Abstract  A short summary of the main ideas in a source.

Full-text  A database that stores the complete text of an article as it would have appeared in print. Pictures and charts, as well as the original lay-out of the print version, are often not included in full text databases.

Keyword  The term you type into a database or search engine text box to describe the     information you are seeking.  Keywords are usually taken from the titles, abstracts, and
occasionally the body (full text) of the articles in the database.

Online Datatabases  Organized collections of information that the Shasta College Library is  making available for the Shasta College students, faculty, and staff through the Library's  webpage.

Subject headings The terms an indexer assigns to describe the items in a database.  Subject searches can be more precise than keyword searches.

Truncation  Also known as stemming or stem-searching. Abbreviating a word at its root to include its variants, such as plurals and possessives.  Most databases use the * to show that all words to the right should be included. Truncating auto* will yield articles on autos, automotive, automobiles, etc.

WEBCATalog helps you locate an entire book on a topic.   If you are seeking information that is more up-to-date or on a subject that is not well covered in the Library, you can try journals, magazines, and newspapers.  The Shasta College Library subscribes to more than 500 in print.  The Library also subscribes to periodicals that are collected into searchable, online databases.  EBSCOHost is a good place to start searching on a variety of topics.

Logging In:
? Go to any computer with Internet access (that includes all computers in the Libary and Writing Center).
? Go to the Shasta College Library Webpage [http://library.shastacollege.edu/]
? Click on Online Research Databases.  Scroll to Magazines and Periodicals (EBSCOhost), the first on the list.
? If you're working from Shasta College, click On Campus Access.
? If off-campus (for example, at home or at another center, such as Red Bluff) click
Off Campus Access.
? Enter your 14 digit library card number (don't include spaces)
? Click on Submit.
? The next screen gives you the choice of EBSCOHOST (the magazine database) or the Proquest (the newspaper database).  Choose EBSCO by clicking on Submit.  From this point, searching will be the same as if you were working on campus.

Thinking About Your Topic
Suppose you want to write a short paper on the following topic:

Does the viewing of violent television programs have on impact on the behavior of children?

Possible keywords could include:
violent (and words with the same root, such as violence, or synonyms, such as
aggression)
 television (and synonyms, such as t.v.)
 children  (and singular form, such as child, as well as boys and girls)
 impact (and synonyms, such as effect)
 behavior (and synonyms, such as conduct)

Combining Terms, Searching, and Revising
In most databases, you can retrieve variants of a word by cutting a word off at its root.  For example, the term violen* finds the keywords violent, violence, violently, etc. This technique is useful for broadening, that is, increasing the total number of articles that you will find.

Using the word "and" to connect two keywords will retrieve only articles where both keywords are present.  This technique is useful for narrowing, or making your search more precise.  Let's try it.  Connect to EBSCOHost.  Click on the textbox and enter

television and violen*

Click on Search.

1) How many articles did you find? _________

2) Look at the list describing the first 10 articles.  How many discuss children's programming or viewing?  ____________

3) Let's narrow the search.  Click on the Refine Search button.  Add and child* (for child, child's, children, children's) to the original terms and click on Search

television and violen* and child*
 

4) How many articles did you find? _________

5) Look at the list describing the first 10 articles.  How many discuss children's programming or viewing?  ____________

It's possible to narrow even further by adding terms such as impact, effect, behavior.

Sometimes you may want to broaden a search by linking related or synonymous terms.
We can link related terms with or.  Searching on television or movies will find articles on either term.  Similarly, searching on impact or effect, will find articles using one of these words.  Let's revise our search one more time. Click on the Refine Search button and add (impact or effect*).  The parentheses are important because we're asking the database to act on two functions (and, or) and it needs to know which to do first.  It will first connect the words within the parentheses and then connect the rest of the terms.

television and violen* and child* and (impact or effect*)
6) How many articles did you find? _________
7) Are they more or less relevant than the articles you found earlier?________________________________________

Some features of the Record List:
? The most recent articles are listed first and the oldest articles are at the end of the list.
? EBSCOhost includes full text, that is, the entire print content, for most, but not all articles.  To read the entire article, click on the full text link in the record.
? For some references, EBSCOHost lists only the citation and a short summary.  You will then go to another database (such as General Reference Center Gold or SIRS Knowledge Source) or perhaps even microfilm to find the entire article.
? If you want to retrieve only full-text articles, click on Refine Search, scroll down to
Limit Your Results and click the box to the left of Full Text.  Now click on Search.

Try researching a topic on your own.
1) State your question.
 
 

2) List possible keywords from the question above:

____________  ____________  ____________

____________  ____________  ____________

3) Connect two of your keywords in a statement:
 
 

4) Try your search in EBSCOHost.  How many articles did you find?__________

5) From the list of articles, choose one that is available full text.  Write the following information:
 
 

6. Title of article:

7. Author of article:

8. Title of the print magazine:

9. Date published:

10. Page on which article begins:

11. Does the print version of the article contain illustrations or material not included in the online version?
 

Read the first few paragraphs of the article.

12.   List one interesting fact you learned:
 
 
 
 

Due Thursday March 15th
If you need further assistance, contact Carolyn Salus Singh, x4896