? replaces any single character ( wom?n finds women or woman)
The catalog DOES NOT search determiners (a, the, an) or prepositions well
You can also click on the hyperlinked Subject Headings within a book record to find out approximately how many books in the library use that same term for description.
Helpful Subject Headings (NOT an exhaustive list!):
Discourse Analysis
Intercultural Communication
Language and Culture
Language and Sex
Go to Pirate Source to find Research Guides by subject. From the Library Home page, select Info By Subject; Pirate Source is the first entry. Helpful subjects within Pirate Source are:
ABELL (Annual Bibliography of English Language and Literature): This index provides access to more than 830,000 citations on topics related to the study of the English language, linguistics, and/or literature. While the official index years cover 1920-present, some indexed records have been added back to 1892. For results integrated with fulltext articles, connect to the Literature Online interface through this link.
Communications Abstracts: Indexes and abstracts communication-related articles, reports and books. Coverage includes general, mass, interpersonal, small group and organizational communication, as well as theory, advertising and marketing, broadcasting, journalism, public relations, radio, public opinion, speech, and television.
LLBA (Linguistics and Language Behaviors Abstracts): This database indexes and provides abstracts of articles, books, book reviews, for all aspects of the study of language. Major areas of coverage include applied linguistics, discourse analysis, psycholinguistics, and semiotics.
PsycINFO: This database includes articles on teaching and learning (and is particularly strong in language acquisition), and contains a variety of document types, from journal articles to empirical research. Follow this link (/Reference/Instruction/SearchingPsycINFO.htm) to a search guide.
Many of our databases include the full text of articles. In some cases, though, the full text of an article may not be available online in the database you are using due to publishers' restrictions or the prohibitive cost of providing them online. Increasingly, when you search for articles in the library's databases you will see the button on your results list or on the screen showing the citation/abstract of the article.
Serial Solutions is a service offered by Joyner and Laupus Libraries that allows you, at the click of a button, to go from an article citation in one database to a full text copy of that article in another, or to see if a particular article or specific journal is available in full text electronic format. It also allows you to find out if that journal is available in print at either Joyner or Laupus.
What if the article I want is not available full-text online?
If the article is not available online, you can check the Joyner Library catalog or the Laupus Health Sciences catalog to see if it is held in printed form. The button does this for you automatically from within databases. If you live within Pitt County you would need to come to the library to make a copy of the article. If you are a distance-learning studentliving outside of Pitt County, you can have articles copied and sent to you, using Interlibrary Lending. See: http://www.lib.ecu.edu/Distance/de_ill.htm
Citation Linker: If you already have a citation from someone else’s bibliography and want to find out if we have that article, key it into the Citation Linker. When you click the Find IT! Button at the bottom of the page, you will generate an menu of options that works like the one described above.
Don’t forget about Interlibrary Loan!
If Joyner doesn’t have the book or journal article you need, request this item by interlibrary loan.
Journal articles are often delivered electronically within a few days.
Books may take a couple of weeks to become available.
