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 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 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full text from more than 1,000 reference books, encyclopedias and non- fiction Includes 60 history magazines, 58,000 historical documents, 43,00- biographies of historical figures, 12,000 historical photos and maps, and 80 hours of historical video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 Excludes abstracts from your search 2. 2.Limits to only peer reviewed sources Limits to specified publications 4. 4.Limits publication dates of journals searched 5. 5.Limits number of pages

Expanders Expanders are ways of searching a broader scope 1. 1.Searches for words related to your search word, rather than just the word itself 2. 2.Searches complete article, rather than just the abstract 3. 3.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 hits Can be narrowed in two ways: 1. 1.Choosing one of the subject headings listed at left 2. 2.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” or Search for publications by: Alphabet Subject Matching 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 on Advanced Search Tab Fill in desired Fields to limit Or expand Search

Finding Key Words and Limiting Searches Search by Topic Select topic(s) you need information on I’ve chosen History and Explorers

Quick References Need a quick definition or fact: Use the Dictionary and Encyclopedia icons

Visual Searching

Kids Search Dictionary Encyclopedia Images Topic Search Engine

Searchasaurus Dictionary EncyclopediaPictures Search Engine 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!