EBSCO for All

An introduction to the wonderful world of EBSCO

What Is EBSCO?• Online periodical

database• Thousands of up-to-

date articles and essays from around the world, available at the click of a mouse.

• Can be accessed from school or home.

Why Not Just Use the Internet?

• EBSCO pulls its articles directly from accredited, reliable journals, magazines and newspapers

• You know your research is accurate, not from some guy with an active imagination, and too much time on his hands.

What Can I Expect to Find?

• Acadia’s current subscription includes nine databases

• All are dedicated to finding the best possible information for school research

• The highlights are…

Academic Search Elite

• More than 2,000 serials.• Covers virtually every

area of academic study. • More than 100 journals

have PDF images back to 1985.

• Updated daily

Canadian Reference Centre• Largest collection of regional

full text content available to Canadian libraries.

• Includes leading Canadian and international (U.S. and U.K) periodicals

• Updated daily

MasterFile Elite

• More than 1,100 general reference publications with coverage dating as far back as 1984.

• Includes 56 full text reference books

• Image Collection of 192,999 photos, maps and flags

Middle Search Plus

• Full text for 140 popular magazines for junior high school research

• Contains 84,774 biographies, 100,554 primary source documents, and 202,164 photos, maps and flags

Funk & Wagnalls Encyclopedia

• Includes over 25,000 encyclopedic entries covering a variety of subject areas

EBSCO Animals

• Provides in-depth information on a variety of topics relating to animals

Primary Search

• Provides full text for 70 popular magazines for elementary school research

History Reference Center

• Offers full text from more than 1,000 reference books, encyclopedias and non-fiction

• Includes 60 history magazines, 58,000 historical documents, 43,00- biographies of historical figures, 12,000 historical photos and maps, and 80 hours of historical video

Science Reference Center

• Provides users with reference information from the areas of life sciences, physical sciences, earth sciences and space sciences

• Full text database that combines information from books, monographs, journals, magazines, encyclopedias and reference works.

Okay… How do we get started?• Open up “Internet Explorer”• On the Acadia homepage, click on the Library Link.

Find the Ebsco Research in the Sidebar on the right side of the page.

Yes, it’s that easy!

That brings you here…

Type in: Username: acadia Save as Word Password: research File on My Documents

Pick a service…

Select and interface to use.

Ebscohost Web – high school

Student Research and Kids Search - Junior High students.

Searchasaurus - Elementary

EBSCOhost Web• Choose the database you wish to peruse• Broaden your search by placing checkmarks

beside all databases, or limit your search to just one or two databases.

• When you’ve chosen, click continue

Whoa! What do I do with this?

• At first glance, it looks like there’s a lot of things going on on this page

• Let’s break down the different parts…

Limiters

Limiters are ways of narrowing your search.1. Excludes abstracts from your search2. Limits to only peer reviewed sources.3. Limits to specified publications4. Limits publication dates of journals searched5. Limits number of pages

Expanders

Expanders are ways of searching a broader scope1. Searches for words related to your search word,

rather than just the word itself2. Searches complete article, rather than just the

abstract3. Adds multiple search terms together, rather than

looking for a phrase

Find Line• Just like Google, type in what you’re after here,

then click search when ready.• “Boolean” search operators (and, or, not) work

here.• Choose the databases in which you’d like to

search from the “in” drop box.

And we’re off…

Search of “assessment” yielded 25684 hitsCan be narrowed in two ways:1. Choosing one of the subject headings listed at

left2. Clicking on the “Refine Search” button above to

go back to the main search screen

Ahhhh… That’s Better…

• Clicking on the “Learning” subject heading under assessment yields 955 results

• Refine search further, or start surfing

But wait! There’s more! You can read entire

issues online, rather than searching for specific articles

Select your database with a checkmark

Click “Title List”

Search for Publications• Search for the

publication you’d like to look through

• (In this case, I chose Scientific American)

• Click “Browse” orSearch for publications

by:AlphabetSubjectMatching words

Pick Your Poison…

• Choose the issue you want to read• In this case, I want to read the most recent issue,

so I’ll click on “2006”, then “May 2006”

Voila!• Just like that, the articles are listed, in the order

that they’re found in the journal• Happy Reading!

A More Visual Way to Search

Select: Student Research Center

Choose Your Format

• Select format by checking off appropriate box(es)

Conduct Basic Search

Type topic, author, subject,Or key words in “Find”

Even Better…..Conduct an Advanced Search

Click onAdvancedSearchTab

Fill in desiredFields to limitOr expandSearch

Finding Key Wordsand

Limiting SearchesSearch byTopic

Select topic(s)you needinformation on

I’ve chosenHistory andExplorers

Quick ReferencesNeed a quick definition or fact:

Use the Dictionary and Encyclopediaicons

Visual Searching

Kids SearchDictionary

Encyclopedia Images

TopicSearch

Search Engine

SearchasaurusDictionary Encyclopedia Pictures

SearchEngine

Topic Search

Saving Passwords

• Open up a Word file• Type up the information provided by Mrs.

Gibson• Save as “Passwords”• Attach “Passords” file to portal and send

information home

That’s it!• All that’s left to do

now is to do some surfing of your own.

• If you have questions, don’t hesitate to ask!

• Have fun!