Last revised: March 5, 2008

FMSC 330

Scope: This tutorial is intended to support the assignments in FMSC 330, “ Family Theories & Patterns.”

• Using Web Sources
• How to Search the Catalog & the Databases
• Catalog
• How to Use Research Port
• Research Port Databases
• Other Tools

Using Web Sources

Often students think they can get all of the information they need merely by using a search engine such as Google to browse the Internet. Although some useful information may be found this way, this is not the primary route for scholarly research:

• General Internet searches will yield only a very small percentage of the "scholarly" information that is available on a given topic. Scholarly information is controlled by copyright and thus is available primarily through scholarly journals or through databases, such as the Libraries' Research Port databases, that index these journals. So rather than making data available free on the Internet, scholarly information is controlled by publishers and researchers who want to get paid for their efforts. The Libraries pay for costly subscriptions to scholarly journals and to the Research Port database so that UMCP students and faculty can have free access to this scholarly information.
  
  
• Another reason that one should not rely solely on browsing the Net to get scholarly data is that there is no control over the validity of the information. Anyone can create a Web page; consequently, much data in many Web sites contains errors or may be intentionally distorted (e.g. due to a particular political bias).
  
  
• Despite these constraints, researchers occasionally still can get good information by browsing the Internet, but only after carefully evaluating that Web Site and its data. The Libraries have created a guide to Evaluating Web Sites to help students do just that.

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How to Search the Catalog & the Databases

The Catalog lists books and other materials that are actually owned by the University of Maryland Libraries. Search here to find books, videos, journals (the titles, not the actual articles), and other material that are part of the Libraries' collection.

Research Port is a gateway to databases and electronic journals to which the Libraries subscribe. Use these databases to search for journal articles (and often to other materials). This is explained in more detail below under "How to Use Research Port."

When searching the Catalog or Databases, you will have most success if you use Boolean logic:

• Boolean uses the words AND, OR, and sometimes NOT, to connect key terms. One should use Boolean rather than randomly searching individual terms, or rather than searching a complete prose phrase (e.g. "Describe the lives of the elderly in Asian American families.”). Instead, you should identify key terms, the most important words in the search phrase (e.g. "elderly"; “Asian American”), and use these terms with the Boolean connectors (e.g. "elderly” AND “Asian American") when conducting the search.
  
  
• AND narrows a search, and OR expands it. So, if the search yields too many results, you can reduce the number of "hits" by adding an additional required term and connecting it to the other terms with the word AND. On the other hand, if a search yields too few results, you can enlarge the number of search results by adding an additional term and connecting it to the other terms with the word OR.

Other ways to expand or narrow searches:

• If you have few hits, or if you want to conduct a thorough search, search keywords and also words that are related to those keywords (including synonyms and other forms of the word). For example in addition to searching on the phrase, “Asian American,” you can also search on the phrases “Asian Americans,” “Japanese American,” Japanese Americans,” “Chinese American,” and “Chinese Americans.” Similarly, in addition to searching on the word “elderly,” you can search on the words “aged,” “aging,” and “seniorss.” As instructed previously, connect these related word with the word "OR" in order to get more hits.
  
  
• Another way to narrow searches is by searching for a given term only if it is used in the title or is used as a subject. The catalog and most databases automatically search for the desired term in all or most of the data in a citation (i.e. the database will search for the word in the title, the author, the subject, the abstract or summary of the article, etc.). In most cases one will see the term “Default Fields” or “All Fields” to indicate that all or most of the fields are being searched. If your search produces too many citations, and many of them appear irrelevant to your topic, you may search for the term only if it is listed in the title or as a subject. To do this, change the search menu item from “Default Fields” or “All Fields” to “Title” or “Subject” options. Note: Some databases use the term “Descriptors” instead of “Subject.”
  

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• Searching for Books:

  Search the Libraries' Catalog for books and documents on your topic. Start with a "word/s anywhere" search.
  
  Example: elderly and “Asian American*”.
  
  Please note that the Catalog does not recognize phrases unless you put the phrase in quotation marks. So, be sure to enclose phases such as “Asian American*,” “single parents,” “gay adoption,” etc. in quotation marks. If you do not, the search engine will search for each word separately. Also note that the Catalog will only search for two word phrases—nothing longer.

Also note the use of the asterisk (*) after the word “American.” This is an example of a truncation symbol. It is merely a shortcut that allows one to search any word that has “American” as a stem. Thus it simultaneously searches for the phrase “Asian American” and the phrase “Asian Americans.” I could have written “Asian American OR Asian Americans” instead, but this is just a quicker way of doing it.
• Searching for Journals:

  You can also use the Catalog to find out whether the Libraries subscribe to print copies of a particular journal. Click on the "Journals" button. Then conduct a "title beginning with" search on the JOURNAL TITLE (not on the ARTICLE TITLE).
  
  Example: Journal of Family Issues

  You cannot use the Catalog to search the contents of journals for actual articles. To search for journal articles, you need to use Research Port Databases such as those that are listed in the next section of this guide/tutorial.

Further information about how to use the Catalog is available in an online Catalog Guide.

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How to Use Research Port

• By going to the Libraries' Research Port page, you can get access to the more than 300 bibliographic databases. These databases are indexes that allow users to perform comprehensive searches for journal articles. Such searches will yield either article citations or full-text articles, depending on the respective indexes and articles. In addition to searching journals, most of these indexes also search other types of documents such as conference proceedings, research reports, book and book chapters, and government documents.

• You can reach the databases by going to Research Port. If you are off campus, and select “Research Port” from the Libraries’ homepage, you will be asked to input your id number and last name (if you are using an on-campus computer you will not be asked to do this).

• When you are on the Research Port page, click on the “Databases” link. You may then look at individual databases (by selecting the “by database name” link and clicking either the desired title or the respective magnifying glass icon.). Or you may look at lists of all of the databases assigned to a given topic (by selecting the “by subject category” link).

• If you find a citation for an article that you need, but the full-text does not appear to be available on-line, the next step is for you to hit the “Find It” button. By doing this you will learn if there are possibly full-text source links that did not appear on the previous screen. If there are no full-text links, the “Find It” screen will tell you if the journal that contains the desired article is listed in the Libraries Catalog. If it is, you may click on the Catalog link that appears on the screen to get the call number of the journal. With this call number you can determine library location where you can physically retrieve the journal (and the desired article).

• If the Libraries do not own a journal or book that you need, Interlibrary Loan can possibly get it for you. This is a free service offered to all patrons who have a current UM ID. The ILL office will search libraries throughout the nation to get books, periodical articles, dissertations, microforms, government documents, and technical reports that you may need. All you need to do is to submit an Interlibrary Loan Online Request Form. ILL usually receives the requested items in about two weeks. A link to this form is also available on the “Find It” screen.

• For the purposes of this course, you will not need to use the “Quick Search,” the “E-Journals,” the “Cross Search,” or the “My Research Port” options.

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• Family & Society Studies Worldwide. A primary family science resource, Family & Society Studies Worldwide provides more than 700,000 citations and abstracts to professional journals, books, book chapters, conference papers, theses & dissertations, websites & internet documents, selected popular literature, government reports, statistical documents, working papers, and unpublished material.
  

Other databases that will have family science articles are:

• Academic Search Premier
  Information about articles from 3000 general, humanities, social science, and science periodicals from over 1700 peer-reviewed journals. Many of the articles are available full-text.
  
  
• Ageline.
  Citations and abstracts to the literature of middle age and aging. Includes original abstracts of journal articles, books, book chapters, and research reports on various aging-related topics which include the social sciences, health and health care, consumer/personal and service issues. International coverage with most documents in English.
  
  
• Alternative Press Index
  Citations from 380 alternative, radical, and left publications, which report and analyze the practices and theories of cultural, economic, political, and social change from 1991 to the present.
  
  
• Contemporary Womens Issues
  An index to full-text articles on global women's issues. Indexes books, journals, newsletters, research reports from non-profit groups, government international agencies, and fact sheets.
  
  
• CQ Public Affairs Collection
  A full-text database which features in-depth reporting on vital issues, statistical and historical analyses, historic documents and primary source materials, as well as a directory of key government, nonprofit, and private organizations in each of the major policy areas.
  
  
• CQ Researcher
  Covers news topics in a wide range of subject fields, from social issues to environment, health, education and science and technology. This full-text database is unique in that each issue of this publication selects a specific timely topic (e.g. foster care reform, child poverty, children and divorce, fatherhood movement, parental rights, caring for the elderly, etc.) and presents comprehensive information on all aspects of this topic. This information includes history and background information, a detailed report of the current situation, relevant pro & con arguments, bibliographies, and contact information.
  
  
• Ethnic Newswatch
  An index to full-text articles in newspapers, magazines and journals of the ethnic, minority and native press.
  
  
• GenderWatch
  A full-text database comprised primarily of articles from the many ongoing periodicals that deal with gender issues, including academic and scholarly journals, regional publications, magazines, newspapers, newsletters, booklets and reports.
  
  
• GLBT Life
  The most inclusive on-line index to literature that pertains to gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender issues. It covers more than 80 GLBT-specific core periodicals, over 70 priority periodicals, and over 5,000 selected monograph, newsletter, case study, and dissertation titles.
  
  
• International Index to Black Periodicals
  IIBP Full Text includes current and retrospective bibliographic citations and abstracts from over 150 scholarly and popular journals, newspapers and newsletters from the United States, Africa and the Caribbean--and full-text coverage of 40 core Black Studies periodicals (1998 forward).
  
  
• Lexis-Nexis Academic (previously called Academic Universe)
  This database offers a wide range of news, political, legal, business, and reference information in full-text format. Primary source of newspaper articles, including those from the Washington Post and the New York Times. Chief database for conducting legal research.
  
  
• Lexis Nexis Congressional (previously called Congressional Universe.)
  Comprehensive access to US legislative information. Useful tool for tracking histories of legislation which pertains to families.
  
  
• PAIS International
  Index to articles, books, conference proceedings, government documents, book chapters, and statistical directories about public affairs from 1972 to the present.
  
  
• PsycInfo
  PsycInfo is the primary database for psychology and related desciplines (including family therapy). This very comprehensive database indexes and abstracts more than one million articles in 1,300 journals from nearly 50 countries. PsycInfo provides citations and abstracts to journal articles, book chapters and books, technical reports, and dissertations.
  
  
• Social Science Abstracts
  Covers periodicals in sociology, anthropology, political science, law, economics, and geography. Indexed from 1983, with abstracts from 1994 to the present.
  
  
• Social Science Citation index (Note: After selecting the Index, then select "ISI Web of Science" from the pull-down menu at the top of the page.)
  Indexes more than 17,000 journals in the social sciences. Serves as a unique tool because it provides cited reference searching, allowing the user to identify researchers who have referenced a given article since its publication.
  
  
• Social Work Abstracts
  Produced by the National Association of Social Workers, Inc., this database contains more than 35,000 records, from 1977 to the present. It covers social work and other related journals on topics such as homelessness, AIDS, child and family welfare, aging, substance abuse, legislation, community organization, and more.
  
  
• SocIndex . This EBSCO-based index features more than 1,300,000 records with subject headings from a 15,600 term sociology-specific thesaurus designed by expert lexicographers. This database is a useful supplemental resource because it indexes Sage family studies abstracts and provides full-text articles of numerous family science journals.
  
  
• Statistical Abstract
  Provides statistics on social and economic conditions in the United States. Comprised of data from the Census Bureau, other Federal agencies, and private organizations.
  
  
• Women's Studies International
  Compiled from ten women's studies databases, this is primarily an index of the feminist press from 1972 to the present.
  

If you are conducting extensive in-depth research, most likely no one database will meet all of your research needs. It is always a good idea to consult a number of databases--at least one general one plus several subject-specific indexes.

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Other Tools

• Family Science Resources.
  
  This guide cites numerous print reference tools (encyclopedias, handbooks, etc.), sources of statistical information, and other resources that assist one in researching families.
  
  
• The Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association
  
  This is a style manual for manuscript preparation that is used by scholars both in and outside of the field of psychology. At McKeldin Library, this APA manual is available in the stacks (call number: BF76.7.P83 1994) and on the Quick Reference shelves, located across from the service desk in the Service Plus Information and Reference Center.
  
  Though the manuals are not directly available electronically, one can get much helpful information about them from the following links:
  
  
  • "Organizing/Citing Tools" page (accessible from the "Reference Shelf" option on the Libraries' home page.
    
    
  • Another useful site is "Assembling a List of Works Cited in Your Paper". Created by Duke University, this site provides quick and easy directions for creating citations for articles and books. This tool shows each citation using each of the popular style guides, includling the APA Publication Manual.. Also it gives advice about how to avoid plagiarism.
    
    
  • Another site that may be helpful is the "APA Style Resources" page on Psych Web; it provides links to a number of guides and Web pages that provide writing tips and suggestions for its application.

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