Research and Reference Resources

Searching in EBSCOhost

Each of the EBSCOhost databases can be combined for a broad, general search. They can also be searched individually for a narrower, more focused search. It's up to you and your search needs. There are four ways to search in most EBSCOhost dabases: Basic, Advanced & Visual.

Let's take one search—U.S. Economy—and walk through each search strategy

Basic Search

Typing "U.S. Economy" in the Basic Search box gets over ten-thousand results that can be readily narrowed by using the helpful, expandable menu on the left side of the center Results window.

On the right hand side, results can be limited (to Full Text, Scholarly Journals, etc.). Scrolling down, you'll see that images related to your search are also available.

Advanced Search

If your interest is (for example) the Car Industry aspect of the U.S. Economy, the Advanced Search would be helpful. Type "U.S. Economy" into the first Search box (choose TX All Text) and "Car Industry" into the second Search Box (choose TX All Text). You can further narrow your results (as you did in the Basic Search) by using the menus on left and right sides of the center Results window.

Visual Search

The Visual Search is another way of obtaining information and is very helpful for visual learners. After clicking Visual Search, you'll see a Visual Search guide on bottom of screen. The guide continues until you enter a search term into Search box, choose a Display Style preference (gray button on right side below search box), and click Search.

For our purposes, type "U.S. Economy" into the Search box, choose Columns for Display Style preference and click Search.

Clicking on blue subject areas creates additional blue columns, narrowing your search. Underneath the blue columns, you'll find Results (in Green) that correspond to the blue subject areas. Click on a Green Result and a Summary will appear on right. At the end of the summary, click More to get complete abstract or article. You also have the option of Collecting Articles by dragging Green results into the Collect Articles box on the right.

Add to Folder

At the top of the search screen, in the blue bar, is a Folder icon that can be clicked on to set up an account for future sessions. Then, during your searches, you can click on Add to Folder and choose to print, email or save your results. You can always access your folder later and change the contents, and you can add an unlimited amount of articles to the folder. Make sure you sign up for an account (very easy!) before you start adding to your folder so that you do not accidentally lose anything.