Scope:
Family Studies Database (FSSW) is the world's most comprehensive resource in the fields of family science, human ecology and human development. Produced and published by the National Information Services Center, FSSW provides over 198,000 abstracts and bibliographic records drawn from over one thousand professional journals, books, popular literature, conference papers, government reports and other sources, many of which are found only in FSSW. FSSW also includes FAMILY, the Australian Family & Society Abstracts, which indexes over 37,000 records about Australian families and the social issues that affect them.

Availability:
24 hours a day, 7 days a week. On campus through the library or campus computing centers. Remote access requires CSULB authentication and is restricted to students, faculty and staff of CSULB. For help with remote access follow the directions at http://www.csulb.edu/library/access.html

Access:
From the library's home page, select Research Databases and then the Alphabetical list. http://www.csulb.edu/library/eref/eref.html. Click on "F," and then click on the title "Family and Society Studies Worldwide."

Searching:
There are three types of searches you can perform in FSSW; the quick search, the advanced search and the expert search. There is no default search. Each time you enter the database, you will have to choose which search you want to use.

Quick Search:
This is a very basic search where only the minimum input is needed to perform a search. To perform the search, do the following:

• Type in your search terms in either the "all of the words" (searches for all the words you enter in that box, i.e., performs a Boolean "and" search) or the "any of the words" (searches for any of the words you enter in that box, i.e., performs a Boolean "or" search) search boxes. Using Boolean terms ("and," "or," & "not") will help refine your search.
• If you know that you need articles by a specific author, you can type in the authors name in the "Author" box.
• If you know that you need articles within a specific year or set of years, you can type those in the "Year(s)" box.
• Click on the search button to perform the search.
• If you need help with any aspect of the quick search screen, simply click on the "Quick Guide" button.

Advanced Search:
This search allows for more information to be input prior to conducting the search. To perform your search, do the following:

• Enter your search terms into the appropriate boxes. If you need help with any of the boxes or terms, simply click on the "?" for help or the "I" for the Index (See the "Tips" section below for information on the Index).
• Click on the search button.
• If you need help with any aspect of the advanced search screen, simply click on the "Quick Guide" button.

Expert Search:
This search allows you to enter complex search strings (utilizing Boolean terms, truncation and other strategies) and to combine search sets.

• Enter your own search string with the exact fields (author, title, etc.) Boolean operators, truncations, etc. as you wish.
• Click on the yellow button with gears to search.

Tips:

• The Index (indicated by either a button that says "Index" (in the Quick Search) or a capital "I" (in the "Advanced Search") can be very useful. If you are not happy with your search terms, you can use the Index to find the correct terms.
• You can switch your search (i.e., from Quick Search to Advanced Search) by clicking on the search you wish to move to in the upper left hand corner of the screen. Your search terms will follow you.
• All the search screens have excellent help buttons if you get lost at any point.

Results List and Detailed Display:
After you perform a search, you will get a list of search results. This list of records is the result of your search indicating the search and how many records were found matching your search and lists the full bibliographic information (i.e., the citation information) for each item.

• The default for the results list is a short display. You can change the format of your result list by clicking on the arrow next to the box that says "Change display format."
• To see a particular item in more detail, click on the "view" button that is highlighted in yellow.
• The detailed record will have the full citation information as well as an abstract and other information.

Printing Results:

• You must mark (by clicking in the box) the record to email, save or print.
• Click on the print/save button. This will format the record to remove frames and make the article print-ready.
• Follow your browsers or the library's directions for printing.

Emailing Results:

• You must mark (by clicking in the box) the record to email, save or print.
• Scroll down to the bottom of the screen to the purple box.
• Fill in all the information in the purple box and click on the "email MARKED records" box.

Downloading/Saving Results to a Disk:

• You must mark (by clicking in the box) the record to email, save or print.
• Click on the "print/save marked records" box as this will remove frames and make the record easier to save.
• To save the record to a disk, enter your disk, click on File and then Save As.

Exiting:

• Click the "Exit" button in the upper right hand corner of the screen. You will be taken to a survey. You are not required to fill in this survey. To exit out, simply click on the green exit button.