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Library Welcome Guide: Searching ScienceDirect

This is your portal to information, resources and services to assist your studies.

The database ScienceDirect provides access to a vast amount of information on a variety of topics (including  physical sciences, engineering, life sciences, health sciences, social sciences and humanities) from around the world.  Learn how to use the advanced search functions to locate useful information effectively and efficiently. 

How to search ScienceDirect

Accessing ScienceDirect

Access the database ScienceDirect by typing in the following address https://my.sit.ac.nz.  Enter your SIT email address and password to open the MySIT page.

Access the online databases via the library’s MySIT page, click on the Library tab in the top ribbon.

Click the Online Databases & Journals tile to open the A-Z of online databases and electronic journals.

The A – Z of databases will open in a new window.  Click the ScienceDirect link in the Featured Databases box.

The ScienceDirect landing page will open in a new window.

The advanced search format on ScienceDirect looks quite different to other databases.  However, it is still a great database to search for academic articles it just requires a slightly different search approach.

 

Creating an advanced search

None of the available fields are mandatory.  You are simply required to complete at least one search bar with searchable information.  Unless you are looking for a specific journal or book the library recommends using the search bars Find articles with these terms and Year(s).

The search bar Find articles with these terms allows you to use multiple keywords and use the search techniques phrase searching (quotation marks), Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT) and nested searching (use of brackets).

  • Please note the search technique truncation (the asterisk to find different endings of a word) cannot be used in ScienceDirect.

 

Applying filters after a search

When the database returns the search results you can refine your search results by applying filters.  The filters panel is displayed on the left side of the screen.  You do not need to utilise all available filters, select the filters that are relevant for your search.

Organising the results list

By default, the results are sorted by relevance.  To sort by date, click the date option.

At the bottom of the page use the display options to set how many results are displayed on each page.

 

Accessing articles

After running a search, you can directly open the pdf by clicking View PDF or click the title to go to the article’s detailed record.

The detailed records of some articles will have the option of HTML full text and view PDF. 

  • There is a difference between HTML full text and PDF full text.  HTML displays as one long continuous page and does not display page numbers.  You will need to reference a HTML article as an electronic source with counted paragraphs.  PDF is a scanned copy of the original article and has page numbers.

Scroll down the page to view the article in HTML format or select a particular section of the article from the outline menu.  Click on View PDF to view the article in PDF format.  You can then save or print the article.

 

Reading the PDF version of the article 

Within the PDF reader you can download or print the article.

 

When only the article's abstract is available...

When searching you will come across articles that are abstract only, meaning only the abstract is available to read.

In this situation you can request the article through interlibrary loan.  Email the library (library@sit.ac.nz) the article’s title, authors, name of journal, year, volume number, issue number (if applicable) and page range.

  • The library will try and locate a New Zealand library who can provide the article.  For most articles a unique URL and password will be emailed to you to access the article.  You can download or print the article.  The article is available for 30 days or 5 downloads.  On the rare occasion, due to publisher restrictions, you may have to collect a printed copy of the article from the Invercargill SIT Library.  For distance students this printed copy will be posted to you.   

 

My account is where you manage search alerts, view your search and reading history and receive recommendations.  My account is accessed using your SIT login details.

Signing in to My Account

Click the My Account link in the top right corner.

Click Sign in via your organization.

In the Organization name or email section type Southern Institute of Technology and click Southern Institute of Technology from the drop-down menu.

Enter your SIT email address and click Continue.

Enter your SIT password and click Sign in. 

Remember you MUST sign in to create search alerts and retain your search and reading history.

Search alerts save valuable research time and can be set up to provide automatic email notification whenever new search results become available.

 

Creating a search alert

After running a search, on the results page select Set search alert.

Enter a name for this search alert, click the arrow to select the frequency (weekly or monthly) you want the search to run and click Save.

 

Managing your search alerts

To access your search alerts, you must be signed in to your My Account.  Once signed in, click the My Account icon located in the top right corner and select Manage alerts.

Click the Search tab to view your search alerts.  From this page you can view the latest results for your search, edit your search alert or delete the alert.

 

Search history

When you are signed in to your My Account on ScienceDirect, your searches are automatically added to your search history page.

To access your search history, sign in to your My Account.  Once signed in, click the My Account icon located in the top right corner and select Search history.

Your search history page lists up to 100 of your most recent searches on ScienceDirect. It also shows the most recent date and time when you ran those searches.

  • If you run the same search query multiple times within a short space of time, only the most recent of those searches (the last timestamp) will appear on the search history page.

 

Reading history

When you are signed in to your My Account on ScienceDirect, the articles you read are added to your reading history page each time you access them.

To access your reading history, sign in to your My Account.  Once signed in, click the My Account icon located in the top right corner and select Reading history.

Your reading history page lists up to 100 articles/chapters you have recently read in ScienceDirect and the most recent date and time you read the document.

  • When you download the PDF, a 'last download' timestamp is displayed on the item's details.

 

Science Direct Tutorial Videos

Science Direct Tutorials provide visual guides to using the database including performing an advanced search, reviewing documents and browsing journals.  Click the link below to access these tutorials.