This week’s motivational minute is from Deb Henry at USF St. Petersburg. She had a questions from a student on the academic desk from Florida Gulf Coast University about not having any luck finding journal articles on brainstorming, thinking she may have been searching incorrectly. Using her great reference skills, Deb was able to ask the right questions to find out what brainstorming topics the student really needed like brainstorming from a psychological viewpoint or how people brainstorm in a business environment or just in general.

Deb pointed her to the correct database, subject heading and limiting the results on the returned search page. Deb finished by telling the student that ” Getting into a database that covers the subject matter is half the battle and then just some trial and error with terms to use. At the end the student was so appreciative and said Deb had been such a big help. Another rewarding chat with a grateful student. THANKS Deb!

Question: Hi there- I am not having any luck finding journals for a specific topic. Perhaps I am searching incorrectly?

You have been connected to Deb – USF St. Petersburg.
Deb – USF St. Petersburg: Welcome to Ask a Librarian; my name is Deb and I will assist you today.
Deb – USF St. Petersburg: Hi, what is your topic and what databases or resources have you been using?
Patron: Brainstorming
Patron: I have been using my schools Journal database
Patron: I need to find a few journals w/ 1, 2, and 3-7 authors
Patron: Not having any luck. Maybe I am doing it wrong?
Deb – USF St. Petersburg: Are you looking at brainstorming from a psychological viewpoint or how people brainstorm in a business environment or just in general? Also, do I understand the you need to find at least one article written by one author another by two authors and then at least a third that has 3 or more authors?
Patron: Yes, that is what I need to find.
Patron: Actually, just general
Deb – USF St. Petersburg: FGCU doesn’t let me see what databases you have access to (I’m from USFSP) but if you have access to a database called Academic Search Premier or Omnifile full text Mega, I can go into those through my library and work with you that way.
Patron: Hmm..I’m not sure if I do
Deb – USF St. Petersburg: From the FGCU library home page you should see a link to DATABASES under the Find Books and articles heading on the left side of the screen
Patron: Ok, yes I have access to that
Deb – USF St. Petersburg: The system will ask you to log into using your student information but you should then be able to see what databases are available.
Patron: Ok I found Omnifile
Patron: That one is listed in the Databases. I do not have Academic Search Premier access
Deb – USF St. Petersburg: I will go into my Omni file
Deb – USF St. Petersburg: If you type in brainstorming, you will get a lot of hits. I would look on the left and select scholarly journals (peer-reviewed) and narrow the results
Deb – USF St. Petersburg: The most recent article should appear first in your list and then the articles will get older.
Patron: Terrific
Deb – USF St. Petersburg: Brainstorming is actually a subject heading so if you redo the search and change the pull down menu to SU for subject from any field, you will improve relevancy
Patron: Is there any way to tell it to search for a certain number of authors? Or that will just be me searching it out?
Deb – USF St. Petersburg: Let me look at that
Deb – USF St. Petersburg: I don’t think they have an option for the number of authors but you can change the number of results per page to 50 instead of 10 per page which is the default. That way you could scan more quickly through the list and mark the articles that have potential.
Patron: Excellent!
Deb – USF St. Petersburg: For example on my list as you get into the teens, I see some articles with multiple authors
Deb – USF St. Petersburg: I do see some 2 author articles as well.
Patron: Okay so it is just a matter of searching
Deb – USF St. Petersburg: Getting into a database that covers the subject matter is half the battle and then just some trial and error with terms to use but brainstorming looks like a popular topic.
Patron: Okay great
Deb – USF St. Petersburg: Can I help you with anything else?
Patron: No, thank you. You have been such a big help! Thank you so much
Deb – USF St. Petersburg: You are welcome. Good luck with your assignment