Navigating an Online Database Using ProQuest and EBSCO

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Navigating an Online Database Using ProQuest
and EBSCO
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What is an Online Database?

• An online database is a set of resources
  (newspaper and magazine articles, maps, pictures,
  etc.) that have been selected and cataloged in a
  search program.
• The company who selects and catalogs these
  resources sells subscriptions to the database to
  libraries and other institutions.

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Why use an online database?

• The information in an online database is current.
  
• The articles in an online database come from
  reputable, published and evaluated sources.
  Therefore, the information is reliable and
  accurate.
• Online databases provide high level search
  functions.

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Access to online databases

• An online database is accessed by a user name and
  password.
• The online databases at FCHS can be accessed from
  home as well as from school.

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Login and passwords

• Access at SCHOOL
• You MAY or MAY NOT have to supply a login and
  password on school computers. Login information
  is taped to each computer monitor.
• Access from HOME
• You will be required to supply a login and a
  password at home. This information is on the
  Research Database Home Access slips.
• These slips are available in the Media Center.
• PUT THIS SLIP BY YOUR COMPUTER AT HOME.

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Basic elements and features of ProQuest and EBSCO

• List of collection/publications
• Search options/methods
• Date range
• Abstract/citation vs full text
• E-mail function
• Print function

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List of Collection/Publications

• Databases will provide a list of the magazines,
  journals, newspapers and other publications that
  are included in their collection. You are able to
  search for a particular magazine or newspaper and
  find out if the particular issue you want is
  available.

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Search Options/Methods

• There are several search options in ProQuest and
  EBSCO.
• BASIC You can make the search as simple as
  merely entering some keywords.
• ADVANCED You can narrow the search by adding
  other variables (date range, etc.).
• TOPIC The databases also provide some
  pre-selected topics on various subjects along
  with pre-selected articles for these topics in
  order to help you get started with the selection
  of your research topic.

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Date range

• The search function allows you to specify a
  particular month and year range to search. This
  allows you to narrow your search and obtain more
  accurate hits.

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Abstract/Citation vs. Full Text

• Some articles will only have an abstract (summary
  of the article) and citation or bibliographic
  information (title, author, publication date,
  etc).
• Most results will have the full text of the
  article as well as the abstract and citation.

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E-Mail and Print

• The online databases have an email function that
  allows you to email the article to your email so
  you can use it at a future time.
• The print function formats the document without
  the elements that can interfere with printing
  (graphics, etc). This allows you to easily print
  the article.

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Prepare for SEARCHING

• After you have decided on your topic or research
  question, make a list of Keywords and Synonyms
  that will most accurately describe your research
  question. You may have to revise these if you
  discover you are not getting any information or
  the information you want.

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BOOLEAN OPERATORS

• Boolean operators are words or symbols that
  trigger the search engine to perform specific
  search functions with the accompanying keywords.
  The use of Boolean operators in your search helps
  to narrow your search and to more accurately
  specify your intent.

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Examples of most commonBoolean Operators

• AND Use the word AND between keywords if you
  want to get articles that have all of the
  keywords in the article.
• NOT Use the word NOT if you want to exclude
  word(s) from the articles.
• Ex if you want to search for information about
  the Saturn rocket but not the car or the planet,
  you might search
• saturn and rocket not planet not car

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more Boolean Operators

• OR Use the word OR between keywords if you want
  all results with either of the words.
• EX theatre or theater
• Quotation marks or parentheses ( ) around
  phrases or titles if you want all of the words in
  the article but only if the words are in the
  exact order indicated.
• Ex if you want information on the book Of Mice
  and Men but not all of the articles with the
  words mice and men at random, you would put the
  title in quotesOf Mice and Men

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SUMMARY- online databases

• Online Databases contain documented and reviewed
  material.
• Bibliographic information easy to find to cite
  the source.
• Databases are purchased, so they are password
  protected.
• Password sheets are available for students and
  staff for home use.

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PROQUEST

• The following pages show examples of pages of
  ProQuest online database and visually show you
  some of the features and elements we have been
  discussing.

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This is the login page of the ProQuest online
database. You may or may not have to enter
Account Name (Login) and/or Password on school
computers. You will have to enter the login
information at home.
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This is the initial page of ProQuest the Basic
Search page. You can merely enter some keywords.
You can also set a date range and check the Full
Text Articles Only box so you will receive
articles with the entire text.
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If you need to find a particular magazine or
newspaper and see if the issue that you want is
included in the database, go to this page
DATABASES SELECTED. Click on VIEW TITLES beside
the specific collection you want to explore in
order to search to see if the title of the
resource you want is included in this database.
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ADVANCED SEARCH allows you to include more
limitations on your search so you can narrow your
search. Notice that you now have 3 fields in
which to put keywords. This way you can ask the
search function to do different searching
techniques for different words. Again, another
way to narrow and specify your research request.
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The drop down menu on the right allows you to
specify in what part of the article you want the
keywords to be searched only in the AUTHOR
field, only in the Article Title field, etc.
instead of in the entire article. Another way to
narrow and focus your search.
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The drop down menu on the left includes some of
the more common BOOLEAN operators. You can merely
click on the Boolean operator you want to use for
the particular keywords you want to put into that
specific field.
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The drop down menu below allows you to set a date
range for your search. You may only want to
search articles that are very recent (last 7
days) or that were on a specific date (On this
date) or set a Specific date range (from this
date to this date). Another way to narrow your
search.
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Here is a example of a search for articles on
SATURN ROCKET. I typed in SATURN ROCKET in the
first field and left the search field on
Citation and Abstract (which means I want these
two words in the summary or the title or author
fields). I would not get results that have saturn
and rocket just in the text of the article but
not in the title or summary. Then, using Boolean
operators AND NOT, I specified that I do NOT want
the words PLANET or CAR in the summary or
title/author fields.
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Want some help thinking of a topic for your
paper? Go to the TOPIC search and click on
BROWSE THE SUBJECT DIRECTORY.
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Click on the most appropriate subject heading for
your research paper. Keep selecting topics until
you find a topic with VIEW DOCUMENTS. This will
give you a list of articles on the topic a
great way to start doing research on your subject.
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An example of a search using DATE RANGEIf you
want to find some articles about OSAMA BIN LADEN
but wanted to focus on the month before September
11, 2001, use the Specific Date Range feature.
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Instead of getting over 37,000 articles on OSAMA
BIN LADEN, using the Date Range function has
narrowed the articles down to 69.
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Heres one of the articles. The first 2 lines
have the citation / bibliographic information
that you will need to use to cite this source if
you use any of the information. This includes
title, author, source (magazine or newspaper
title), date of issue and page numbers.
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The EMAIL button will take you to this screen
where you can type in your email address and send
the article to yourself for future use.
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The PRINT button gives you a clean,
graphics-free text copy to print.
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The other online database EBSCO has a couple of
screens with options before you can begin to
search. Scroll down and select STUDENT RESEARCH
CENTER.
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This is the BASIC search screen. However, at the
bottom, you have the option to click on FULL TEXT
(for full text articles only) and to designate a
date range if you would like.
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Topic Search is on the left. As an example, I
have selected CURRENT ISSUES and have received a
list of current issues. Select one of interest
and view the articles that have been pre-selected
for you.
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ADVANCED SEARCH looks very identical to the
Advanced Search in ProQuest. Drop down menus to
the right allow you to specify what part of the
article you want the search function to look for
the indicated keywords. The drop down menus to
the left include Boolean operators. Three boxes
give you up to three keywords that you may
request the search function to look for in
different areas of the article.
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An example of ADVANCED SEARCH. If you are looking
for an article that Bill Gates wrote (not an
article about Bill Gates), in order to not get
over 6,000 articles, click on the drop down menu
to the right of the key word BILL GATES and
choose AUTHOR field.
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The number of articles will be reduced to 56
because the search function only looked for Bill
Gates in the Author field of the article.
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Another example of ADVANCED SEARCH. If you would
like to look up some articles about Hurricane
Katrina but dont want to get thousands of
articles, you might want to narrow your search to
articles from one source (magazine or newspaper).
I decided to search only the articles about
Hurricane Katrina in TIME magazine. So in one of
the boxes I put the word time but then selected
Journal Name in the drop down menu to the right.
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This narrowed the search to a more manageable 115
articles.
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This is one of the articles from TIME magazine
about Hurricane Katrina. The first three lines
have all of the citation/bibliographic
information to cite your source should you decide
to use any of the information in this article in
your paper title, author, magazine name, etc.
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The EMAIL button will take you to this screen
where you can type in your email address and send
the article to yourself for future use.
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The PRINT button gives you a clean, graphics-free
text copy to print.
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Getting connected

• To access the online databases
• Go to the following web page which is the FCHS
  Media Center Online Databases
• http//staffweb.psdschools.org/
• suzlab/media/fchsresguide.htm
• Access from FCHS Home Page
• Media Center (bottom of page)
• Online Databases

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