Introduction

Ebsco

Title Search

Author Search

Keyword Search

  -- AND, OR, NOT

  -- Phrase Search

Subject Search

Limiting

Truncation

Saving Searches

Printable Checklist

Printable Checklist

Searching in Ebsco

1. Ebsco: Ebsco is an interface that allows you to search a number of different article databases at the same time. Because of its large, interdisciplinary scope, you can use Ebsco to find journal, magazine, and newspaper articles on a wide variety of subjects.

2. Title Search: In Ebsco you can search by article title. It is better to conduct this type of a search from the Advanced Search screen.

3. Author Search: As with the title search, you should conduct an author search from the Advanced Search screen. The results will display by date in descending order, but you can change the way they display by using the "Sort-by" drop-down menu on the right side of screen.

4. Keyword Search: Ebsco's Basic and Advanced Search screens automatically default to a keyword search. The search results automatically sort in descending order by publication date.

5. AND, OR, NOT: Narrow or expand the results of your keyword searching by using the Boolean operators AND, OR and NOT.

6. Phrase Search: Conduct a phrase search when two or more words must be searched in a specific order (ex: Grand Canyon). Ebsco will automatically read a two or more word search as a phrase. This is true when you are searching from both the Basic Search and Advanced Search screens.

7. Subject Search: Subject searching helps standardize the words we use to describe a concept. In Ebsco, this is done by browsing the subject list. You can also find other relevant subject headings by taking note of the headings that appear in the records of items you find useful.

8. Limiting: You can limit searches by date, format, type, etc. by clicking on the "Refine Search" tab at the top of your results list.

9. Truncation: Truncation allows you to expand a word past its root when you are searching. The truncation symbol for Ebsco is: *. (ex: america* will search for america, americans, americana, etc.)

10. Saving Searches: Ebsco allows you to save records and view your search history. To save records, mark those that you need and download for printing, or save them to a disk, portable drive, or your student server space. You can also access your research summary by clicking on the "Search History/Alerts" tab at the top of your results list.