Navigating the Resources of Lamar University Library: A Comprehensive Guide
The Lamar University Library stands as a cornerstone of academic life, offering a wealth of resources to support students, faculty, and researchers in their scholarly pursuits. Understanding how to effectively navigate these resources is crucial for maximizing their potential. This guide provides a detailed overview of the library's offerings, with a particular focus on its extensive database collections.
Accessing Databases: Avenues for Discovery
The Lamar University Library provides multiple pathways to access its diverse range of databases. Whether you have a specific database in mind or are exploring resources within a particular field of study, the library offers intuitive methods to guide your search.
- Database List: If you know the specific database you need, you can choose the "Database List" option and click on the letter corresponding to the database name.
- Database List by Subject: If you are exploring resources within a particular subject or field of study, such as medicine or education, you can choose the "Database List" and then click on the "Database List by Subject" option. This will allow you to browse databases relevant to your area of interest.
Mastering Database Searches: Keywords and Search Options
Once you have accessed a database, the next step is to effectively search for relevant information. Each database has unique search options, so it is important to familiarize yourself with them. The key to a successful search lies in using appropriate keywords and terms related to your topic. Experiment with different combinations of keywords to refine your search results and uncover the most relevant articles.
Deciphering Search Results: Full-Text Availability and JournalFinder
The search results within a database typically present a list of article citations. Many databases provide full-text articles, allowing you to directly read, print, or download the complete article.
- Full-Text Articles: Articles available as PDF or full-page images are scans of the original articles, preserving the original formatting and layout.
- JournalFinder: If the full text of an article is not available within the database, you will typically see a link for "JournalFinder." This tool helps you determine if the Lamar University Library has access to the article through another database or in print.
Exploring Key Databases: A Detailed Overview
The Lamar University Library boasts a robust collection of databases catering to diverse academic disciplines. Here's a closer look at some of the prominent databases available:
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Academic Search Complete: A Multidisciplinary Powerhouse
Academic Search Complete stands out as the world's most valuable and comprehensive scholarly, multi-disciplinary full-text database. It features more than 8,500 full-text periodicals, including over 7,300 peer-reviewed journals. This extensive collection covers a wide range of subjects, making it an excellent starting point for research across disciplines.
Beyond full-text articles, Academic Search Complete offers indexing and abstracts for over 12,500 journals and a total of more than 13,200 publications, including monographs, reports, and conference proceedings. The database also provides access to PDF content dating back to 1887, with a significant portion of full-text titles available in their original (searchable) PDF format.
Education-Focused Databases: Resources for Educators and Researchers
The Lamar University Library offers a suite of specialized databases catering to the needs of educators and researchers in the field of education, including:
- Educational Administration Abstracts: This database includes bibliographic records covering areas related to educational administration, including educational leadership, educational management, educational research, and other areas of key relevance to the discipline.
- ERIC (Education Resource Information Center): ERIC provides access to a vast collection of education literature and resources, making it an indispensable tool for educators, researchers, and policymakers.
- Education Collection: Designed for professional educators, this database provides a highly specialized collection of nearly 520 high-quality education journals, including more than 350 peer-reviewed titles. It also contains more than 200 educational reports.
Mental Measurements Yearbook with Tests in Print: A Guide to Testing Instruments
Produced by the Buros Institute of Mental Measurements at the University of Nebraska, the Mental Measurements Yearbook with Tests in Print serves as a comprehensive guide to over 3,000 contemporary testing instruments. Designed for a diverse audience, ranging from novice test consumers to experienced professionals, the MMY series contains essential information for a complete evaluation of test products within diverse areas.
Tests in Print (TIP) serves as a comprehensive bibliography to all known commercially available tests that are currently in print in the English language.
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Psychology & Behavioral Sciences Collection: Exploring the Human Mind
Psychology & Behavioral Sciences Collection is a comprehensive database covering information concerning topics in emotional and behavioral characteristics, psychiatry & psychology, mental processes, anthropology, and observational & experimental methods. This database provides a wealth of resources for students, researchers, and practitioners in the fields of psychology and related disciplines.
PsycINFO®: The Premier Resource for Behavioral Science and Mental Health
The PsycINFO® database, maintained by the American Psychological Association (APA), is a renowned resource for abstracts of scholarly journal articles, book chapters, books, and dissertations. As the largest resource devoted to peer-reviewed literature in behavioral science and mental health, PsycINFO® contains over 3 million records and summaries dating back to the 1600s. It also boasts one of the highest DOI matching rates in the publishing industry, ensuring reliable access to cited materials.
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