EBSCOhost

Welcome to the EBSCOhost tutorial. This tutorial will walk you through how to find articles in EBSCOhost.

Note: if you are off campus, you will have to log in with your OCCC Moodle information before you get to the EBSCOhost database screen.

 

This is the first screen you see in EBSCOhost. It lists all of the databases the OCCC Library has access to. Each database is specific in content. MasterFILE Premier and Academic Search Premier are good databases to start with since they cover multiple disciplines.

Check the boxes for both databases and select "Continue".

This is the EBSCOhost search screen.

By the time you get to EBSCOhost, you need to know what you'll be researching. If we wanted to research effects of water in agriculture, then our keywords would be water and agriculture.

Let's start our search with Water in the first search box and Agriculture in the second search box, then hit Search.

Our search results are over 50,000. This means we have over 50,000 different journal articles on water and agriculture.

Looking at some of the article titles in our search, we have a lot of results coming back from areas outside the United States.

Let's add a third keyword to narrow to the United States only. In the third search box enter United States.

Now we have over 13,000 results.

We can always add more keywords to narrow down the results to topics related to water and agriculture in the United States.

After entering all three keywords, a great way to narrow your results is by the Publication Date.

Change the publication date to a range where you feel is the range for our topic.

What date range did you select and why?

Let's look at the first article. Click on the title.

This is the detailed view of the record.

The title is at the top, followed by the authors (if any), then the source. The source is the publication information. The blue link is the title of the journal the article was published in.

What is the name of the journal article title?

What is the name of the journal this article was published in?

It is important to always read the abstract before the article.

If the abstract sounds relevant to your research, then you can click on the full text of the article on the right.

To the left, under Tools you have option to print, email, save, and cite the article. If you use the citation generator it is important that you always double check and make sure everything looks good in the citation.

Provide the MLA citation for this article.

Going back to the Results List you have other options under Refine Results.

You can limit by Peer Reviewed/Scholarly Articles or pick specific source types like Academic Journal, Magazines, News, Trade Publications, and more.

You can also look at different subject terms to help you change your search results if you aren't finding articles that you want.

Try a search of your own!

Do an EBSCOhost search that is something of interest for you. To start from the beginning, click on New Search at the blue bar at the top. If you wish to change your databases, select Choose Databases above the first search box.

What keyword(s) did you use?

How many results did you get?

Do you need to add another keyword to narrow your results? If so, what keyword(s) did you add?

Change the publication date to help narrow your results. What range did you choose and why?

Pick an article title that sounds relevant to your research topic. What is the journal article title?

Is there a full text option available? If not, how will you read this article?

Provide the MLA citation for the article.

Good job! Your done! Hit next to receive your certificate.

Certificate

Please enter your name and email address to retrieve a copy of your completed quiz.

You can enter multiple email addresses separated by commas. If you are doing this for a class, you may need to enter your instructor's email address also.

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