Some Suggestions for Working with Specific Online Services

Note:  links below will work only from a YSU campus computer. See the "Articles From Online Databases" page in the Help Sites section of the 1551 Web Site for off-campus access directions.

• LexisNexis (an OhioLink database)
   

  • Stick with the Quick News Search, but check the Date field. Usually you'll want to set the date for the past two years (unless you know the precise dates of what you are looking for). And be sure to read the search instructions above the Find field.

  • For A3, you can try the word advertising along with a product: e.g. advertising cosmetics; or advertising along with a specific target audience: e.g. advertising children, or advertising teens

  • The "phrase" option can be a useful one, too. Example: "advertising strategy."  I think you can even combine a word and a phrase, Example:  advertising "diet pills".

  • If you have opened an article and want to keep it, your options (up to the right) are e-mail, print, and save. If you choose e-mail, be sure to copy the citation from the results list, to be sure you get all the citation info. To save (or print), click on Print, then Display Document.  Use your browser's File, Save As command to save the article and, as with all these databases, be sure to give the file a specific name that you will recognize.

  • Note: when you look over the results list, you can "Tag" for delivery any article that appears possibly useful. Just click in the box to the left of the article. To see your list of tagged articles, click at anytime on PRINT and then select the "Display Citations" button.  You will see the citations for your tagged articles (all your sources list info is here), and the article title will be a link. Copy and paste (or print) these citations.  Then use the title link to open the article. You can then print or save the article, as noted above.
    
    

• Newsbank Newsfile  (an OhioLink database)
  
  

  • When you reach the Newsbank home page, you will see a number of information options. The best place to find useful articles is in the NewsBank NewsFile Collection  (1992-Current).  Click on the Start Search button for this collection to begin looking for articles.

  • On the NewsBank NewsFile Collection you can search by topic (bottom two thirds of the page) or keyword (top third of page).  Keyword will probably work best. When using a keyword search, be sure to read Search Hints for setting up your search string.

  • Limit your search to Newspapers. Use the drop down menus if you want to adjust the other default settings for displaying results.

  • Note that the article citations in the results list DO NOT contain all the information that you will need for your sources list. This information is available only when you view the full article (the info is at the top). But please note that the full article contains some publication info that you don't need. Finally: for the title of the article, use the main item listed under Topics.

  • Note that when you open an article, your search keywords will be highlighted.

  • If you have opened an article and want to keep it, use the delivery options listed in the blue field above the article. Email should present no problem. If you want to print or save the article, use the Printer Friendly option.

   

• Infotrac Health Reference Center-Academic 
  
  (This database is available only on a YSU computer; YSU is discontinuing its subscription to this database, so access could disappear at any time.)
  
  

  • Infotrac's default search is Subject Guide. I suggest that you shift to a Keyword Search (use the menu at the left of the main search page). The search directions below (next two bullets) apply to the Keyword Search feature.  [If you do a Subject Guide search, you should check out the information at the Help-Search link at the left.]

  • Note that you can use AND, OR, and NOT. For help, click on the Help-Search link at the left. 

  • To search for a phrase, consult the Help-Search link. Putting quotation marks around two or more words does not work for a phrase search in this database.

  • The Keyword search defaults to a search in "title, citation, or abstract." This setting will work well, but you might also want to try searching the "entire article content."

  • VERY IMPORTANT! Before clicking SEARCH, do both of the following:

    • click in the box (below the pale yellow search field) that limits the search to articles with text.

    •  in the "by date" field, limit your results to 1995-2003.

  • If you have opened an article and want to keep it, your delivery options are at the bottom of the page, below the article.  

    • Use the e-mail option to send yourself the article full-text plus the citation info.

    • To save the article to disk, select Browser Print, then do a Save As from your browser. Again: be sure to give the file a useful and specific name. Obviously, you can also print the article from the Browser Print option

    • You'll notice that there is usually an Acrobat Reader PDF option. I suggest that you avoid using this option because the version of the article that appears is not a "native" PDF version. In other words, it isn't a virtual photocopy of the original article; you can't rely on its page numbers for your documentation.
      
      
      

• SIRS Knowledge Source 
  
  (SIRS is available only through OPLIN: see the "Articles From Online Databases" page in the Help Sites section of the 1551 Web Site for off-campus access directions)
  
  

  • Check out the link to Search Tips. You will learn a lot about how to create effective search strings (in SIRS and in many other databases that support similar search methods)

  • When doing a search, it usually is best to "Sort by"  date, not relevance, but you can try both methods to see which works better for a particular search (relevance is the default setting)

  • If you want a general search, your best bet is to use a Subject Heading search (the default search setting when SIRS loads)

    • Example: for A3 try "advertising" as a Subject Heading search. 

  • If you want a more precise search, then use the Advanced Search field and try a Boolean or a Proximity search.

    • Example: use Boolean and type marketing, apparel, and teens in the three Boolean fields; or use Proximity and type advertising and children (within 5 words). 

    • NOTE: the advanced search field uses a keyword search, which means it searches the full content of the articles.

  • Each item listed in your results list comes with icon-signaled links. The Source link provides all your citation info for a sources list. The Summary link tells you a bit about the article. It is a good way to preview it.

  • Using the "Tagged List" feature can make searching easier. Click on the "Tagged List" tab at the upper left of the SIRS search page to find out how to use this feature. 

  • If you have opened an article and want to keep it, you can e-mail it to yourself, save it to disk, or print it. The best way to save it to disk is to select "Clean Copy for Printing" and then save the file  that comes up. BE SURE TO GIVE THE FILE A USEFUL NAME WHEN YOU SAVE IT.
    

    • NOTE 1:  it might be better to save than print:  when you work from a saved version, you can copy and paste sections of the article right into your Word document (giving credit to the source, of course)

    • Note 2: articles saved from online databases save as HTML files.  They are not word files. They will open in a browser when you click on them from a list of files.  And to open HTML files from an application, you have to use a web browser and click on File, Open.