Electronic Databases

Guide to Searching InfoTrac Databases

Searching Guidelines | Retrieving Articles | Output Options

General Guidelines
Description	The Health Sciences Library subscribes to 2 web-based InfoTrac databases: Health Reference Center Academic - health care, with a strong cosumer focus Database includes some full text articles.
Availability	Available at all Library workstations. (HRC is also available in a CD version at one workstation in the Reference area. Search guidelines will vary.) Remote access for Upstate faculty, students and staff available through LEAP.
Simultaneous Use	Not restricted
Timeouts	No
Exit Instructions	Click on Back to Library to return to Library home page.

Searching Guidelines
Default Search	Subject search - matches a word or phrase to a list of subject headings. If the term or phrase is not found as a subject heading, InfoTrac points to other subject headings or defaults to a keyword search.
Other Options	Keyword search - looks for words or phrase in title/citation/abstract or in the entire article. Relevance search - results sorted by relevance, not date. Advanced search - searches for terms in one or more fields; can combine fields using Boolean and, or, not.
Truncation/Wildcards	An asterisk () indicates any or no characters. Can be used at the end of a word or within a word. (eg., nurs matches nurse, nurses, nursing). A question mark (?) stands for exactly one character, but can be repeated (eg., nurs? matches nurse; nurs??? matches nursing). An exclamation point (!) stands for one or no characters (eg., colo!r).
Boolean/Proximity Operators	Defaults to Boolean and. Allows and, or, not Proximity: Use n between words when search order matters Use w between words when search order matters Insert a number after n or w to indicate the maximum number of words between search terms.
Limit Search	Use the Limit the Current Search option on the search screen. Can add additional limits by selecting Limt Search from the sidebar options.
History	Previous search sets are displayed at the bottom of the page.
Combining Searches	Previous searches may be combined in Advanced Search by entering their search set numbers, eg., R1 and R2, as "keywords."
Special Features	Options in sidebar will change, depending on actions (searching, displaying, etc.) Article displays include links to relevant subject headings and other articles from the same journal issue. Includes dictionary and encyclopedia entries.

Retrieving Articles in Electronic Journals

Availability

Health Refernce center and Expanded Academic provide full text access to selected electronic journals.

Finding a Known
Article

Select Advanced Search from the sidebar.
Select an index then enter search term that identify the article (title words, author's name, etc.)
Under Limit the current search, enter the journal name by typing the name in the box provided or clicking on Browse to select from the list of journals.
Click on Search.
Scroll down to History and view the result list to locate the desired article.

Additional Options

Use the Title icon to search for words or a phrase in the article title.

Search for the author's name and journal title, then combine.

Output Options

Displaying Records

To view a single record, click on the link to that record.

To view multiple records, click in the box next to the citation, then select View Marked List from the sidebar options. (Note: marked records will remain unless cleared.)

Print or E-mail
Citations

Select Print or Email options from the sidebar options or by scrolling to bottom of the page.