Sunday, January 21, 2007

EJC Tips and Tricks

Did you know that the Electronic Journal Center (a.k.a. EJC) provides access to over 6,900 titles? Here are some tips to help you get the most out of the EJC.

Phrase Searching
The EJC searches for articles like Google searches for web sites. It looks for all of the words you type in and then shows you the articles that are most relevant. You can improve your results by putting phrases in "quotes" and linking concepts together with AND (to narrow), OR (to broaden), or NOT (to exclude). Example: global warming coal finds 138,598 articles while "global warming" AND coal finds 102 articles.

Advanced Searching
Click on the All Search Options link under the search box to limit your search to specific discipline area or date range. You can also change sort options and number of articles displayed in your results set. Example: You want to find articles about using problem based learning in the classroom. Searching for "problem based learning" without setting limits finds 716 articles while searching for "problem based learning" limited to the Social Sciences collection finds 215 articles.

Citation Formatting
Get a citation for your paper in APA, Chicago or MLA style automatically. Select the correct citation style under the journal's cover image and then click on the Go button under Format/export as.

My EJC
Create a My EJC account if you don't already have one. This will allow you to be notified when new issues of journals you are interested in are available, build an electronic binder of articles you find and want to keep, and save searches to run periodically to look for new research.

My Journals
You can be notified by email or by RSS feed reader (e.g. Bloglines or Google Reader) when new issues of a journal are added to the EJC. Log into your My EJC account. Search or browse for the title of a journal. On the journal's holdings page, click on the Add to my Journals link under the journal's cover image. You will be taken to the My Journals page where you have the option to turn on (or off) email notification and/or subscribe to the RSS feed for updates. You can remove a journal from the My Journals page by clicking on the Remove link.

My Articles
You can build an electronic binder of articles you find while searching the EJC. Make sure you are logged into your My EJC account before you start searching. When you find an article you would like to save, click on the Add to My Articles link under the journal's cover image. You will be taken to the My Articles page where you can see all of the articles you have saved. You can sort your articles by author, journal title, year published, or date added to your article collection. You can remove an article by clicking on the Remove link.

My Searches
You can save your searches and have them automatically be run and notified on a regular basis. Log into your My EJC account and search for your topic using the phrase and advanced searching tips from above. Click on the Add to My Searches button. Type in a name for your search or accept the auto generated name. Decide if you want the search to notify you by email, RSS feed, or if you want to manually run the search yourself in the future. You will be taken to your My Searches page where you can see the searches you have saved and when they were last run. You can run a saved search at anytime by clicking on its name. You can also edit the name of your saved searches, change how you are notified and delete saved searches on this page.

As always, if you have any questions feel free to contact us. We're here to help you!

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