Reference Database and Research Course Outline

Duration: 2 hours and 30 minutes online course presented from 09:00 – 11:30  

Databases Covered: SACat Plus set of databases, SA Citations set of databases, African Industry Reports, Sabinet African Archives Index, SA News (which includes SA Media, Sabinet Newswire, African News Agency (ANA) and the South African Press Association (SAPA) Archive).

These databases are available on Sabinet Discover.

Target group

Learners participating in this programme are assumed to have to have basic computer and Windows literacy. Learners will mainly include serious information seekers needing information for reasons such as research studies, market expansion, personal upliftment etc.

Objectives of the course

This session covers the methodology of where and how to look for and find references to books and articles. Sabinet Discover consist of databases like SACat and ISAP amongst others which contains bibliographic information referring to books, journals, audio-visual items, technical reports, electronic resources, news articles and other information materials.

Sabinet’s research content includes African Industry Reports, Sabinet African Archives Index, SA Media (News Clippings); Sabinet Newswire; African News Agency (ANA) and the South African Press Association (SAPA) Archive.

Topics covered

1. Overview of databases available to find details of books, journals, audio-visual items, technical reports, electronic resources, news articles and other information resources

1.1. In-depth detail of each of the above database’s content
1.2. Coverage and content of each database
1.3. The main use of each database

2. Interface

2.1. Navigational Buttons
2.2. Explanation of different panes
2.3. Various hyperlinks

3. Searching

3.1. Basic search
3.2. Advanced Search
3.3 Exact Phrase Search
3.4. Search within Results
3.5. New/Clear Current search
3.6. Searchable parts of the item
3.7. Save Search/Create Alert
3.8. List Searching
3.9. Sorting results
3.10. Filter results
3.11. Add to Action list
3.12. Download file
3.13. Add to My Briefcase

4. Advanced Search Strategies

4.1. Boolean
4.2. Proximity
4.3. Truncation
4.4. Wildcards and plurals

5. Viewing of Records/Results

5.1. Viewing Full Text
5.2. Navigating between search results
5.3. Share
5.4. Print item
5.5. Add to action list
5.6. My Briefcases

6. Questions and Answers