Module 3:
SD Library Network
How to Access SDLN
How to Search SDLN
Examples and Practice :
1. SDLN Screen
2. Activity 1
3. Search Techniques
4. Activity 2
5. Activity 3
6. Activity 4
7. Activity 5
8. Activity 6
9. Activity 7
10. Advanced Features

Contents:
Introduction
Module 1: How to Solve an Information Problem
Module 2: Search Techniques
Module 4: Proquest
Module 5: Infotrac
Module 6: Lexis-Nexis
Module 7: OCLC Firstsearch
Module 8: 
Module 9: 
Module 10: 
Module 11: Internet Searching
Module 12: Evaluating Internet sources
Module 13: Scholarly vs. Popular
Module 14: Citing sources
Module 15: How to Get Material Not Available Online

Module 3: SDLN Examples and Practice: Activity 5

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Quite often, the topic you want to search is best described by a multi-word phrase such as "death penalty." You could search for this topic using the Boolean operator AND:

death and penalty

In a keyword search, SDLN would search titles, abstracts, subjects and some notes to find items that have those two words somewhere in the description of each item.

Some of the items found would have the phrase "death penalty" and would be about the death penalty. Others might have the word "death" in the title and the word "penalty" in the abstract (or vice versa) and have nothing to do with the topic of the death penalty.

Phrase searching, that is, requiring a search system look specifically for a phrase, can produce results in which more of the items found are relevant. Most electronic search services provide a method of searching for exact phrases.

However, SDLN does not provide a method for searching for phrases. Therefore, if you type a phrase such as "death penalty" in an SDLN search box, it will insert an "AND" and automatically do the search: death and penalty.

In Activity 5,
you will have the opportunity to try to search for a phrase in SDLN.

You will need to switch back and forth between SDLN (to do the activity) and this manual (for instructions). Or you might find it more convenient to print this web page so that you can remain in SDLN as you read and follow the instructions for the activity.

1. Search in ERIC Journals in Education for the topic "attention deficit disorder" as a phrase. That is,

• click on the "Change Library or Database" button at the bottom of the SDLN screen to get to the "Select Library & Resource" screen

• click on the radio button beside ERIC Journals in Education to select it

• make sure that Dakota State University is the library selected

• click on the "Go" button

• in the "for what" box on the "Search Journals in Education" screen, type:

attention deficit disorder

How many items were in the results list?

2. Now, search for "attention deficit disorder" in ERIC Journals in Education using Boolean operators. That is, type:

attention and deficit and disorder

How many items were in the results list?

You should have retrieved exactly the same number of items with both searches. Although you entered the searches differently, SDLN carried out the searches in the same way. It inserted ANDs between the words, thus performing the same search both times as:

attention and deficit and disorder

So .... you have seen for yourself that you cannot search for exact phrases SDLN.

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