Part II: Perform search

Especially before the first use of a specialist database, two basic rules must be take into consideration:
 

• Every specialist database is different!
  • Inform yourself in the help texts about content, reporting period (e.g. literature published between 1990 and 2006) and actuality (e.g. updated once a week) of the specialist database.
  • Find out how you can search the specialist database effectively, especially what truncation options are available and how Boolean operators can be used to structure your search query.
  • The display of results and the export of data can vary from database to database.
     
• Literature found in bibliographic databases is often not immediately available!
  • References in bibliographic databases are independent of location.
  • If you cannot find a link to the full texts of the documents or to an availability search (link resolver), a second search in the local library catalogue must follow the search in a subject database.
  • Literature that is not available locally or in form of free electronic articles can be easily ordered via interlibrary loan.

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