Searching techniques Library and Information Services

Ebooks Searching for ebooks on the catalogue (if accessing offsite the URL is – Use the library catalogue to find the following ebook and go to the full text: Gower handbook of leadership and management development – You may wish to watch the online demonstrationonline demonstration

The searching process Step one - Spend some time thinking about your topic Step two – Considering your search terms Step three - Linking your search terms together Step four - Choosing your databases Step five - Searching and modifying your search online Step six - Relevant results retrieved! Next steps

Step one Spend some time thinking about your topic to define and clarify your research question Break down search topic into sections Think of keywords to describe the topic

Step two Think about the search words Generic words can be omitted eg: discuss, assess, importance Consider alternative terms- look at Oxford Reference online business dictionaries Alternative spellings such as organis/zation or behavio(u)r: use asterisk eg: behavio*r Search for different word endings such as leader, leaders and leadership: truncate using asterisks eg: leader*

Step three Linking search words together AND search – combining two different subjects together OR search – alternative words, often crucial to success of the search eg: workplace OR organization Words as a phrase eg: “transformational leadership”. May be a phrase search option, or use quotation marks.

Step four Choosing your database For articles – Emerald full text – Academic OneFile – PsycINFO and possibly Greenfile (EBSCO) Business and market data – Marketline – Mintel (only accessible once registered with a YSJ address)

Step five Searching and modifying online Different databases will use different search terms to describe same subject Check what subject terms (called keywords in Emerald) are used for your topic and modify the search if necessary Limit to searching within different indexes eg: subject, article title, author Limit to years of publication Limit to type of document eg: books, book chapters, journal articles, conference papers, reports.

Step six Relevant results retrieved! Item is full text – go direct to article, linking via a database or via library catalogue Item has abstract only – can you access or request the full article via your local library?

Leadership styles and employee engagement Emerald – Leader* (all except full text) AND “employee involvement” (phrase all except full text) PsycINFO – Leadership style (subjects) AND employee involvement or employee motivation (subjects)

Emotional intelligence and leadership Emerald – Emotional intelligence (keyword phrase) and leader* (keywords) Academic OneFile – Try browse subjects option: emotional intelligence, then search in results for leadership PsycINFO – Emotional intelligence and leadership (subjects) and link to article in Journal of management studies

Summary of useful links Ebooks - online demonstrationonline demonstration Emerald - online demonstrationonline demonstration Business subject page How to plan a search strategy Search techniques