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EDUC 700, Leadership Theory and Practice: Finding Resources

Search Tools

Google Scholar

Google is a search engine that most people are familiar with. Google Scholar has an academic focus with international scope; it’s a great resource for finding peer-reviewed articles, conference papers, books, theses, dissertations, and information on other scholastic works.

If you already have a Google account, you can set up your browser to automatically look for articles available through our library:

  • Click on "Settings"
  • Click on "Library Links"
  • Enter "University of Fraser Valley"
  • Click Save

If you don't have a Google account, you can still log into one of the library's databases first before using Google Scholar. This will allow the engine to automatically search for articles available through UFV.

Following Citation Trails

Following citation trails will help you find more resources for a particular topic of discussion. It will also allow you to situate a particular work in its greater academic context, and understand how the discussion around it has progressed. By tracking the citation forward (identifying who has cited the article), you can see how previous scholars have responded to the work, including confirmation of research findings, disagreements, corrections, criticisms and further discussions. This, in turn, will help you identify current trends in the research community and other areas for further exploration.

Google Scholar, along with library subscription databases including ERIC, Web of Science ScienceDirect and SpringerLink, allows for tracking citations forward. Look for the links “Cited by” (ERIC, Wiley Online Library and Google Scholar), “Citations” (SpringerLink), and “Citing Articles” (ScienceDirect).

Search UFV's databases and library catalogue all at once

Discover articles, books, videos, images, statistics, and more from the Library's print and online collections

Limit Your Results (optional)
~ OR ~

[Note: We are working to improve access to our collections and revising our subject headings to be more respectful and inclusive. Please be aware that you may see certain words or descriptions in search results or library materials which reflect the author’s attitude or that of the period in which the item was created and may now be considered offensive.]

Using the Find It Search Box

When you have done your search, don’t forget to use the limiters. The main ones are:

Available in Library Collection.............. you will be able to read the articles/books online or find them in the library
Scholarly Peer Reviewed Journals ..... if you need journal articles only
Print Books........................................ limits mainly to our physical book, collection
Subject ................................................... a listing of alternative keywords that you can use to improve your search
Geography............................................... want to limit to Canada? use this
Limit by Database  ................................ gives you a list of the databases that have been searched (from here you can limit to only one database)

 

There are a small number of databases which are not pre-indexed in the EBSCO's central index, including  Canadian Business and Current Affairs, Canadian Newsstand, and  CPI-Q.

The database names are displayed on the right side of the screen.  You may click on the database to view the additional search results.

Remember to use this toolbar to easily:

Email yourself the article

Cite your article (provides the citation in many different styles)

Permalink links to the article whether you are on or off campus. Use this link to email to your professor, or classmates.

 

  1. By default, Find It searches all terms you have entered, without the need to use AND.  For example: children television violence will find items that contain all 3 terms.
     
  2. By default, Find It searches through the full text of documents (if available).  This may cause a large number of results, and not all are relevant to your subject.  Results are returned in a relevancy ranked order. You can change the ranking to date if you wish.
     
  3. To improve the relevancy of your search results, enclose phrases in "quotation marks".  For example:  "British Columbia" or "global warming".
     
  4. Include the apostrophe.  For example, use "handmaid's tale" rather than "handmaids tale"
     
  5. To find variant endings for a word, use the * asterisk (truncation symbol.)  For example:  delinquen* finds delinquent, delinquents, delinquency
     
  6. To find books, e-books. videos or other items in the UFV library, refine your search by selecting "Catalogue only".  You can also limit to "Print books" if you want something to hold!
     
  7. To find scholarly journal articles, refine your search by selecting "Scholarly (Peer Reviewed)"
     
  8. You can refine a search by limiting to Language. However, be aware that many English language articles have not been tagged as English, so will be missing from your search results.
     
  9. Many items have direct links to retrieve the full text. For those that don't, use "Full Text Finder" to determine if UFV has the item in print or online.
     
  10. To add in more Canadian content, explore the "Continue Search" on the right side of the screen.

System Requirements

In order to effectively use all EBSCOhost features, the minimum browser requirements are Internet Explorer 7.0, Firefox 8.0, Google Chrome 16, and Safari 5.1 (for Macintosh). You must also have Adobe ® Reader® installed to view the PDF Full Text files. If you are using Visual Search, you must also install   Adobe ® Flash Player 8.0 or higher.

 

Custom made UFV tutorials:

Finding Books and Videos in the UFV Library

Limiting Your Library Search to Ebooks and Streaming Videos

Finding Your Article Using Full Text Finder

 

Tutorials from the service provider:

Forming Your Search

What search terms to use:

  • Don’t search by using a long sentence. Instead, identify the main concepts related to your research question. For example, search for the highlighted words in the following topic: “what impact has globalization had on agriculture and the end of geography”
  • Use AND to combine different concepts
    • globalization AND agriculture AND canada (note: you don’t need to capitalize proper nouns)
  • Generate synonyms (which can be equal, broader, narrower, or opposite) for each concept:
    • agriculture: farming OR farms OR crops OR cultivation OR husbandry
  • Use OR to combine similar concepts (some of which can be broader or narrower)
    • quinoa OR ancient grains OR quinua

How to finesse results:

  • Use truncation symbols ( * OR $) to retrieve results with variant endings.
    • Most databases: “global*” would search for variant endings, including globalize, globalization, globalisation, etc.
    • UFV Classic Library Catalogue: “farm$” will search for variant endings, including farm, farms, farmer, farmers, farming
  • Force a phrase search by using quotation marks, e.g.:  “language proficiency”  AND globalization (double quotes in most databases but single quotes in library catalog)
  • Sort results by “date” or “relevance”
  • Search using subject headings, descriptors, or author supplied keywords

Other tips:

  • Search for respected or recommended authors
  • Search for items listed in works cited.

Education Research Databases

Short on time? Just want to dive right in? Start here.

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