Cybercrime Research: Keywords and Subject Headings in Academic Search Premier

Sometimes a term for a topic may have variations in how it is spelled out.  For example, “Cybercrime” shows up in various forms:

cybercrime
cyber-crime
cyber crime

In this brief tutorial, you’ll see how to see an easy way to use the word “or” to search these variations in one search, and you’ll see how to use subject terms in Academic Search Premier:

To access Academic Search Premier, go to our library site:

http://library.jwu.edu/

…and click on the “Databases” link.
…then click on “Academic Search Premier”

Starting out with keywords:

It may be useful to search all of the keyword variations to find what you need.  For a quick search, you could search cybercrime (and each variation) as a keyword in the title.  An easy way to do this in one step is to insert the word OR between your terms to enter them in the same search (and for phrases, it’s often beneficial to use quotation marks to keep your terms as phrases).

Here’s an example of how to use Academic Search Premier to find articles that contain cybercrime, cyber-crime or cyber crime in the title (of the article).  To search for articles with these keywords in the title, select “TI Title” in the dropdown box to the right.  See the example below; the terms and drop-down item have been underlined in red:

Revising your search with relevant subject terms:

After looking at your results, it may be useful to redo the search by using Subject Terms that are relevant to the topic.  Here are a few of them listed in Academic Search Premier:

COMPUTER crimes
COMPUTER crimes — Investigation
COMPUTER hackers
CREDIT card fraud
CYBERTERRORISM
IDENTITY theft
INFORMATION technology
INTERNET fraud

To search for articles by subject, choose “SU Subject Terms” in the dropdown box on the right:

 

Here are some additional subjects that you might consider.  You can search them individually (if they’re closely related to your main topic), or use them to narrow your search by adding them to the row below:

ACCESS control
COMPUTER security
COMPUTER viruses
CONFIDENTIAL business information
CRIME
CYBERSPACE
DATA protection
DATA security
GANGS
LAW
ORGANIZED crime
SWINDLERS & swindling
UNITED States. Dept. of Justice
UNITED States. Secret Service

 

Military & Government Collection:

Another database you may want to use for this topic is Military & Government Collection.  It comes from Ebsco, the same company that gives us Academic Search Premier, and you can use the same subjects listed above to find more articles on your topic.

Please note:
Subject terms used in one database often may not be the same in another, especially if the databases are from different vendors.  The best strategy in searching is to use keywords that relate to your topic, and then revise your search using relevant subject terms. 

Also, if you are ever in a database and don’t see “subject” as a searchable field, don’t stress out…some databases use the term “descriptors” or “topics” instead of “subject” as a searchable option.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask…

-by using the instant message feature (meebo) in the upper-right pane of this blog.

-by phone:  305-892-7043

-or stop by, we’re happy to help.