Types of periodical articles

The most common types of periodicals are newspapers, popular magazines, scholarly journals and trade journals. Here are some distinguishing characteristics of each type:

Newspaper articles:

• are written for a general audience
• are written by journalists
• provide a good source of information on current events
• can be a good source for opinions, editorials and commentaries
• reflect the way an event was viewed at the time it happened
• are written for a general audience

Popular magazine articles:

• are written for a general audience
• are written by magazine staff members or freelance writers
• are reviewed by magazine editors
• are generally short and contain no bibliographies
• are often published on glossy paper, with lots of advertising

Scholarly journal articles

• are written for researchers and professionals in a particular field
• report the results of research
• are reviewed by experts in the field (see: Peer Reviewed)
• will contain bibliographies
• are often published in a journal format with few or no advertisements

Trade Journal Articles

• are written for members of a specific industry, business or organization
• describe industry trends, new products or techniques and organizational news
• written by staff writers
• are reviewed by journal editors

Databases

In order to find articles for your research, you will need to use an index. Libraries usually own both print versions of indexes and electronic versions of indexes, called online databases. An index includes article citations-the information needed to locate an article. However, some print indexes and databases also include article abstracts or summaries, and now many databases include full text articles. Unless you are doing extensive historical research, you will probably use online databases to identify the majority of articles that are relevant to your information needs.

Online databases include:

• general databases-multidisciplinary indexes that cover many disciplines
• subject specific databases-specialized indexes that cover specific disciplines

Accessing the Databases

How to Read a Database Record

Each database will be slightly different in terms of how the search screen looks, the way the results display, and the amount of information available to you. Generally, each database gives you the opportunity to type in keywords to identify the articles you want. Most databases will then retrieve the following information:

• citation (title, author, title of the journal, and date) for the article
• a short abstract (summary) of the article
• link to either the full-text of the article itself or a link to see if the full-text is available to you elsewhere, either in print in the BVU Library or in another of our databases
• link to request that article via our interlibrary loan service (ILLiad) if that article is not available elsewhere

Locating Articles - Full-Text Retrieval from the Databases

Some databases provide links to the text and/or the scanned image of journal and newspaper articles. This link can be denoted in a number of ways:

Locating Articles - Full-text Retrieval with a Known Citation

It is possible to locate the full-text of an article without searching through the databases. If you are trying to locate an article for which you already have a citation, follow these steps to see if the text of the article is available in the BVU Library either in print or electronically.

Advanced Searching Techniques

Truncation

If the word you want to search has a variety of possible endings, use truncation. CAUTION: Do not truncate a word too short or you will retrieve unwanted matches.

Truncation symbols vary by database. Here are the truncation symbols for commonly used databases:

Boolean Operators

The words AND, OR, and NOT can be used to link words and phrases to produce more effective search results:

AND	Example
Use AND between different concepts to narrow your search. All items retrieved will contain both words	gender and mathematics

OR	Example
Use OR between synonyms or like concepts. Items retrieved will contain either word.	integrating or mainstreaming

NOT	Example
Use NOT to exclude unwanted words. Items retrieved will include python, but NOT monty.	python not monty

CAUTION: Use the NOT operator carefully. You may unintentionally eliminate relevant items.

Books

Why Use Books?

Books are an important part of research because:

• They can give you an overview of a topic.
• They may have good background information.
• They sometimes present a historical perspective on a topic.
• They can cover complex issues in detail.
• They often synthesize a large body of research.

BVU Catalog

The BVU Library Catalog is the database for the Library's collections. In addition to books, it lists video and DVD recordings, musical and spoken word CDs, print periodicals, government documents, e-Books, curriculum materials and more.

The records in the catalog include bibliographic information (author, title, publisher, data of publication, etc.), subject headings, location in the Library and availability.

Accessing the Catalog

Searching the Catalog

Type your search terms in the Search box(es) and click the Go button.
Here are a few important tips for the most often used of these searches.

1. General Keyword:
   • General Keyword searching is the most flexible search method available.
   • The keyword method will look for names, words, or phrases in almost all fields of the record (author, title, subjects, contents, and notes).
2. Tips for keyword searching:
   • Enter one or more keywords in any order
   • Keywords entered are automatically "ANDed" together
   • Use AND, OR, NOT to combine words in relationships
   • Example using NOT: attention NOT deficit
   • Example using OR: ceramics OR pottery
   • Example using AND: renaissance AND music
   • Use quotes to search phrases: "bilingual education"
   • Use * to truncate: teen* finds teen, teens, teenager, teenagers
3. Author Keyword:
   • Use the Author keyword search when you want to find publications written BY (rather than about) an author. An "author" can be an individual, editor, translator, performer, association, company, conference, or governmental agency.
   • Use an author search:
     • to find all the books a particular author has written
     • to find music written or performed by a musician
     • to find a movie with a certain actor or by a certain director
     • to find a report written by an organization
4. Tips for author keyword searching:
   • Omit commas, periods, apostrophes, and hyphens
   • Search for both acronyms and full names, in separate searches.
     • Example: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development OR ASCD
     • Order is not important in a keyword search. A search for "Ambrose Stephen" yields the same results as a search for "Stephen Ambrose"
5. Title Keyword Searching:
• Search by Title keyword when you know either the exact title of an item or when you're fairly sure of key words in the title. If you don't know the exact title, use general keyword.
6. Tips for title searching:
• Omit articles (in English: a, an, the; non-English equivalents: der, la, los, etc.)
  • Example: A search for "old man sea" will retrieve "The Old Man and the Sea"
• Enter just the first few words of the title
  • Example: A search for "color parachute" will be enough to retrieve "What color is your parachute?"
7. Subject Keyword Searching:
• Use the Subject keyword search when you know the exact Library of Congress Subject Heading for your subject. If you don't know the exact LC Subject Heading for your subject, use general keyword searching. Alternately, click on "alphabetical browse" on the green bar near the top of the screen, select "subject alphabetical" from the pull-down menu, and enter your topic to explore other possible subject headings.
• A subject heading is a word or phrase indicating the official subject under which all material dealing with the same topic is entered in this Catalog.
• Following the link for any Subject will take you to other items in the catalog with that same Subject heading.
• Subject searching is best when you want to do a very precise search, or you already know the exact subject heading.
8. Tips for subject searching:
• do a general keyword search in the catalog
• look at a record for an item that fits your topic
• look at the Subjects listed
• click on the Subjects that most closely fit your topic

Limiting or refining your search (optional)

Limits may be set to reduce the total number of search results, so that the Catalog will only retrieve records that have specific characteristics.

1. Limit by collection and/or language
• A common limiter is the Video/DVD collection.
• Example: You are looking for a video on eating disorders. A Keyword search using the phrase "eating disorders" finds 48 items. However, if you limit by "Video/DVD Collections" from the Limits menu and rerun the search, the Catalog retrieves only 5 video and DVD items.
2. Limit by publication date
• Change to Publication Date = to select a particular year
• Change to Publication Date > to select titles published after a particular year
• Change to Publication Date < to select titles published before a particular year

Results

Your search will display a list of items matching the term(s) you entered. Clicking on a title from the results list will give you more detailed information about a specific item.

An item screen tells you all about the item, including:

• Title, author, publication information, and subject headings
  • plus often more details like additional authors, a summary, table of contents, etc.
• Copy/Holding information, which tells you where the item is shelved and if it's available.
  • From this information, you can determine if the item is available for checkout.

Off-campus students may request items through ILLiad - please indicate in the Notes area of the ILLiad form that the item is held by BVU. Items are generally delivered to you within 3-5 days. (??)

Sorting Results

On both the catalog search screen (near the bottom) and on the pages that list your search results (upper right) you have the option to sort your search results. You can use the pull-down menu to specify a sort alphabetical by title, reverse chronological order by date, or by format type.

If no sort function is selected, the items appear in the order they were added to the BVU Library with the newest items displaying first.

Saving Catalog Results "My List"

From either the results screen or the individual item screen, you can select items to add to "My List," which will remain active ONLY until you end your session by closing the catalog. To add titles to "My List" click the "My list" button in the lower right corner of each listing.

NOTE: If you choose to add items to your list, do not use the browser's back button; use the navigational buttons that are provided in the Catalog.

To save "My List" selections after your current session:

1. Click on "Login" in the upper right corner of the screen above the banner.
2. Enter your last name and the last four digits of your Social Security number. "My List" results can be saved and renamed once you have logged in.
3. Click the checkbox to the left of each title you want to save to a new, renamed list.
4. Click the pull-down menu next to "-Move to-" and select "New List."
5. Type in new name for list and click the "OK" button.
6. Your newly named list will be available for 90 days, but you must log in to access the lists.
7. Click on the "Manage Lists" button to rename or delete lists.

Emailing "My List" Results

If you are a center or online student and have compiled a list of items in "My List" that you would like to have the library send to you, please use the book request forms available through ILLiad, which is accessible by clicking on the "Interlibrary Loan" tab on the library home page. Please submit each title on a separate form.

Lists of items emailed to the library from the "My List" function of the catalog do not identify the sender of the email, so we are unable to accept these emailed lists as requests.

Using "My Account"

Users can check to see what books they have checked out from the BVU library and renew books online. Go to the My Account tab and follow the log in procedure.

E-books (Electronic Books) from netLibrary

NetLibrary FAQ

Q: What is netLibrary?
A: NetLibrary is a collection of electronic books, or "eBooks," that can be accessed from a computer with Internet access. BVU Library is part of a consortium that has purchased access to more than 9000 of these eBooks for BVU students, staff, and faculty.

Q: How do I create a netLibrary account?
A: Prior to using the netLibrary collection, users must create a free individual netLibrary account. Since this can only be done from a computer on campus, you will need to contact a librarian to set this up for you. Once your account is set up, you may log in to netLibrary and check out books from anywhere.

Q: How do I connect to netLibrary?
A: There are two ways to get to netLibrary:

E-book Technical Issues

Browser Buttons
Using the Forward and Back buttons on your web browser while viewing a netLibrary book may cause your browser to lock up. To avoid this problem, use the navigation buttons provided by netLibrary whenever possible.

Printing and Copying Text
To print or copy one page at a time, use your browser's print or copy commands. Printing an entire eBook violates copyright laws. NetLibrary's monitoring software detects suspicious usage patterns indicative of excessive printing or copying. The software will log the activity and send the user a copyright warning.

Books - Beyond BVU

As a BVU student, you have access to the full range of services and resources the library offers, which includes access to research databases and full-text articles as well as to important services such as Interlibrary Loan to deliver items to you. For remote students, however, you may have additional resources close at hand. Centers students generally have borrowing privileges at the libraries of our affiliated community colleges. Large university libraries often allow community patrons to use resources in-house. Additionally, you can use online tools to go beyond what BVU makes available. The following tools may assist in identifying useful books for your research:

• WorldCat: This database contains more than 60 million records describing items owned by libraries around the world. To access this database, go to the library web page, click the "Articles" tab, select "Books", then the "WorldCat" link.
• Bibliographies: Check the bibliographies of other books and articles you are using. A book or article that is particularly useful will often refer you to other useful publications.
• Online bookstores, such as Amazon.com, or Barnes & Noble (www.bn.com) will lead you to useful and very current books. Reviews and summaries are often available.

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