1.5 Select the database you would like to search by clicking on the box next to it, and then click continue. You will be taken to the search screen.

*Selecting the blue text AMore Information@ will

open a new window with a longer description of

what types of publications the database contains,

which subject areas are covered, and tips for

performing searches.

2.0 Performing Searches

There are many ways to search online databases. The following examples demonstrate how to search for a particular journal, a particular article, or a specific subject. Please be aware that some of the databases do not have the search options demonstrated below.

Once you have selected a database you will be presented with the Advanced Search screen:

2.1 Using the Basic Search Screen

Users who are new to electronic database searching may prefer to work in the Basic Search screen, which can be reached by clicking on “Basic Search” under the search fields.

To perform a basic search, simply enter a search term into the search field and hit enter or click search. Before searching, you may want to make a list of terms you plan to search and variations on those words. For example, someone looking for articles on cyberbullying may want to perform searches for Facebook, Myspace, social-networking, cyberbullying, and cyberbullies. You may want to limit your results to full text articles published recently, which you can do by checking the Full Text box and setting the publication dates accordingly.

Quick Tips for New Database Users

Ø Check your Spelling: unlike Google, databases will not recognize miss-spelled words or make suggestions; also, most electronic databases are from American companies but contain Canadian and British publications, so watch out for differences in spelling. EBSCO should automatically search for common variations, i.e. colour and color.

Ø Less is More: When beginning a new search make it as broad as possible, then add limitations to narrow your results. Beginning with too many limitations may prevent you from seeing useful material.

Ø Stop and Get Directions: clicking on “Help” in the upper right-hand corner or on the question mark next to the search field will bring up the index of help topics. Take the time to read the information relevant to basic searches. At the bottom of the Basic Search screen there is a link to the EBSCO Support Site which features many useful tutorials on using their products.

Ø Try Everything: You will benefit from setting aside time to play with the database. Do made-up searches, click on tabs you’ve never used, and experiment with what you can do. Nothing you can do while searching will “break” EBSCO or your computer. If you become lost simply click on “New Search” to return to the Advanced Search screen. You can also close your browser window and begin again.

2.2 Using the Advanced Search Screen

You can perform a search by entering a word in the uppermost search field and clicking “Search.” Selecting a field from the drop-down menu will allow you to narrow your search. Keep in mind that selecting “TI Title” will cause the database to search only terms in the titles of articles, not journal titles. For help and tips with searching click on “Help” or the question mark next to the search fields. The EBSCO Support Site features useful tutorials for using their products.

Learning about Boolean operators (and, or, not), wildcards, and truncation will help you to perform better searches. For example, I can perform an advanced search for a full-text article containing the words cyberbullying, cyberbully or cyberbullies AND Facebook published since 2005 by setting the following search criteria:

2.3 Searching by Publication

To find a specific journal or magazine select APublications@ from the task bar at the top of the page.

You have several options for your method of searching:

A. Alphabetical- Enter the first letter or letters of the title you are looking for and hit enter or click browse.

B. By Subject & Description- Enter words related to the subject area of the periodical, not the article you want.

C. Match Any Words- Enter a word from anywhere in the title.

Ø Example A:

I want to find the journal Exceptionality. I enter the letters “exc” into the search field and hit return or click browse. My results are an alphabetical list of all the publications which begin with the letters “exc.”

Ø Example B:

I want to find a journal about special education. I perform a Subject & Description search by selecting the appropriate circle, entering the term “special education,” and hitting return or clicking browse:

I get the following results:

I return to the publications search screen by clicking “Refine Search” or the “Publications” tab.

Ø Example C:

I will perform another search by selecting “Match Any Words,” entering the word “exceptional” and hitting enter or clicking browse. With a “Match Any Words” search my results will include any titles in which the word “exceptional” appears regardless of word order, not just the ones that begin with it. In my list of 9 results I find the journal Teaching Exceptional Children:

Clicking on the blue (hyperlinked) journal title will take you to the journal’s database record:

The record provides important information about the journal, including the ISSN, the name of the publisher, how many times a year it is published, and details about past issues. You can access back issues by clicking the hyperlinked years on the right-hand side of the screen. To access the most recent articles, click on the hyperlinked text in the circle above that appears next to “Full Text.”

Alternatively, you can access the most recent articles from the results page by clicking on the selection box next to the journal’s name, and clicking “add.” The journal’s name will be inserted into the search field and you can then click “search.”

Using either approach, your results should look like this:

By default articles are arranged with the most recently published at the top.

2.4 Limiting Your Results

Once you have performed a search from the Basic Search, Advanced Search, or Publication Search screens you will have a list of results. You will see the number of results above the first article. Articles are in chronological order by default. If you would prefer to put them in order by relevance or author you can change the setting under the “Sort by” drop-down menu.

-There is a sliding bar on the right-hand side of the screen to limit your results to articles published between specific dates. Click on “Update Results” after making any changes to refresh your screen.

-Suggested subjects will appear on the left-hand side of the screen. Clicking on any of those terms will add that subject to your search. You will want to note any differences between the words you’re searching and the suggested subjects. Electronic databases use a controlled vocabulary. This helps items about the same subject to be linked together even when the authors use different terminology. Unfortunately, this may result in frustration for the user who is using different terms.

-Placing the cursor over the magnifying glass that follows an article’s title will cause an abstract (summary) to appear.

3.0 Articles

Congratulations, you’ve found an article in your results that looks useful, now what? Clicking on the icons for HTML or PDF will immediately open the full article in that format. The icons will only be present if the article is available in that format. If neither is present the record is not full-text but has a record and most likely an abstract. Clicking on the title will take you to the full record for the article with the abstract, publisher information, word count, and subjects.

From the article’s record you will be able to read, e-mail, and save full-text articles. If the article cites other works there will a notation with the total number. Clicking on “Cited References” will take you to a bibliography for the article with links to items that are available in the database.