Penn State University Libraries - LionSearch Help

Searching Basics

• Select options from the menu on the left hand side of the results screen to refine your search. Popular choices for limiting your results are to select documents that are available with full text online, from scholarly publications or not in newspapers.
  
• Select as many options as you wish, but allow the screen to refresh between each one; the number of results decreases each time you refine your search.
  
• You can also refine your results by Content Type. Click on the boxes to select specific content types such as journal article, book, newspaper article. Clicking on more options in any facet area produces a pop-up box of relevant terms.
  
• Use the slider(s) to change the Publication Date range of results. Hover over each vertical bar to see how many relevant articles were published in that year.
  
• Include or Exclude subject terms from your search by clicking on the boxes. Click on Continue to update your results.
• To search for a phrase use double quotation marks “ ”.
  

Phrase Searching

Use quotation marks to search for phrases.  For example, the query “teacher education” will find results with that phrase.

Advanced Searching

At higher levels of study and research, and for literature reviews, a strategic approach to searching is needed. The success of your search depends on the keywords that you use.

• Identify your keywords in your assignment or related to your topic.
  
• Use a thesaurus or dictionary to find related or similar terms.
  
• Don’t forget to search for people, places and organizations related to your topic.
  
• Use acronyms and full names.
  
• Expand keywords by thinking around your topic, eg computing, information technology, IT.
  
• Identify words from different cultures, eg rubbish/garbage.
  
• Continue to revise your search, eg use the Refine your search section in LionSearch, which suggests types of content, specific subject terms and publication dates (found on the left hand side of the search results screen). 

Boolean searching: combining keywords using AND, OR, NOT

Using AND will narrow a search. The more words or phrases connected by AND the fewer and more specific results retrieved. AND links different con­cepts or ideas.

The above example will only find items with all three terms in every docu­ment.

Using OR will broaden a search. OR links similar concepts or ideas.

The above example will retrieve any item that contains either or both phrases.

NOT narrows a search as it excludes any item containing that specific search term within it.

The above example will retrieve all items about military history, except those that mention world wars.

Note: Use CAPITAL LETTERS when using AND, OR, NOT in the LionSearch search box.

Phrase searching and using wildcards

By putting double quotation marks “ ” around a set of words, you will search for the exact words in that exact order without any change.  For example, to find items about study skills, enter “study skills”.

• Using wildcards helps find alternative spellings and word endings.
  The question mark ? will match any one character, eg to find organ­isation or organization, enter organi?ation (this is useful for including British and American spellings).
  
• The asterisk * will match zero or more characters within a word, eg a search for behavio*r would find behaviour and behavior.
  
• The asterisk * at the end of a word will match all word endings, eg a search for manag* would find manage, manages, manager, managing, management, etc.
  

Advanced search screen

Use the advanced search options to be more specific in your search, eg enter main keyword in the title box.

If you are looking for a specific journal article from a reading list or bibliogra­phy, enter details in the appropriate search boxes.

Example: an article on ritual by Middleton in the journal Drama Review

If you want to look for articles on a certain topic which have been published in a specific journal, enter the keywords, along with the journal title.

Example: articles on adolescent crime in the journal Youth & Society

Refine Your Search

If you refine your search by adding results beyond Penn State’s collection, you will find references for items that are not immediately available.

Results

Print/Email in APA format

Use the “Save this item” feature that shows up in the top right corner of each record to save that item to a temporary folder.  Open the “Saved Items” folder (in the bottom right of the screen) and choose either to print or email your list of records.

LionSearch offers direct export with Refworks and Endnote as well as the option to export to a Bibtex file which many other citation managers can read. Here is a brief screencast of how this feature works for Refworks and Endnote...

http://screencast.com/t/x8maRsftpg. 

For a video about how to use Zotero with LionSearch, check out this video...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qz4YR5b6uqY

To export items to EndNote Web, use the desired format (APA, MLA) and export to EndNote. Then launch EndNote Web and go to Collect, click on Import References and browse in Downloads; your references should be in a file with “ris” as the file extension; use the REFMAN RIS Import Option NOT EndNote Import Option; add it to either Unfiled or New Group or another folder if you already have been using EndNote Web.
 
My friend and I did the same search but our results were different.  What happened?

There are several possibilities. Using the copy-and-paste functions will sometimes yield different results from a typed search due to hidden characters in the record.  Also, since the LionSearch data is updated frequently, search results will vary over time. Finally, some publishers restrict the amount of information available to off-campus, un-authenticated users, which can have a major impact on your search results.

I am now a student at Hershey.  Why do my results look different from when I used LionSearch at Mont Alto?

Hershey’s version of LionSearch is slightly different and so your results may vary somewhat.  (Note: We are working towards having a single version for all locations.)

LionSearch and the CAT

LionSearch says there are more copies of a book but when I follow the link, I just see other volumes? Why?

LionSearch cannot discern the difference between volumes and copies.  It calls all multiple pieces “copies”.

How do I place a hold on an item in LionSearch?

After you identify an item you would like to hold, click on its title in LionSearch. This will take you to the item’s record in the CAT, where you can then choose the “I Want It” button to place a hold.

Why do I get different results when searching the CAT using LionSearch than when I’m using the CAT interface?  

LionSearch does not index as much of the CAT record as we do in our local interface, so the CAT interface tends to result in more records retrieved.