Library
EBSCOHOST: ACADEMIC SEARCH PREMIER
User Guide
DATABASE DESCRIPTION
EbscoHost provides full-text and bibliographic access to journals via a collection of databases. It has the world’s largest academic multi-disciplinary database, Academic Search Premier, which provides full-text access for more than 3,600 scholarly publications. Coverage spans virtually every area of academic study. It also has the world’s largest business database and various other specialised databases for news, economics, education, health, psychology, science, technology, geosciences and sports.
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
SEARCH OPTIONS
Using the BASIC SEARCH options
STEPS TO REFINE THE SEARCH
ARTICLE CITATION
ADVANCED SEARCH
RETRIEVAL OPTIONS
TECHNIQUES AND TIPS FOR ONLINE DATABASE SEARCHING
BOOLEAN OPERATORS
Guide to searching Academic Search Premier[EBSCOHost]
INTRODUCTION
Choose to search either EBSCOhost Web or EBSCOhost Text Only. Both options allow access to a collection of databases. Search the databases as a collection determined by the research topic, or search individual databases. The screen presented for an individual database differs from the screen presented for a collection of databases, and database specific search options may not be accommodated. To ensure optimal results, databases should be searched individually. To select an EBSCOhost database, tick the box to the left of the name, e.g. Business Source Premier, and click Continue to start searching. Academic Search Premier is the default database, and will be the only database already marked when selecting EBSCOHost Web.
SEARCH OPTIONS
The default setting, i.e. the ADVANCED SEARCH screen appears whenever one logs into any of the EBSCOHost databases. Click the BASIC SEARCH tab at the top of the screen to perform a simple KEYWORD search.
Using the BASIC SEARCH options
To perform a basic search, enter a phrase or the keyword(s) in the SEARCH BOX. To find articles on HIV/AIDS on Academic Search Premier, enter those keyword(s) in the search box next to Find and click Search.
The BASIC SEARCH screen displays the following options to search for information:
The RESULT LIST will display all references retrieved on HIV/AIDS.
The Result List shows 4392 hits. This search is too general for a topic like HIV/AIDS, and it will be tedious to search through all these references to find the appropriate information. To make the search more manageable, choose to refine the search.
RESULTS LIST
References for HIV/AIDS
STEPS TO REFINE THE SEARCH
Click
The refined search will be limited geographically by adding the name of the country, “SOUTH AFRICA” to the keywords “HIV/AIDS”
Use the Boolean operator “AND” and other database limiters to further limit the search results, such as the year by specifying the following limiters, i.e. Jan 2000 to Dec 2003
HIV/AIDS AND SOUTH AFRICA
The refined search retrieved 232 hits. This result includes a mix of citations and full text articles.
If one limits the search to Full text articles only, such a search will further reduce the number of hits to 175.
If one further limits the search to Peer Reviewed articles, it reduces the number of hits to 137.
Scan the Result List, sorted by date, to check for useful articles to read. View an article by clicking the title of the article.
Use the highlighted arrow or click 2 to move to the next page of the Result List.
ARTICLE CITATION
Scroll down the page and click the number. e.g. 38 to view the abstract of the article. The citation provides standard reference information to trace the source in a print version of the journal. The same information is reformatted to acknowledge documents read or quoted for a research project.
The citation format should comply with the reference style and technique prescribed by your department, for example, the APA style, the Amended Harvard Style or MLA style of referencing. [An example of an article citation appears on page 14 of this guide].
EBSCOhost offers different options to retrieve the full information in their sources One may choose to PRINT, SAVE or E-MAIL the retrieved information.
Click the preferred option at the top of the screen of the open document.
ADVANCED SEARCH
Click the ADVANCED SEARCH tab at the top of the screen to perform a combination KEYWORD or SUBJECT search.
Using the ADVANCED SEARCH options
To perform an advanced search, enter the keyword(s) or the SUBJECT HEADINGS in the SEARCH BOX. SUBJECT HEADINGS are specially assigned words, which accurately describe the content of the articles in the database.
The search strategy to find articles on young adults in South Africa should be entered as follows on the Advanced Search screen:
- Use YOUTH AND SOUTH AFRICA as the SUBJECT HEADINGS
- Use “AND” as the BOOLEAN OPERATOR
- Tick the box next to Full Text to limit the search to full documents
- Limit the Publication Date from Jan 1990 to Jan 2004
ADVANCED SEARCH SCREEN DISPLAY
RESULT LIST
The Result List shows that 25 citations on this topic has been retrieved.
RETRIEVAL OPTIONS
Scan the references found, then click the title to open the document.
Use the arrows or the page numbers at the top and bottom of the screen to navigate to the following set of records. The database displays 20 records per screen.
Do not use the back button on the browser to move back or forward, as this may log you out of the database.
Choose to PRINT, EMAIL or SAVE the retrieved information by clicking the preferred option at the top of the screen once the document has been opened.
HTML Full Text
Click HTML Full Text to display the full article in text format only.
PDF Full Text
Click PDF Full Text to display the scanned image of the full article with graphics as it appears in the original source.
To print PDF documents, use the print icon at the top of the article page
Add the references to the folder by clicking the on-screen icon, then e-mail the selected records in the folder to your e-mail account, or e-mail records individually to your e-mail account.
Click the icon to view records.
Click the e-mail link at the top of the Folder Contents screen, enter your e-mail address, and assign a subject or name to the contents, if preferred.
FOLDER C0NTENTS
Click the button.
SAVING DOCUMENTS TO DISK
Click button.
Select FILE, then SAVE AS from the browser
Click the “Save” button to save the document as a PLAIN TEXT (.txt) file.
Click BACK to return to the Result List.
Use the ADVANCED SEARCH to execute other combination searches.
EXAMPLES of COMBINATION SEARCHES
- Enter the SUBJECT HEADING in the SEARCH box, e.g. “DIGITAL DIVIDE”.
- Link the NAME of an AUTHOR, e.g. “FAY COBB PAYTON” to the subject heading by using the BOOLEAN OPERATOR “AND”.
- Specify that this article must appear in the journal, “Communications of the ACM” by adding the NAME of that JOURNAL.
REMEMBER:Enter the NAME of the AUTHOR, typing the SURNAME first, and typed the SUBJECT HEADING in the next search box
Only 1 article will be retrieved with the information provided
SEARCH RESULT
The search retrieves only one record, i.e. the article written by Fay Cobb Payton in the Communications of the ACM, entitled “Rethinking the digital divide”.
The database does not have the Full Text article. Use other options, as shown below, to trace this journal title.
One option is to search the library’s online catalogue, ALEPH.
Click the link to connect to the online catalogue
Alternatively, try to trace the journal title, “Communications of the ACM” by using the Library’s A-Z List database to check whether the full document may be accessed by this method.
TECHNIQUES AND TIPS FOR ONLINE DATABASE SEARCHING
Electronic databases offer a variety of search and browse options to find information on a topic. Online databases may have either a Thesaurus or Subject Guide, which is a complete list of specially assigned subject terms and keywords to be used when searching the database. Other options include using the name of an author, a popular phrase, a combination of keywords or subject headings linked with specific Boolean operators. Explore both the Basic and Advanced Search options by trying one or a combination of the different search strategies.
NB:First construct the search strategy. Enter the search terms in the search boxes provided, and apply the database limiters to refine the search.
BOOLEAN OPERATORS
The Boolean operators “AND”, “OR”, and “NOT” are used to simplify combination searches. Phrases, author names, article or journal titles, keywords or subject terms may be used in a variety of combinations to search for relevant information on a topic. One might wish to combine an indexing term with the name of an author, or even combine a journal name with an assigned subject heading. Words may be excluded entirely when they follow the Boolean operator “NOT” in a search strategy.
Search options for both BROWSING and SEARCHING the EBSCOhost databases are demonstrated in this guide.
RESULT LIST
Scan the Search Result List to determine whether the information retrieved on the topic is relevant. The Search Result List shows all citations pertaining to the topic words, which were entered as part of the user’s search strategy. Note how all entries show the different parts of a journal citation, i.e. the name of the author, the article title, the journal title, the publication date, the volume number, the issue number, and in some instances, the start page of the article in the online journal, the length of the article, and where applicable, whether the article contains graphics.
EXAMPLE
ARTICLE CITATION
This example of a citation provides standard reference information
Should your search retrieve zero hits, try the following options: (1) check your spelling, (2) broaden the search, by using synonyms or variant spellings of the word(s), or (3) should your search retrieve too many hits refine your search strategy by using database specific subject headings.
REMEMBER:
- Use the Advanced Search option to do any type of combination search.
- Use the BOOLEAN OPERATORS, “AND”, “OR”, and “NOT” to perform the combination searches.
- Phrases, author names, article or journal titles, keywords or subject terms may be combined to search for relevant information on a topic.
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UWC Library User Guide February 2004