huge number of hits!
• How to make this manageable?

8
Trying to whittle down the AIDS search

• Examine what you got. Madly try to find a focus
  for the search, additional terms to add (pearl
  grow!) or use the handy suggestions on the left
  Narrow Results by Subject
• Or, try some Limits (heres a new search concept)
  - find the Refine Search tab and
• go for the scholarly stuff - limit to peer
  reviewed, or,
• the, its due tomorrowsyndrome - go for the
  full text limiter! (or both)

9
Focusing the AIDS search

• The starvation aspect.
• Catch variants of the word? starv (truncate)
• Alternates or related terms? (synonyms, e.g.
  famine)
• The drug companies aspect
• Try just throwing in drug compan (in Default
  fields)
• Look at some results ah, see a good subject
  heading that might pick up more hits?

10
Movie info

• Id like to find an article with a picture of
  George Clooney
• Check Clooney, George as a Subject - yup, quite
  a bit of material about him
• Plug the inverted name in as a Subject in
  Advanced Search, and find a useful Limiter to
  apply
• How about a review of one of his movies?
• Use the Document Type menu to limit to
  entertainment reviews

11
Results print, email

• MasterFile uses the idea of putting things in a
  folder for managing results
• In the brief results list, just click the folder
  icon (labeled Add) for each article you want
• Just above the results, then, is another folder
  icon, which will now display Folder has items
  - click this link
• On the Results List page, you can now print,
  email, save, or export to a reference management
  software

12
Why we arent using this db to find the reading
assignment

• Here is another Search Method - by Publication.
• Perfect when you know exactly what you want.
• So you could find it here but weve been here,
  done this db - take a break, use Library Lit
  instead!