Tex Share Homework Help Lesson 1

Editor's Notes

• #8: Use open-ended questions!
• #9: At the end of the reference interview, rephrase the patron ’ s questions and responses to ensure that both you and the patron have an understanding of the information needed.
• #11: Accessing the TexShare databases and a library’s own subscriptions from the library’s website offers patrons a single, convenient place to search. Library system administrators may contact the TexShare Technical Operations Specialist at (512) 463-7402 for information about their library’s user ids and passwords.
• #13: When formulating a search strategy, first brainstorm about a list of keywords and phrases to use during the search. Then decide which limiters to apply during the search. Keyword search: Most basic searches are keyword searches. A keyword search looks through titles, subtitles, abstracts, author names, for all terms entered in the search field. Phrase search: You can search for a phrase by placing quotation marks around the search terms in order to search for terms next to one another (i.e., “constitutional amendments”). Subject/Subject Term search: You can find subject terms by browsing the subject thesaurus.
• #16: Include many different types of sources, such as scholarly journals, magazines, newspapers, books, and many other resources. Example use: Searching for general reference questions ranging from Animals to Zeus.
• #17: Designed for students and teachers. They include age-appropriate interfaces for students at the primary and secondary levels, as well as teacher resources and professional development articles Examples: Helping elementary, middle, and high school students with school homework projects such as identifying the contributions of Hispanic Americans to our society, understanding how electricity is produced, or preparing an emergency plan for a hurricane.
• #18: Databases designed specifically for historical research. Example use: Researching historical records such as letters from the heroes of the Alamo, or family tree information.
• #19: contain scholarly, academic articles and research, while others include health information written for the general public. Examples: Students are looking for diagrams of the different body systems or need to evaluate the nutritional value of fast food.
• #20: Provide information on topics related to business, including marketing, management, accounting, finance, economics, etc. They also provide scholarly journals on business and business reports Example use: Students need to analyze economic trends in Texas.
• #21: information regarding authors and their works. Some provide full text of poems or other works, while others provide scholarly criticism. Author information and biographies are also accessible in this section of databases. Example use: Students need to analyze and find criticism of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn , or need to find biographical information about William Shakespeare.
• #26: In this step, the search strategy comes in to play. Use a list of keywords and phrases and a general idea of the limiting features to begin the search. Remember there are three common types of searches:        Keyword        Phrase        Subject term
• #27: In this step, the search strategy comes in to play. Use a list of keywords and phrases and a general idea of the limiting features to begin the search. Remember there are three common types of searches:        Keyword        Phrase        Subject term
• #29: AND: Narrows a search to include only results containing all words separated by this operator. For example, ocean and pollution finds all results that contain both terms. OR: Broadens a search to include results containing any word separated by this operator. For example, ocean OR whale finds results that contain either ocean or whale. This is effective when search terms have synonyms or spelling variations. NOT: Narrows a search to exclude words following this operator. For example, ocean NOT whale finds results that have the term ocean but not whale .
• #34: The detailed citation contains useful information such as the source name, document type, and subject terms. Many citations allow you to click the source name to determine whether it is scholarly or peer reviewed. The document type label provides information about whether the source is an article, book, newspaper, dissertation, or other content type. The subject terms listed in the citation indicate the topics that are covered in the article and can be useful in determining if the article contains information to satisfy the user’s query.
• #35: The Results pages of many TexShare databases contain menus for narrowing the results. These menus are typically located on the left or right side of the result list. For example, searching for the topic economy of France in MasterFILE Premier returns numerous results. The patron could narrow the results by using the Source Types like Periodical, Newspapers, or Country Reports. The results could also be narrowed by Subject by selecting France, France –economic conditions, Gross domestic product, etc.
• #37: For too many results , try the following:        Use more specific keywords, phrases, and/or subject terms        Use limiters, including Full Text, Publication dates, Peer Reviewed        Use Boolean operators, including AND, OR, NOT        Use quotation marks around phrases For too few results , try the following :        Use broader keywords and/or phrases        Use different keywords and/or phrases        Use different Boolean operators        Remove some or all of the limiters        Use “expanders”, including “Search within the full text”, or “Use related words” For irrelevant results , try the following:        Use different keywords and/or phrases        Search in a different database Use the “more like this” feature
• #42: In most databases, a citation with an abstract displays. Sometimes the full text of the article is included with the detailed citation and other times either the abstract alone is supplied or a link to a pdf or html version of the full text article is provided.
• #43: Print : Prints the selected article. To print, click the print icon. On the Print Manager page, ensure the number of copies and printing options are set to your specifications, and then click the Print button. Follow the standard procedures for printing. Email : Emails the article to an email address. To email, click the email icon. Complete the forms and options and then click the Send button. Save: Save the full citation, article or image to a flash drive, desktop, etc. To save, click the Save icon. Cite : Displays different citation formats for the article. To cite, click the citation icon. A window displays that lists the citation for the article in various formats. From this window, you can also export the citations to a bibliographic management software program, such as EndNote, ProCite, etc. To close the window, click Close or click the X button. Export : Exports the article to a bibliographic management software program. To export, click the Export to Bibliographic Manager icon. On the Export Manager page, click the citation formatting
• #44: The EBSCO databases contain an option to group desired results into a folder. This option is accessible from the Results page by clicking on the folder icon under the result title. It is also accessible from the result’s citation page by clicking on the folder icon on the right-hand side of the menu. Add articles to a folder to access later. To add, click the folder icon. The folder comes in handy when the patron has several articles to save