...you may find these database search tips and hacks a useful review.

#1) I found a citation / article title on the internet.  What's the quickest way to see if I can get the full text of this from FSU?

I'm glad you asked. Simply run the article's full title as a phrase search in the RamSearch box on the library's main page.  If we have access to the full text, the item should be the only or first result.

e.g: "Competency-based Public Human Resource Management (PHRM) from a Comparative Perspective"

#2)  I found a search result on the library website, but there doesn't seem to be full text - it told me to request it using the interlibrary loan form. Is there anything I can do to double-check whether the full text might be online somewhere before I send in that request?

Sure - run the article's title as a phrase, with the double quotes around it (as in the example from #1), but in Google or your favorite search engine. Scholarly articles may be available free in institution repositories, hybrid / transformative journals, on ResearchGate account pages, or on author personal websites - you never know 'til you check.

#3)  I started to search, but I just don't seem to be finding anything really useful. What am I doing wrong?

It's always - ever has been - and ever will be - about the keywords.

Unlike online search engines, most academic databases don't search the whole text of a document (though some are starting to offer that as an option these days) for your topic-specific search words (keywords).  Database contents are 'labeled' with terms describing the contents (title, author, journal it is in, date, words describing the subjects within, etc.). Those 'labels' (aka: metadata) are what the database search function examines in order to pull search results out for you. You'd be surprised at how many relevant results you can miss out on - if you happen to not have chosen the terminology, especially the terms unique to your field, that the authors did!

Acronyms can be especially important - but beware, for some short acronyms are used in multiple disciplines / industries but with different meanings!

As working professionals, you are the subject experts, but unless you've been doing research frequently, or if you're moving into a different managerial sector, you may not yet be thoroughly versed in all the local lingo.

That said, background research can get you up to speed, as can keeping an eye out for relevant keywords and terms in articles and book titles, in article abstracts, in the 'subject terms' or 'keywords' the databases sometimes lists with results. You'll start out with one search query, then gather alternative or better terms or synonyms as you go along.

#4) Oh, I found stuff all right - but way, way too much. Any tips on separating the wheat from the chaff?

All academic databases give you the ability to limit your results - some before, but most generally after - you've run a search. Exactly what limits they offer can vary a little, but all have the ability to limit by the following useful basics:

• date range
• source type or format (book vs article vs magazine vs audio vs various types of gray lit. vs video....etc.)
• language the item is in
• peer reviewed articles (the link to limit to these may be separated out from the general source type limiters, and made more prominent)

A more specific search query can help you limit your results from the get-go. The database will deliver to you exactly what you ask for - so if you search using a basic, general term or phrase...well, it'll look pretty similar to the typical gazillion of Google search results.

In general...the more keywords you use - i.e., being specific about what you want - the smaller, yet better focused your search results will tend to be. Most of our databases give you a search option with multiple search boxes, and even the ability to add more - so you can add in ALL your necessary keywords.

Another way to refine your search results is to go to the advanced search page, put all your search keywords into how ever many boxes it takes, and then to tell the database to search for your terms in a particular field - such as in the title, or the abstract, for example, which would guarantee that the results would be very focused on your topic - as opposed to just mentioned in passing somewhere in the article or book. The fields you can choose from tend to be available just to the right of the search boxes, in little pull-down menus.