The database will look for results that contain the exact words that you enter into the search bar, similar to the Ctrl+F shortcut. The database will typically look for these word matches in the title, abstract (summary), and the tagged subjects (hashtags) field of an article.
To get the best possible matches, don't use an entire question or statement. Instead:
Example: Does obtaining a college degree return higher wages?
| College | Wages |
|
|
To find phrases, use quotation marks.
Boolean operators are words you can use between your keywords to either broaden or limit your search.
| Operator | What Does It Do? | Example |
|
AND
|
Use to narrow your search and join DISSIMILAR terms. This will command the database to retrieve results that contain both terms. |
funding AND education
|
| OR | Use to broaden your search and to join SIMILAR terms. This will command the database to retrieve results that contain either term. |
art OR arts OR music
|
| NOT | Use to exclude results. This will command the database to exclude results that contain the term you specified. |
"arts education" NOT college
|
Many d
atabases have limiters to help you refine results. Many databases have filters for:
Some databases will also have limiters for language, methodology, geography, etc. The available filters will depend on the specific database.
If you don't limit your results to those that are full-text, you may come across articles that have neither the PDF or HTML. You can request these articles from other libraries using a request form.
When you click on the title of an article from your result list, you will find options for emailing, downloading, and saving articles. To ensure that you can access the articles you find, email them to yourself and download them to your machine.
To download articles, look for the PDF icon. Some articles may only have the HTML available.
If you don't limit your results to those that are full-text, you may come across articles that have neither the PDF or HTML. You can request these articles from other libraries using a request form.
When you click on the title of an article from your result list, you will also usually find options for citing articles. Select the citation style your instructor requests, and copy / paste the citation into your word processor. Make sure to edit it if you end up using the source in your paper.
These tools are not 100 percent accurate.
For example, a common problem with the automatically-generated MLA 8 citations in databases from the EBSCOHost brand is that they don't list the name of the database. In MLA 8, you need to include the name of the database, not the brand name. Make sure you note the name of the actual database.
