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Tutorial

Conducting an Advanced Search on EBSCOhost

Guided Style Find Fields

While there are no limiters present on the Basic Search screen, you can add limiters by clicking on the Search Options link found under the Find field. Notice the Search modes feature. You can choose

from the following Search Modes: Boolean/Phrase search, Find all of my search terms, which automatically adds an ‘and’ between your terms, Find any of my search terms, which automatically

adds an ‘or’ between your terms, or SmartText Searching.

SmartText Searching allows you to enter a large amount of text to the Find field, or even an entire paragraph or page. Using a sophisticated algorithm, SmartText searching examines the text, places a

weight on the search terms, and returns a result list based on relevancy. Note the expanded Find field which accommodates more text.

For now, let’s do a basic search for the term “global warming.” Enter the search term in the Find field and click Search.

The result list is displayed. On the left, you can narrow your results using the limiters under Refine your results. Limit your results to Full Text, References Available, or use the date slider bar to change the date range of your results. To view the entire list of available limiters, click the Show More link. Once you have

selected your limiter(s), click Update.

Below the Refine your results area, you can also narrow your results by selecting specific Source Types (such as Academic Journals or Magazines), specific Subject Terms or Subjects, or more. After

making your selections within each ‘cluster,’ click Update. The result list is refreshed.

When refining your search results using limiters, source types, and clusters, each item is added to the Bread Box found at the top of the left-hand column. Clicking on a hyperlinked item within the Bread Box executes a search for that term only. Clicking on the icon removes the term from the Bread

Box and refreshes your search results.

If there are images related to the articles in your result list, you are able to preview them by simply holding your mouse over the thumbnail image, displaying the image on the screen.

You can also preview an article’s Detailed Record by holding your mouse over the magnifying glass icon next to the article title. This will display basic information regarding the article, as well as icons linking you

to the full text, if available.

If you are sorting your results by relevance, each article is given a relevancy ranking indicator bar highlighting the degree of relevance to your search term. You can also sort your results in other ways,

such as by date, if you prefer.

Relevancy Ranked Results

Results are returned by relevance

The system has the following priorities: Match on subject headings

from controlled vocabularies Match on article titles Match on author keywords Match on keywords within abstracts Match on keywords within full text

A session folder is available for saving items during a single research session. Or you can sign into your personal My EBSCOhost folder by clicking the Sign In link found at the top of the screen. Create

a free folder here to permanently store your results.

The Page Options drop-down menu allows you to set your Result Format, turn Image QuickView on or off, set the number of Results per page, and select your preferred Page Layout.

To place a link to the search in your personal folder, click Alert/Save/Share. From the resulting menu, choose Add search to folder. From this menu, you can also add all displayed results to the folder, create an E-mail Alert, copy a persistent link (Permalink) to your search, or click Bookmark to add the article to your browser favorites or share it via services such as Facebook, Twitter, or Del.icio.us.

Next, click on Search History below the Find field. A record of the searches conducted during your current session will be displayed. From here, you can combine searches and add them to the Find field by marking the check boxes next to the searches you would like to run, then clicking one of the Search with buttons. Click the Edit link to modify the search terms or limiters of that line of your search history.

Click on the Preferences link in the top toolbar. From the preferences window, you can set your print, email, save, and export settings, as well as customize options such as page layout, language, result list

display, and citation format. These preferences can also be saved for future sessions by signing into your My EBSCOhost folder.

Welcome to EBSCO’s Conducting an Advanced Guided Style search on EBSCOhost tutorial. In this tutorial, we will look at conducting an Advanced Search on EBSCOhost, using the Guided Style Find

fields as well as applying limiters and expanders.

Guided Style searching allows you to simultaneously search for different terms in varying article citation fields. Begin by entering a search term in the first Find field, and then select which field(s) to search

from the drop-down list, such as Subject Terms.

Guide your search using a second term and choose the All Text field to have EBSCOhost look within the full text of all articles for your term. Note: You can conduct command line searches using the

appropriate field tags, e.g., SO for Journal Name, in front of the search term in the Find field.

In the Search Options area, the Advanced Search Screen offers additional search limiters for increased result refinement. For example, you can limit results to Full Text articles within a specified

date range. Click Search to view the Result List.

A Result List is displayed and defaults to showing All Results. It is easy to limit your results using the limiters under Refine your results on the left. The Result List can also be filtered to view results by source

type, such as Academic Journals, Magazines, or Newspapers, by clicking the checkboxes next to the desired source type and clicking Update. You can view your search terms, any applied limiters or

expanders, and selected subject terms in the Bread Box above the limiters.

You can print, email, save, cite or export a single result from the Detailed Record when you click on a title link. To print, email, save, cite or export multiple results, add them to the folder, then click the

appropriate icon inside the folder. Folder contents can be saved by clicking on the Sign In link, and then setting up a personalized (My EBSCOhost) folder account at no charge.

Setting up a Search Alert from the result list is simple and can be done quickly. After performing your search, click on the Alert/Save/Share link at the top of the result list and select E-mail alert from the

resulting drop-down menu.

The alert set-up window will appear on the screen over your result list. Before saving alerts or saved searches, you need to be signed into your My EBSCOhost folder. Click the Sign In link to

sign into your personal folder or create a new account.

Enter your user ID and password and click Login. If you need a User Name and Password, click on the Create a new Account link and follow the prompts. Search and Journal Alerts, as well as Saved

Searches, are stored in your personalized (My EBSCOhost) folder, which can be created by EBSCOhost users at no charge.

Complete the Alert setup form selecting from the Frequency and Results Format drop-down lists. Enter the email address(es) to which you want your future search results sent, and then click Save Alert. If you

would like to view all available Search Alert customization settings, click the Advanced Settings link.

Click the Help link to view the complete online Help system.

Click the Help link to view the complete online Help system.