Ref Rap: EBSCOhost Databases Part 2
In Part One I talked about some of the interesting databases on EBSCOhost. Now I’ll talk about some of its useful search features and applications. Please feel free to add to the following list:- EBSCOhost contains a number of 'how to' tutorials including 'Basic Searching for Public Libraries'. These tutorials are available from the 'Help' page of EBSCOhost and are a useful way to get to know the database.
- The opening search page of EBSCOhost (from the online databases link) reveals all search options. You can hide this by clicking on the 'Search Options' link (located below the search box). Alternatively, you can view the options by clicking on ‘Search Options’ again. This is a good application for those Patrons that may feel overwhelmed by a vast number of choices - many are probably used to Google basic search.
- There is a 'Smart Text Searching' option. This allows you to type up to a page of material in the search box. EBSCOhost will identify the relevant search terms and find related material. You can also use 'Smart Text' to search article abstracts. For example, I did a basic search on 'Kevin Rudd' and viewed the first result. On the right side of the screen there is an option to ‘find similar results using Smart Text Searching’. When I selected this option it conducted a search using the article abstract – very useful and far less time consuming than typing the information directly.
- You can view and hide your search history just by clicking on 'search history' below the search box. This is useful if you want to come back to old search results later.
- Each search result has a small 'magnifying glass' icon next to it. Hover the mouse over this icon to reveal information about the article and its abstract. This saves the user from having to go into every article to determine whether or not it is relevant.
- When viewing search results, you are given the option to 'cite this article'. By clicking on the relevant icon, EBSCOhost will give you the article citation in a number of different referencing styles. It is possible to copy and paste the relevant citation or transfer it to your bibliographic management software (eg. Endnote). Anyone who has ever spent what feels like an eternity on an assignment only to spend another eternity painstakingly typing up references will truly appreciate the value of this feature.
- Patrons are able to email or save relevant articles and may receive RSS feeds and alerts for selected searches. They can also sign up for their own EBSCOhost account (using an email address). This will allow them to store articles, videos or images of interest in a personal folder.
Have you heard enough about EBSCOhost now?
Well, I’ve only just covered some of the search features. If you want to discover more, try the following questions I was given at the training. It would be great if you could attempt at least one of the questions below and post your search strategy in the comments box. There is more than one way to find most of the answers (and no straightforward 'right way') so it doesn’t matter if you post on the same question as someone else. You can post anonymously if you feel uncomfortable about revealing your identity.
- I need some information on Angola. What is the capital city? What is the official language? Can you email me a picture of the flag please?
- Do you hold the journal Nature? They often quote it on the ABC. Can I read the latest issue?
- I’m a fan of the royal family and some time ago I read an article in a women’s magazine about women journalists remembering where they were the day Princess Diana died. I’d love to find the article again. Can I have copies of the pictures too?
- We are studying Barack Obama’s Inauguration speech. I need some examples of speeches by other US presidents. Inauguration ones would be good (Hint: Limiter Primary Source Documents will be useful).
- I have eggs, tomatoes and cheese. What can I make for dinner tonight? (Hint: watch out for plurals and American spelling; is there a "Document Type" limiter that could be useful?)
Karen B.
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6 comments :
For #3 cheated a bit, presuming it was Women's Weekly, so entered that in publication box, using MasterFILE Premier. Clicked on "article" and "periodical" and searched under keywords Princess Diana. Result "Where I was the day Princess Diana died" Article appeared 1/8/2007.
Easier way...EBSCOhost using Masterfile, typed "the day Diana died". First entry.
It's ok. There is no cheating. This is a really good example of the different methods you could use to find the information. If the Patron remmebers the title of the magazine, then you could use the first method. If the Patron can't remember what they were reading, you could use the second method. Hope to hear more answers soon.
Karen B.
A good tip using the "Recipe" limiter. Although it only seems to limit Masterfile Premier results. For example, in my results list from an Ebscohost search was included a menu (not a recipe) from Australia/NZ Reference Centre. So to get less false hits, maybe just use Masterfile? Also, if you have several recipes in the one record, you may not get one recipe with all 3 ingredients. Nonetheless, this little exercise drew my attention to limiters. Thanks!
Search term Angola Capital in MasterFile Premier, document type book.
Result number 10 looked promising but didn't name the capital.
Result number 11 gave the answer Luanda from Background notes on countries of the world.
New search for flag.
Visual search, ticked Image quick view, ticked coloured photograph.
Result no. 4 had a picture of the flag, half red on black with a gold icon in the centre.
Next time must pay attention to the question because I omitted to look for the language.
Di
Hi Karen- I managed to get the answer for question 3 eventually, but it took a bit of messing around for me to solve the problem. I was initially putting in lots of words like princess, diana, day, died, women, journalists- but that didn't seem to work too well even with the smart text searching option. Too many hits came up!
In the end the "simple search" worked for me: I typed "princess diana" AND day AND died- this still yielded too many hits (251) but when I elected to narrow results by periodicals I hit the jackpot. Only ten hits- one page- and the original article ("where I was the day Diana died" from the Australian Womens Weekly on the 1/8/07) was number two in the list. There wasn't any pictures in the "html full text" article though- how did you get them?
- Michael
Hi,
I had a look and found the article by searching Princess Diana Day Died. At first it seems like there are no pictures but they are actually at the bottom of the very very long article.
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