Introduction to the Web of Science platform
Contents
Introduction
In this resource we will Web of Science in the (default) Basic Search mode using the research topic.
“Adolescent attitude towards contraception”
What is special about Web of Science?
The advantage of the Web of Science database is that it is not subject specific and therefore it can point you towards relevant results in subject areas that you may not have considered searching.
This database also indicates how many articles have been written on a topic in a given year.
Tip: The Web of Science database is not subject-specific and does not include any MeSH trees or auto-complete searching tools, therefore you do need to know what search words you want to use.
Searching activity
The search will be a free text search for the two concepts; the first concept is “adolescent attitude”, and the second concept is “contraception” OR “birth control”.
In this search we will use the Basic Search page because it looks similar in layout to the search screens that we have used in the guides produced for the EBSCO and Proquest platforms.
When you first log on to the Web of Science Basic Search you are given one search box. It is important to note that a separate search box is required for each concept. This means that if you have a search which has several concepts that you wish to combine, each concept and its variants should be presented on a separate line. The variants on each line may be connected with OR and then all of the lines are connected with AND.
In the Web of Science basic search page:
- Add an extra row so that you have two search boxes. The Boolean operator between the two boxes should remain set as AND.
- Type your first concept “adolescent attitude” in the first box and your second concept “contraception OR birth control” in the second box making sure both boxes are set as Topic and click on Search.
You will see the Publication Years option on the left side of the screen. Web of Science shows the years of the most frequent publication in that subject area and this is useful to determine how much research has been done in that subject area.
3. Limit your search to the last 5 years and click ‘Refine’.
4. You can also refine the Research Area, for example try refining to Psychology Clinical.
Your Search History can be found by clicking on the ‘Search History’ link at the top-right of the search screen. You should have a table that looks similar to this:
Other features of Web of Science
- Web of Science hosts EndNote online and Journal Citation Reports. These links are found within the Web of Science database at the top of the Web of Science homepage.
- You can save your searches by creating an account — See the ‘Sign In’ link at the top of the Web of Science homepage.
