Subscription Databases:

Academic Search Complete from EBSCOhost

A tutorial for LIBR1111 and assignment #3Dean Giustini, Instructor

On many platforms – such as: EBSCOhost, Gale, Proquest

Here are the many databases available for searching in EBSCOhost

Libraries have many databases

We have a few subscription databases at Langara Library

Let’s search with Academic Search Complete

Today: One Database Only

From the Langara Library Homepage http://langara.ca/library/

Click on “Articles in Journals” first Then, click on either link! Articles in Journals

Article Databases: A to Z Articles in Journals by Subject

How to Find This Database

Your search screen will look like the one below. What do you put in the highlighted boxes? Hint: there are many right answers You might have to try many combinations of your

keywords to get the articles you want …

Follow the links …..until you get into Academic Search Complete

Example search question: ◦ What are the effects of cell phone use on college

students? Consider the use of Boolean operators, AND & OR Arrange your keywords into facets of your topic.. Think of alternatives and synonyms to group

together (using OR) for searching Imagine the type of articles you want to find in

the database for your patron….

Organize your ideas before…

In this example, I organize keywords into a chart similar to assignment #3’s search planning worksheet

Print out the assignment worksheet and organize or at least think of your concepts & keywords in “blocks”◦ What are the effects of cell phone use on college

students? Write in AND between keywords …

Example

Use Boolean OR on the lines between synonyms Have you thought of a few synonyms? If you need

ideas, see a few relevant papers for synonyms

Example, cont.

Note I put words I need together in quotes: “college students” to force the phrase

This tells the database you want articles that have that exact phrase somewhere

Organize keywords or concepts You are ready to put them into Academic

Search Complete… for your search!

Example, cont.

Putting your Keywords into the Database• See how I’ve transferred

the keywords with the search words AND & OR into the library’s database fields.

• Use your quotation marks as needed, and put a main keyword group in each search box, separating the similar words with OR.

• Each search box is already connected with the word AND, highlighted above. Use this feature to help organize your search.

You won’t always need ALL of your keywords.

The point is: ◦ You don’t know without trying which words will

work in subscription databases◦ The “perfect” article may not exist ◦ This is OK. Students have to say something

original and the articles in the database should be similar or related but not exactly on target in some cases…

Key Points

How many search results did you get? Typically, when searching Google or

related sites, you only look at the first few pages of results

If you get a LOT of results, you want to narrow your search

Here are some ways to narrow:

What next?

42 Results are much easier to deal with! Full Text is your friend – always check this

box first to see what is available in the database.

I also altered my dates to only include magazines articles published since the year 2000.

Now… what if you have the opposite problem?

Now my results look like this:

If you’re getting no results or just a few, you should look at your keywords again:◦ Remove some of your AND words. Remember: adding another

facet narrows your search◦ Add some more OR words or synonyms to broaden your search ◦ Look at quotation marks you use. Are you putting quotation

marks around words that aren’t that common? ◦ Think of broader keywords. ◦ In my example, I include ‘technology’ with OR “cell phones.” This

is a much bigger group of stuff and broadens my search considerably.

What if I have too few results?

Once you have a manageable number of results, look at what you’ve found. Like Google, each article has a clickable link in the title to get the

article/item.

Now, let’s look at a result

This article was written in Time magazine, and two pages long

See subject terms (headings)

Think of these as keywords that may work better for your topic

Try the subject terms in combination with your keywords

A Closer Look

At right, the tool box will help you manage results

Print out the article Email article to yourself so you don’t lose it. Use the Cite function to grab information for the

MLA citation. Copy/Paste it somewhere for later (Word doc?) Use Permalink to grab a web address that will

work if you want to share the article with someone

When you find a result you like, use your Tools

Research can be time consuming. Expect to spend time: ◦ Reading articles and finding ones that both work

and those that don’t. ◦ Brainstorming alternative keywords and plugging

them into the database. Try and try again.◦ Asking for help if you get stuck. ◦ Reconsider your research question/topic. It may not

be the same as when you start searching.

Read and Think

Complete one (1) question for assignment #3. Use Academic Search Complete @ Langara Library’s

website. Organize your keywords. Try subject headings. Scan some articles for relevance... Find ones you believe will add to your assignment. Print out/Email results to yourself. Ask Dean for help or your ‘study buddy’!

Your Turn