So, you professor has assigned a research paper that requires well… research. You need to find scholarly articles on your topic, but you’re unsure where to start. Enter Academic Search Complete!

What is Academic Search Complete you ask? It is an electronic database from EBSCO that contains citations and full text from over 5000 scholarly journals covering all areas of academic study. It’s a great general database that has information on nearly any topic you might choose.

Some of the following instructions are particular to Academic Search Complete (ASC), while others can be adapted to other EBSCO databases or any other eResource Alexander Mack Library may offer.

Searching 101

Choosing ASC from the library databases page brings up the Advanced Search screen. From here you can combine multiple terms using the provided search boxes. You can also choose where the database is to search for the terms: in the article’s title, author, keyword (the entire article) or in the assigned Subject Terms (more on that later). If you scroll down the page, ASE provides you a list of other ways you can limit your results (e.g. by date, full-text, or publication type).

Once you type in your search terms and choose your limiters, you click the search button and the database will bring up your results in a screen that looks something like this:

At the top are the terms you searched. In the center is a list of the results, sorted by date (the default). Along the left side are the various subject terms assigned to the articles. On the right side EBSCO provides you with the opportunity to reset you limiters, and a number of images that are related to your search. The results entry contains the citation information for the article (title, journal name, date, etc), along with an abstract. If the database contains a full-text version of the article, then there will also be a link to it (either in html format, pdf, or both).

Subject Terms

Now I’m sure you’re wondering what these subject terms are, and why you should care. When ASC enters an article into its database, it assigns subject terms to the article to make it easier to find. They are standardized within the database which means that you won’t have to worry about searching for synonyms or dealing with false hits when words have more than one meaning. You can search the subject terms either by choosing that option from the drop down menu at the top of the page, or you can browse through the subject terms by choosing the subject terms link at the very top of the page.

Tips for using EBSCO Academic Search Complete

• With keyword search you can specify in which field you would like to find the term (e.g. Title, Author, Subject)
• Choosing a subject term will help to eliminate the need to search synonyms
• Limiters can limit your results by publication type or date, along with whether it is a peer-reviewed journal or a full-text record
• Use Boolean operators and other search strategies to limit your keyword results
• Don’t forget that EBSCO allows you to search more than one database at a time
• Academic Search Elite keeps a record of each search performed during a session (that way you will not have to repeat a search)
• Periodical Locator can help you find the full-text of an article
• The help features can assist you with searching the database

Additional search strategies

You can use these search functions in Academic Search Complete to help you search more efficiently. Many of the other databases also contain these functions, however the symbols used may be different, so remember to check the out the help feature for more information.

• Boolean Operators allow you to combine search terms
  • AND combines two search terms producing results that contain both terms (e.g. birds AND bees)
  • OR between two search terms generates results that contain either of the terms (e.g. dogs OR canines)
  • NOT excludes one of the terms, which means that the results will include one term, but not the other (cats NOT musical)
  • You can string Boolean phrases together using parenthesis [(cats NOT musical) AND (dogs OR canines)]
• When you use quotation marks a search will look for only that specific phrase. For example, a search for “natural selection” will generate results with that specific phrase, however a search for natural selection will generate results that contain natural AND selection somewhere in the entry, not necessary side by side.
• Academic Search Elite allow for you to search utilizing Truncation. These tools allow you to search for variances of terms. Astro* gives you results which can include the terms, astronomer, astronomy, astrology, astronaut, etc.