Using the example of Twitter and Protest we examine researching in EBSCO databases.

1. RESEARCHING TOPICS IN
EBSCO DATABASES
A Guide : By Emily Z. Brown

2. WHAT IS AN EBSCO DATABASE?
EBSCO is a database
platform that provides BCC
Students will access to over
25 separate academic
databases.
You can choose to search
single databases or all
EBCSO databases at one
time.
This tutorial will show you
how to do that.

3. FINDING AN EBSCO DATABASE
Using the same box on the library
homepage as you did for the
catalog search Films on Demand
and ebrary, click on Articles and
then enter your search in the
search box.
This particular search box searches
the database Academic Search
Premier- a general topic database
and an easy place to start.

4. SEARCHING EBSCO DATABASES
When you search from the Library
Homepage you are automatically
brought to the advanced search
(the basic search has a single box
on the screen).
You are also automatically limited
to articles BCC owns in full text.
Additionally, notice that there is a
publication date range tool you
can use to narrow your search to
articles published within a specific
year.

5. SEARCHING EBSCO DATABASES
Once you’re in an EBSCO database you can click on the
Choose Databases link above the search box.
This allows you to choose from all of the EBSCO
Databases BCC has access- you can search multiple
databases at once. This will increase the number of
results you receive back from a search.

6. SEARCHING EBSCO DATABASES
In this particular search I
have added multiple
databases and used
Boolean to expand my
search.
What’s Boolean?
We will explore that on the
next slide.

7. BOOLEAN
Boolean searching consists of your search terms and using a combination of 3 Boolean operators, namely:
And
Or
Not
Use the Boolean operator “and” to tell a database you want both terms. Eg. Twitter AND protest
would bring back articles that mention both twitter and protest.
Use the Boolean operator “or” to tell a database you want either of the terms. Eg. Protest OR “social
unrest” would bring back articles that mention both “social unrest” and protest.
Use the Boolean operator “not” to tell a database you want to exclude a term. Eg. Twitter NOT
Facebook would bring back articles that mention Twitter but do not mention Facebook.

8. SEARCHING EBSCO DATABASES
You can also use the narrowing
options on the left side of the
screen to narrow further.
I have chosen to narrow by the
subject demonstrations
(collective behavior).
This means that all of the articles
that remain in my search will
have the terms twitter and
“social unrest” or protest and
have the subject of
demonstrations (collective
behavior).

9. CHOOSING AN ARTICLE
You can hover over the icon to
the right of the title to read the
abstract of the article.
The abstract is a little bit like a
dust jacket to a book- it will
give you a brief overview of
what the article is all about.
It’s important to read the
abstract as it will help you to
identify articles that are
pertinent to your research.

10. ALL ABOUT THE ARTICLE RECORD
There is so much good
information available to you in
the article record. Here’s what
I’ve highlighted:
• The article source
information- everything you
need to site this as a source
• Subject terms- there terms
can help you start new
searches using those terms
as subjects
• The email and citation
functions in EBSCO allow you
to email and cite every article
in the database.

11. QUESTIONS
 You may be asking:
 If you’re researching the topic of
Twitter and the social unrest in
Ferguson this summer, why are you
looking for articles about the Arab
Spring?
 Answer:
 Ferguson just happened- at the time I
write this, it’s still happening. The
repercussions aren’t recorded in
academic books or journals yet.
Finding articles that are about the
same theme or topic (twitter and
social unrest) can help me research
the history of the topic.
By linking the events in Ferguson
to events in the Middle East I can
draw correlations between the
two and make my argument
stronger.

12. Thus concludes our exploration EBSCO databases.