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Using Ebsco databases (e.g. CINAHL, CMMC, ERIC, PsycInfo)

Search tips
Reading results & refining your search
Printing articles
Exporting to RefWorks
Citing, emailing, printing, or saving results

Search tips:
Click on the Advanced Search tab. The advanced search screen will help you structure your search:

Typing in your search terms:

• Use AND to connect keywords:
  • children’s voice disorders will only retrieve records that contain those three words immediately next to each other, in that order.
  • voice disorders and children will retrieve all records in which the phrase speech disorders and the word children appear.
• Use OR to search for similar ideas: speech disorders or voice disorders. To use OR, click on the down arrow next to and.
• Use * to search for variations on a root word: child* gets child, child's, childhood, children, children’s.

Multidatabase v. individual database searches:
To select multiple databases, use the Choose Databases tab OR the pull-down menu

• Benefits of multidatabase searching: It’s quicker, the results are broader, it provides a multidisciplinary overview of your topic.
• Benefits of individual database searching: It’s more targeted, fewer results but more in-depth, it allows use of thesaurus/specialized headings for that discipline.

Full Text: Clicking in this box limits your results to articles that are available online through the database you are searching. You will not see articles that might be available through other databases.

Scholarly (Peer Reviewed) Journals: Many Ebsco databases contain other items in addition to articles from scholarly journals; clicking in this box will limit your results to items in scholarly journals. If you don’t restrict your search at this stage, you can click on tabs when you see the results.

Reading results & refining your search:

Reading the result list:
In the example below…
The title of the article is “The Prevalence of Stuttering, Voice, and Speech-Sound Disorders in Primary School Students in Australia.”
The authors are David H. McKinnon, Sharynne McLeod, and Sheena Reilly.
The article was published in volume 38, issue 1 of the journal Language, Speech & Hearing Services in Schools.
It was published in January 2007 and appears on pages 5-15.
It is 11 pages in length and includes 9 charts.

You can view the article abstract or summary by clicking on the article title.
You can view the works cited/bibliography by clicking on the Cited References link.
You can see the entire article by clicking on the PDF Full Text link.

Narrow Results by Subject: Clicking on a heading adds it to your search, cutting out results that do not contain the heading. You can also replace your search terms in the Find box with the narrower ones to refocus your search.

Thesaurus: If you’d like help with synonyms or related terms for your search, you can consult a thesaurus. Most databases contain a thesaurus, but you’ll only see it if you search each database separately. It might be called Headings (e.g. CINAHL headings).

Cited References: If there’s a particular work that is a standard for your topic, you can find articles that cite it by using the Cited References link. Enter the author of the work and part of the title to find articles that build on or refer to that work.

Times Cited in the Database: This article is cited in the bibliography/works cited of another article in CMMC. To see the article citation and abstract, click on the Times Cited link.

Printing articles:
HTML Full Text: The entire article will appear when you click on the link. You can use the browser’s print command or the print link provided by Ebsco.

PDF Full Text: The entire article should appear when you click on the link. To print PDF documents, be sure to use the printer icon that appears at the top of the article: do not use the File menu or the printer icon at the top of the browser or you'll get blank pages.

Link to Full Text: The entire article may appear immediately when you click on the link, or you may need to search for an additional link to open a PDF file. To print PDF documents, be sure to use the printer icon that appears at the top of the article. Do not use the File menu or the printer icon at the top of the browser or you'll get blank pages.

: When you see this link, the article is not available through the database you're searching, but might be through a different database. Click the button and a new window will open. If you see Article, the article is available online and should appear when you click the Article link. Example:

If you do not see Article, please talk to a reference librarian.

Exporting to RefWorks:
As you read through the results, you can save records to export to RefWorks or another citation manager.
Click on the Add link to the right of the records you want.
When you’ve finished selecting items, click on the Folder has items link at the top of the screen.
Select All or as many of the items as you want to export.
Click on Export.
RefWorks will open if you haven’t already opened it.

Citing, saving, and emailing:
You can save records to create a printed bibliography in APA or other style format.
Click on the Add link to the right of the records you want.
When you’ve finished selecting items, click on the Folder has items link at the top of the screen.
Select All or as many of the records as you want.
Click on Print or Email or Save.
Click on Citation Format and select a style.