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TMC Research Hints

Off Campus Access

To access databases from off campus, go to the Cortland Homepage and proceed as follows:

Find the Cortland homepage and click on the Library link.
Under Databases, click on By Subject. In the list of subjects, click on Education. This will bring up a list of databases specific to Education. Decide which database you want to use.
Click on the specific name. A box will pop up and ask you for your Net ID. This is the ID (myRedDragon) that you use to access the computers in the Library. Initially, it is composed of your firstname.lastname (username) and your last name plus the last 4 digits of your C# (password). In many cases, you have already changed this password to something more familiar to you. If you use Cortland email, try using the username and password for your Cortland email to access the databases.

To request articles or books from ILL, you will need to have an ILLIAD account. This takes a few minutes to set up but is invaluable after it’s done. Go to the Cortland Homepage and proceed as follows

Click on the Library link.
Once you are on the Library homepage, click on ILL underneath the Services section.
Next, click on ILLIAD. As most of you will be setting up your account, put your C# in the Username box. DO NOT KEY ANYTHING INTO THE PASSWORD BOX
Next, click on Logon to ILLiad
If you get a screen that asks you to set up an account, fill in all the required blanks and your account will be ready to use. To use this account, you will need to remember your C# and the password that you create.
If you get a reply that indicates user not found or account not found, email libraryemail@cortland.edu with your C# and your problem with ILL OR go back to the original ILL screen and click on the Having Problems Accessing Illiad link.
We will answer you question as soon as possible and add your C# to the database so you will be able to set up an account. The beauty of this account is the ease with which you can ask for ILL items. ILLIAD takes your account information and adds it to the record you have requested and sends it off to be retrieved and mailed to you. This does not cost anything.
Articles will be mailed or emailed to you. Books can be picked up at the Circulation Desk.
PLEASE NOTE: If the item you are requesting is actually in the library (hardcopy, microform, online), we cannot order it for you.

Periodical Holdings

This can be found on the Library homepage and is a listing of all the periodicals/journals we have available, in print or online, at Memorial Library.

If you want to see if a specific journal is available in the Library, Periodical Holdings is the link you need to use. When you click on this link, you can search for the journal several ways. An alpha sort appears at the top of the page. This allows you to search by the first letter of the title of the journal. A box beginning with Title Begins With allows you to search by the first few words of the title. A Please Select a Subject Category box allows you to search by the subject category.
You can scroll through the appropriate letter for the first word of the journal OR you can key in the title of the journal into the blank box and click Search.
When you key in the journal name and click Search, the title of the journal will appear with 2 selections: Look Up Article and More Full Text Options in SUNY Cortland Print Holdings. If you click on Look Up Article, you will need to fill in the bibliographic information. If you click More Full Text Options, you will be sent 360 link page which directs you to the SUNY Cortland online catalog.

Check 360 Link for Full Text

This link is found on most articles and resembles the Periodical Holdings link just discussed. It is best to read the abstract of the article to decide if it will be helpful to you. If it is an appropriate article, click on the Check 360 Link for Full Text. When you click on this link,

If it is available in the Library, three sections will appear on the page. These sections are: Search Criteria, Content is available via the following links, and More full-text options. The Search Criteria identifies the article, author, journal Title, ISSN, publishing date, volume, issue, and page. The Content is available via links identifies the Article, Journal, and SUNY Cortland print holdings or databases. More full-text options identifies additional resources that may be used.
If the journal is NOT available in the Library, the message Sorry, no holdings were found for this journal will appear. Please note: if you receive this message, a link to submit an interlibrary loan request will also appear.

General Searching Hints

Try to go from a broad search to a narrow search. Most grad students are very explicit with the terms they use. If your initial search finds 25 or fewer articles, you are definitely in the ballpark for a good, efficient search.

Limit your searches by full text, peer reviewed, date published, and journal articles (document type).
If an article says View full text HTML or View full text PDF, remember that you can print these articles in their full text form. HTML gives you text only while PDF gives you charts and pictures. In some cases, HTML works better than PDF.
In order to print the article, you MUST click on that HTML or PDF link and OPEN the article so that you can READ the whole article in front of you. That is a major thing with full text. If you can read the whole thing, you will be able to print the entire article. You can also email the articles to yourself but, again, you have to open them up. When you email an article, you will receive a link in your email. Click on that link and the entire article should be there.

Thesaurus in ERIC

Once you have accessed ERIC (or another useful database) using your Net ID, a search box containing 6 boxes will appear. Before you start searching, you may want to check out the Thesaurus link just above the search boxes.

This link will take you to a thesaurus specifically for ERIC. Because ERIC uses a controlled vocabulary, this thesaurus may help you use the term that ERIC uses for your search topic.
If you type in inclusion and press the FIND button, a number of selections will come up. After many selections, the word Expand is found. If you click on this word, it will give you more suggestions to use.
If you click on the word inclusion, you will have a great number of journal articles about that term but there will be too many for you to look through easily.
Once you see a term that fits your needs, go back to the search box and use this term in one of the blank boxes. You may not need to do this but it is always a good option.

Lorraine Melita
Teaching Materials Center and Outreach Librarian
email: lorraine.melita@cortland.edu
phone : 607-753-4009