GEO 5991: Graduate Seminar in Geology (Kulkarni)

• Course research guide for GEO 5991: Graduate Seminar in Geology with Harshad Kulkarni

Subject Search in EBSCOHost

While the EBSCOhost is a subject-broad-based, comprehensive, overarching databases, limiting search only to subject field is much more effective way than a keyword search in terms of generating meaningful results.

General speaking, subject terms are controlled vocabulary, i.e., already predetermined, so they should more accurately reflect the content of the item (e.g.the content of an article).  As a result, if you combine a subject term - even broad in scope - with another specific words (your research focus), the chances are you could still get some narrow, yet targeted results from databases.

So the search strategy could be:  A term in Subject field + Specifc or concrete word (your focus), as an example in #2 below

  1. Geology - As Subject Search Results: 261 K
  2. Geochemistry - As Subject Search Results: 73 K >   Geochemistry + osmosis > 31 results 
  3. geophysics - As Subject Search Results: 69 K
  4. Sedimentology - As Subject Search Results: 9.4 K
  5. stratigraphy - As Subject Search Results: 8.5 K
  6. Volcanology - As Subject Search Results: 3.2 K
  7. Water cycle - As Subject Search Results: 1.6 K
  8. Geoinformatics - As Subject Search Results: 424 
  9. Paleoenvironmental reconstruction - As Subject Search Results: 261
  10. Polar and climate sciences  - As Subject Search Results: 102