TEN TIPS ON HOW TO SEARCH EBSCO DATABASES

TEN TIPS ON HOW TO SEARCH EBSCO DATABASES Contents: Improving Search Results Limiters Booleans Operators Phrases Stop Words Select a Field Choose Databases Use of Subject Terms Sign in/ alerts / Save Citations APA

Let’s learn the ten tips in how to search EBSCO databases from Academic Search Premier. The tips can be applied to all EBSCO databases. 1. Improving Search Results • • • Also search for related words Also search within full text Expanders 2. Limiters • • • Full Text Peer Reviewed Publication Date Geography Gender Age • • • And Or Not 3. Booleans Operators 4. Phrases 5. Stop Words 6. Select a field – – 7. Choose Databases • • Business Health Sciences Education Nursing 8. Use of Subject Terms 9. Sign in / Alert / Save – – – Create your own folders Save your searches Save your articles 10. Citations – Knowledge is Empowerment All text Author Title Subject Terms APA

First, let’s learn the steps to access USU databases: please go to our site http: //www. usuniversity. edu and select Library (1). Click on Full Text Database Nursing or any College (2). Select Academic Search Premier EBSCO(3) and register (4). 1 3 4 2 Knowledge is Empowerment • • Ask the USU librarian for ID & Password. From your USU • email to clopez@usuniversity. edu

Let’s click “help”, and learn about the first 3 tips: improving search results (1), Limiters (2) & Boolean Operators (3) 3 3 1 2 1 Knowledge is Empowerment 2

1. Improving your Search Results • Try unmarking one or • By marking the "Also more limiters. Limiters search within full text of narrow your result list— the article, " you will depending upon the expand the search. limiters you've chosen, • By marking the "Also you may have created search for related too narrow of a search. words" expander EBSCO's thesaurus will • These searches are not designed to yield find synonyms, significant results if you alternate spellings and enter long phrases or plurals for your search questions in everyday terms English Knowledge is Empowerment

Expanders let you broaden the scope of your search. • Example: A search for Neoplasm with the Apply Related Words expander applied would also search for Tumor, Tumour, Tumors, Tumor's, Tumours, and Tumour's. Knowledge is Empowerment

2. EBSCO Limiters • Full Text – Click to limit results to articles with full text. • Image Quick View – Click to limit results to articles that contain Image Quick View images available. • Cover Story – Click to limit results to articles that were featured as cover stories. Knowledge is Empowerment • Peer Reviewed – Limits search results to articles from peerreviewed journals. Peer-reviewed journals are publications that include only those articles that have been reviewed and/or qualified by a selected panel of acknowledged experts in the field of study covered by the journal. • Date Published – Use this option to search for articles within a specified date range. • See EBSCO Click “Help”, under “Searching” click Limiters •

3. EBSCO: Booleans And Or Not Each result contains all search terms Each result contains at least one search term Results do not contain the specified terms The search Heart and lung finds items that contain both heart and lung The search heart or lung finds items that contain either heart or items that contain lung The search heart not lung finds items that contain heart but do not contain lung. Knowledge is Empowerment • And combines search terms so that each search result contains all of the terms. For example, travel and Europe finds articles that contain both travel and Europe. • Or combines search terms so that each search result contains at least one of the terms. For example, college or university finds results that contain either college or university. • Not excludes terms so that each search result does not contain any of the terms that follow it. For example, television not cable finds results that contain television but not cable.

4. Using Punctuation in EBSCO databases. If you enter phrases with punctuation, the search engine searches for the term both with and without the punctuation. • For example, if you enter television: talk show, the search engine finds results with television talk-show, television talk show, and if synonyms have been activated, TV talk show. Knowledge is Empowerment • If you enter hyphenated words in a search, the search engine automatically searches for the word in both hyphenated and non-hyphenated forms. For example, entering coca-cola will find both Coca Cola and Coca-Cola.

5. Stop words in a Search • Using Stop Words: articles, pronouns and prepositions (such as the, for, of and after) • Stop words are always ignored, even if they are enclosed in quotation marks. Knowledge is Empowerment • For example, if you entered company of America, the search engine would find company of America, company in America, or company for America. • The stop word or will be replaced with any word. For example if you searched for sink "or" swim, the results could include sink don't swim • . For example, if you searched for company of the America, the search engine finds any two words in the place of the stop words.

6. Select a field • Choose the search field from the optional Select a Field drop-down list. For example, search only: – All text = will look for the term in the title, abstract & text – Author = will search author’s last name & name – Title = will search the title of the article or the title of the journal – Subject Terms = will search the word only in the subject term list Please get familiar with the information in “Help” Knowledge is Empowerment

Second, After selecting “Choose databases” select the databases related to your information need by checking on each box. You can search EBSCO databases simultaneously , all in one search. Please click Choose databases Knowledge is Empowerment • Select the databases according to your subject: • Nursing and Health Science: please select CINAHL, PSYCARTICLES, ACADEMIC SEARCH PREMIER and MEDLINE. • History, art, literature & science: select ACADEMIC SEARCH PREMIER, it is multidisciplinary and one of the best database in EBSCO. • Education: select ACADEMIC SEARCH PREMIER, ERIC (education database) and PSYCARTICLES • Business: select ACADEMIC SEARCH PREMIER, BUSINESS SOURCE ELITE, PSYCARTICLES & REGIONAL BUSINESS NEWS • Select All for: Business and healthcare, Education and healthcare administration,

8. Use of Subject Terms In order to know the vocabulary used to identify the document, we need to search the Subject Terms. Click on Subject Terms. Type your word or words and click Browse Click in the subject term of your interest To learn more about subject terms, please go to tutorial: Research Topics & Terms Knowledge is Empowerment

9. Sign in, Save and Alert We invite you to use EBSCO server to save searches & create Alerts. You will receive the latest of your topics of interest For more information see tutorials: • Searching Medline Register Ebscohost Alerts • Create Alerts & Files in EBSCOhost Knowledge is Empowerment

10. APA / MLA Citations Click for Citation Knowledge is Empowerment Please add: Retrieved from Medline with Full Text, EBSCOHost.

Remember to check SUBJECT TERMS not only for Academic Search Premier, but for all the EBSCO databases. Your results will be relevant and VERY DIFFERENT then just using your own vocabulary. Knowledge is Empowerment

Let us know if you need assistance Catalina Lopez clopez@usuniversity or (619) 477 6310 Ext 2017 THANKS Knowledge is Empowerment