Library Databases

EBSCO Basic Search

EBSCO databases default to Advanced Search but you can click the Basic Search link above the search boxes. Basic Search is for quick keyword searches. You can use some selected limiters such as full text, peer-reviewed, and quick publication timeframe.

EBSCO Advanced Search

This is best for executing a thorough, focused, and/or more complex search. Enter search terms in the boxes and choose to search in specific fields such as Author, Title, Subject Terms, etc. The default is Select a Field: the database will search the whole text of articles for the term so you are likely to get a lot of results.

Three lines are provided. Click the + Add fields option to add a row.

Each line defaults to the AND Boolean operator but can be changed to OR or NOT.

There are several additional options in Advanced Search:

Filters:  Apply limiters such as full text, articles with references available, publication date, peer-reviewed, etc.

Search options:  Offers various search modes and expanders 

Publications: Limit to a specific named journal or other publication

Subjects: Look up subject terms (this takes the place of the Subjects or Thesaurus section

Here is a sample Advanced Search:

Search words are entered as keywords and Subject terms using AND to find articles containing both terms. The search will return articles from the last five years that are peer-reviewed and have references listed. 

What are Subject Terms?

The Subject Terms are also referred to as the Thesaurus in some databases. It is an alphabetical listing of all the subject terms in a single database, used to classify and organize information for that database. Subject Terms listings show broader terms, narrower terms, and related terms as well as what to use the Subject Terms for.

Editors use the Subject Terms to assign subject headings to documents in each database.

To add Subject Terms to your search:

Click on Subjects. 
Type a term, for example, resilience, into the Subject Terms search box and then hit enter.
You will see an alphabetical index of possible thesaurus terms, and synonyms for thesaurus terms, that are used in the database. There are many types of resilience.

In this example, the box for PSYCHOLOGICAL resilience is checked. Expand the term for a description of the term by clicking the collapsible arrow. If you want to search for this subject term, click Add to search and it will populate in the search boxes above. Continue to add additional terms or apply other filters as needed.

Viewing and linking to results

Once results are returned, there are several options for what to do with them such as:

• Bookmark
• Cite and Export
• Share
• Print
• Translate
• Use text-to-speech
• Save to Google Drive

Click the three dots to display additional options such as Cite, Add to project, Share, and Download.

Click the title to view the full index record which will include such features as downloading a PDF, viewing online, author links, Subject Terms, the abstract, DOI, and more.

If you use the Cite option (displayed by the quotation mark icon), be sure to review the format as the citation will be machine-generated and some errors may be present. You can copy and paste the citation or export it to a citation manager. Click Export citation and choose a tool.

Another option is to use the Save or Bookmark option. It is the small bookmark icon.

Be aware...if you choose this option, the result will be placed in the folder for your current session but will not be kept there if you log out and log back in.

To permanently save to a folder, you must create an EBSCO account.

Click the MyEBSCO option at the top right to create a MyEBSCO account and follow the prompt.