Database Skills (Scopus)

Getting Started

Welcome to the Database Skills Tutorial.

This tutorial will teach you about searching the Scopus database.

This "Guide on the Side" tutorial allows you to continue to use the library websites while also following along with the tutorial.

Note: If you are off campus, you may be asked for your Pirate ID and passphrase to log in to the database.

The tutorial will take approximately 15 minutes.

Navigation

Before we begin, please take note of the following navigation buttons that you will see in the Guide on the Side panel:

Your Turn: This button represents an opportunity to use the database during the tutorial, so follow the directions!

Ask Us: Click this to be connected with a librarian via IM when the Research Desk is open.

Let's get started!

Sample Topic

For the purposes of this tutorial, we will be using the following sample topic of:

Will yoga or stretching help clients manage their pain?

The paper requirements say that you need at least 4 scholarly sources.

You find scholarly sources in a database, but what is that?

Chapter: Defining Databases

You can find articles by searching in a database. A database is a searchable collection of information. Examples of everyday databases include your iTunes library and IMDB, the Internet Movie Database. A library database contains scholarly journal articles, newspapers, magazine articles, trade journals, and sometimes book chapters.

The database we are searching in this tutorial is Scopus. Although you can find everything from science to social sciences/humanities, this database covers more material from the sciences and health sciences.

Chapter: Keywords

Recall that our sample topic is: Will yoga or stretching help clients manage their pain?

The next step we must complete is to develop keywords.

Your Turn! Consider your topic. What keywords do you think would be best for this search? Click the link to see the answer.

Answer

To learn more about generating keywords or Boolean operators, please visit our Graduate 101 Research Tutorial.

Chapter: Keywords

Your Turn! Insert the keywords into Scopus and search.

Keyword reminder: Let's choose

Yoga AND pain management

Results

You should have some results on your screen. 

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NOTE: the default for your list puts things in order from newest to oldest.  If it looks as though your search wasn't successful, be sure to click Relevance in the top right corner of your results list.

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Your Turn! Click on the Journal check box under "Source Type". Click on the Limit to button and notice the results list getting shorter.

Results

How do you make sure your results consist of current, scholarly information? Unlike other databases, the majority of the results you get from Scopus will be scholarly. If you need results that are from trade or other types of publications or from a particular date, notice that on the left side, you will see check boxes for the following:
• Source Type
• Year

Next, change the date range to the last 5 years by checking off 2010-2014. Click on the Limit to button and notice that the results list gets shorter again.(You may also change your date range when you put in your keywords)

Results

A Note about Full Text

Scopus is an abstract database.  This means it only has the abstracts or summaries of materials.  If you find an abstract that interests you, you will need to click the purple

button to see that ECU Libraries do, in fact, have the full text in another database or journal.

If we do not have an article, we can normally get it for you via Interlibrary Loan. This free service can be used to borrow an article or book from another library that does have it.

Results

You should be looking at a list of scholarly articles about yoga and pain management written in the last 5 years.

To learn more about an article, click on the article title or place your mouse next to "View at Publisher" to get the option to Show Abstract.  An abstract is a short summary that you can read to decide if the article is right for your project. (You may also click Show all abstracts in the top right.)

Your Turn! Show the abstract of a few of the titles in the list.  Which would you consider using for your paper?

Chapter: Find It!

Your Turn!  Once you've found an article you would consider using for your paper, click the purple button to be taken to the full text. (After you view the full text, return to your results list.)

If your full text does not show up, use the ECU Libraries sidebar on the right to Try a Different Source. 

If you are still having trouble,

Cited By and Related Documents

Cited By

In your results list, you will notice a column of numbers to the right of each article entry.  This column shows how many times each article was cited by another.  This is important because you can see how important and useful an article is if it has been used as a reference by many other published authors. 

Related Documents

Find an article that is extremely useful for your paper?  You may click Related Documents next to where you clicked to view the abstract.  This will automatically give you a new results list with articles that are related to the one you chose. 

Your Turn! Click Related Documents for the article that you would consider using for your paper. 

Chapter: Add to My List

Once you've chosen an article or multiple articles, you may click on the check boxes to the left of the title. Once you do this, you will notice that the "More" option above your results list become available. Click and you will receive a dropdown box with the option to Add to My List.

This option allows you to temporarily save your articles to a folder that you can access by choosing My list at the top of the page.

Your Turn! Add 4 articles to your list.

Saving your Results

You have two options in order to access the articles in your list at a later time.  

1. Create an account

2. Email them to yourself

Your Turn!  Scroll to the top of the screen and click on My List to access your list of 4 articles.  Check off all 4 articles and email them to yourself by clicking More.

(Be sure to change the output option if you would like the abstracts to be emailed as well.)

*If you would like to create an account for future use, you may do so now.

Click Save to Register Now (3rd box option)

Saving your Results

You should now have 4 items for your paper on yoga and pain management that have been sent to your inbox.  You will have the citation for your articles, but be sure to check them over before copying and pasting them into your bibliography.  

Next Steps: If you wish to complete this tutorial again with your own topic, you may start over by clicking Back Home.

Certificate

Please enter your name and email address to retrieve a copy of your completed quiz.

You can enter multiple email addresses separated by commas. If you are doing this for a class, you may need to enter your instructor's email address also.