Topic: Using EBSCO Host for journal
searches.
Step 1: Login
Head over to the EBSCO web site by clicking on
this address: http://search.epnet.com/
If you are not
using your school's connection, you will be prompted to submit a
username and password. These items must be obtained from your
school or you will not gain access.
If you are using your school's connection
(either on site or from home) to get to this web site, then your
school's name will show up on the page as a recognized institution
allowing you access. You will see the following 3 choices for
logging in:
I recommend using either
the EBSCOhost Web or the SFX Testing link to give you the most
information, including direct links to any full-text articles.
EBSCOhost Web may give you access to more databases. Use "Text
Only" if your internet connection does not handle images.
Step 2: Choose database(s)
The next screen you will see contains the list
of databases at your disposal. Your school pays for certain
databases; therefore, some schools will have access to more databases
than others. For psychology related searches, you want to choose
from any of the following databases (explanations of databases from
EBSCO Host web site or UMUC web site):
| PsycINFO |
PsycINFO contains more than one million
citations and summaries of journal articles, book chapters, books,
dissertations and technical reports, all in the field of psychology.
Journal coverage, which spans from 1887 to present, includes
international material selected from more than 1,700 periodicals in
over 35 languages. More than 60,000 records are added each year. It
also includes information about the psychological aspects of related
disciplines such as medicine, psychiatry, nursing, sociology,
education, pharmacology, physiology, linguistics, anthropology,
business and law. Examples of titles offered in PsycINFO include:
Academic Medicine, Academic Psychiatry, Behavior Genetics, Behavioral
Disorders, Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, Journal of Applied
Social Psychology, Journal of Behavioral Medicine, Journal of
Psychiatry & Neuroscience, Journal of Psychology, Psychoanalytic
Psychology, Psychological Assessment, Psychological Medicine, etc. |
| PsycARTICLES |
PsycARTICLES
is the full-text version of PsycINFO, with less coverage of
articles. Your school may or may not subscribe to it.
General psychology, developmental psychology, personality disorders,
educational psychology, experimental psychology, group dynamics.
In most cases, full text from 1988 - present. 49 journals
published by the American Psychological Association and the Educational
Publishing Foundation. |
| ERIC |
ERIC, the Educational Resource Information
Center, is a national information system supported by the U.S.
Department of Education, the National Library of Education, and the
Office of Educational Research and Improvement. It provides access to
information from journals included in the Current Index of Journals in
Education and Resources in Education Index. ERIC provides full text of
more than 2,200 digests along with references for additional
information and citations and abstracts from over 1000 educational and
education-related journals. |
| Academic Search Premier |
Academic Search Premier, designed
specifically for academic institutions, is the world's largest
scholarly, multi-disciplinary full text database containing full text
for nearly 4,000 scholarly publications, including more than 3,100
peer-reviewed publications. In addition to the full text, this database
offers indexing and abstracts for all 7,373 journals in the collection.
This scholarly collection offers information in nearly every area of
academic study including: social sciences, humanities, education,
computer sciences, engineering, physics, chemistry, language and
linguistics, arts & literature, medical sciences, ethnic studies,
and many more. Academic Search Premier is an enormous
collection of the most valuable peer-reviewed full text journals,
offering critical information from many sources unique to this
database. Examples of titles offered in Academic Search Premier
include: Acta
Sociologica, American Historical Review, American Journal of Political
Science, American Libraries, American Sociologist, British Journal of
Psychology, British Journal of Sociology, Central European History,
Contemporary Literature, Early American Literature, English Language
Notes, Family Relations, International Journal of Psychology, Journal
for the Scientific Study of Religion, Journal of Aesthetics & Art
Criticism, Journal of Counseling & Development, Journal of
Education, Political Science Quarterly, Journal of General Psychology,
Journal of Genetic Psychology, Journal of International Affairs,
Journal of Learning Disabilities, Journal of Marriage & Family,
Journal of Politics, Journal of Psychology, Journal of Social
Psychology, Library Journal, Social Forces, Sociological Review,
Theological Studies, Women's Studies, etc. Academic Search
Premier
provides expanded indexing & abstract and PDF backfiles for more
than 100 top scholarly academic journals, dating back as far as 1965 or
the first issue published (whichever is more recent); many of the PDF's
are native (searchable) or scanned-in-color. |
| MEDLINE |
MEDLINE provides authoritative
medical information on medicine, nursing, dentistry, veterinary
medicine, the health care system, pre-clinical sciences, and much more.
Created by the National Library of Medicine, MEDLINE uses MeSH
(Medical Subject Headings) indexing with tree numbers, tree hierarchy
and explosion capabilities to search abstracts from over 4,600 current
biomedical journals. Included are citations from Index Medicus,
International Nursing Index, Index to Dental Literature, PREMEDLINE,
AIDSLINE, BIOETHICSLINE, and HealthSTAR. Examples of
publications covered in MEDLINE include: Accident
and Emergency Nursing, Addiction, Administration and Policy in Mental
Health, Behavior Modification, Behavioral Medicine, Cancer Detection
and Prevention, Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, Journal of
Advanced Nursing, Maternal and Child Health Journal, etc. |
Professional
Development
Collection
|
Professional Development Collection,
designed for professional educators, provides a highly specialized
collection of over 550 full text journals, including more than 350
peer-reviewed titles. This is the most comprehensive and most valuable
collection of full text education journals in the world. In addition to
full text, indexing and abstracts are provided for more than 800
journals. Examples of titles offered in Professional Development
Collection include: Booklist, Curriculum Administrator, Education,
Education Digest, Educational Leadership, High School Journal, Journal
of Education, Journal of Educational Research, Journal of Learning
Disabilities, Phi Delta Kappan, Reading Teacher, School Library
Journal, and many others. The majority of full text titles included in
the database are available in native (searchable) PDF, or
scanned-in-color. Full text information in the Professional Development
Collection dates as far back as 1965. |
Psychology &
Behavioral Sciences Collection
|
The Psychology
& Behavioral Sciences Collection is a
comprehensive database providing nearly 550 full text publications,
including more than 500 peer-reviewed journals. The database covers
topics such as emotional and behavioral characteristics, psychiatry
& psychology, mental processes, anthropology, and observational and
experimental methods. In addition to the full text, indexing and
abstracts are provided for all journals in the collection. Examples of
publications offered in the Psychology & Behavioral Sciences
Collection include: American
Journal of Family Therapy, Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, Clinical
Neuropsychologist, Current Psychology, European Archives of Psychiatry
& Clinical Neuroscience, European Child & Adolescent
Psychiatry, European Journal of Cognitive Psychology, European Journal
of Neuroscience, International Journal of Behavioral Medicine,
International Journal of Psychiatry in Clinical Practice, International
Journal of Psychotherapy, International Journal of Social Psychiatry,
International Review of Psychiatry, Journal of Clinical &
Experimental Neuropsychology, Journal of Clinical Child Psychology,
Journal of Cognitive Neurosciences, Journal of Mental Health, Journal
of Psychiatry & Neuroscience, Nordic Journal of Psychiatry,
Psychotherapeut, Social Psychiatry & Psychiatric Epidemiology,
and many more. The Psychology & Behavioral Sciences Collection
can be searched independently, but also allows users to conveniently
link to full text from citations within PsycINFO. All full
text publications included in this database are indexed in PsycINFO.
The majority of full text titles in this database are available in
native (searchable) PDF, or scanned-in-color. Full text information in
this database dates as far back as 1965.
|
The above list is not exhaustive. You can select
just one database or several databases. Minimally, you want to
choose PsycINFO as it is the most comprehensive Psychological
database. Consider yourself lucky if you have access to
PsycARTICLES but realize that you will be exposed to less content as it only includes
full-text articles. Psychology & Behavioral Sciences
Collection is another good database that links directly with PsycINFO.
You can either place a check in one or more boxes and
then hit CONTINUE or click on the name of the database.
Note: To conduct a search on more
than one database, you need to check the boxes and hit CONTINUE.
Step 3: Sign in to My EBSCO
At this point, you are ready to conduct
your searches. However, I highly recommend signing as a user of
EBSCO prior to any search. In the upper left part of your screen,
click on: Sign
In to My EBSCOhost. Why? As stated on the web page, "My
EBSCOhost is a personal folder in which you can save Result
List items, persistent links to searches, saved searches, search
alerts, journal alerts and web pages, organized for ease of viewing,
adding to/deleting from or editing. After you sign in to My EBSCOhost,
the EBSCOhost
logo displays a "MY" banner on the corner to signify that you have
logged in to your own personal folder. Items saved in your personal
folder will remain from session to session, until you delete
them." Also, using My EBSCOhost
means being able to conduct searches with more than one database.
Step 4: Conduct your search
Now you are ready to conduct your
searches. Click on the ADVANCED SEARCH tab at the top part of the
screen. EBSCO Host has a lot of interesting and helpful tools at
your disposal. For general information on how to conduct
successful searches, click on this Cyberlab
tutorial. For specific information on how to use EBSCO's
advanced search features, click here. For a complete list of EBSCO tutorials,
click here.
Step 5: Working with your searches
Once you conduct your searches, you can easily
save a search for printing or emailing by clicking on the  button. At the top right part
of the screen, you will see that your folder now has items in it:
 My Folder has items. Once you click
on MY FOLDER, your list of saved searches will be displayed. From here,
you can print an article, save it to a disc, or email it. Or you
can
keep it in your folder for a future visit. If the
article is in full text, you will see one of the following:
 PDF Full Text |
Best option.
This means the article is available in the original format, with intact
tables/figures. Your computer will need Adobe Acrobat to view it
(available as a free
download from the company).
|
 HTML
Full Text |
Your next best
option. This means the article is available as a web page file
(no need for Adobe Acrobat) and usually has the full article with
scanned in tables/figures.
|
 Linked Full Text |
This means the
article is available but the tables and figures may not be easy to
read. You may lose important information with this option.
|
 /  |
SFX is a system that dynamically interlinks numerous
electronic resources and can be used in a wide range of digital
libraries (learn more here).
See below for additional information. |
Step 6:
Understanding SFX /
Once
you click on this link, if the article is available in
full-text, you
will receive that information. You may be prompted to enter the
publication information or it will be entered for you. Once
entered,
the full-text article will
be displayed.
However, just because you see the button,
it
does not mean the article is available full text. If that is the
case, you will see this:
No Electronic
version available for your library via SFX.
What you need to do at this point is to find
out if any library
within the University System of Maryland has this holding. To do
so,
click on Holdings in
catalogUSMAI and see if and where it is
available. Or you can order the article/book by clicking on the
link that reads Request document
via
Interlibrary Loan (ILL).
As stated before, EBSCO Host offers a lot of interesting
services. Check out the tutorials and have fun with your searches!
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