OASIS: Interpreting Search Results

Evaluating search results

Most databases have several ways of displaying your results. Often the search results are first displayed as a list of brief records, like the example below:

Notice this list of brief records includes only a journal title (listed under JN) and article title.

You would need to View Complete Record to evaluate the information. For example, if you were interested in #2, you would select that record.

Below is the full record display for #2. The information in the Abstract (AB) and Subject (DE) fields should help you decide whether this article is relevant to your topic. Also note the date and title of the periodical (listed under "Source") to see if the material is appropriate for your information needs.

Notice the subject headings (listed under DE) for this item which indicate the major topics covered in this article.

The full record display also provides the bibliographic information you need to get the complete article.

Here is the information you need: author, article, title, and most importantly, the full journal title, issue date and pages.