There are a number of ways of finding out what is available in the research database.
- Simple Search:You can put a word or words in the Search box on the top right of the front page. The more words you enter the fewer publications you will retrieve since the software will find only publications containing all the words. The search is conducted on all the words in the text including the text of the documents as well as the references.
- Advanced Search:allows you to search for publications by entering specific words which are to be found in the whole document, or limited to the titles: you do not need to enter the exact title to retrieve the record, a selection of words from it will suffice; you can search for publications by specific authors (known as researchers in Research database jargon), as this term includes other persons involved in the authorship of a publication such as illustrators, editors. Also you can search for publications from specific journals. A particular research area may be selected from the drop down menu and it is also possible to home in on documents from a particular year by entering a date. These are all detailed on the search screen.
- Latest Research Publications: Lists those publications added within the last seven days.
- Browse Research Database: You can look through the materials available in the research database via Research Subject Area, Year of Research,Institution or Name of the Researchers. Each area is further subdivided. There is also a browsing mechanism on top of the screen for year,subject,research institution and researcher.
- If the terms you have entered are satisfied, you will see the reference to the article displayed. Some publications have a ‘PDF’ symbol, which means you can click on the symbol and see the document in PDF format. Files may be PPT or RTF in which case a similar symbol will appear. If there is an official URL link then one can read the full text by clicking on the link. All publications which can be found in the library catalogue are also clearly identified