Searching the databases

1. Searching
the library
databases
A G U I D E T O E B S C O
D I S C O V E R Y

2. Accessing the databases
You can access the library databases via the
Ebsco Discovery link located on the Moodle
menu.
The databases provide a diverse range of
research materials, including books, eBooks,
journal articles, and reports, among others.
While navigating subscription databases may be
less intuitive than utilizing Google's search
engine, the investment of time and energy can
be rewarding, as these resources provide a
dependable source of information. To maximize
the utility of these databases, this presentation
provides several useful strategies for honing
one's search skills.

3. The Ebsco platform enables you to conduct comprehensive searches across the entire library collection,
including both physical and digital copies of textbooks. When seeking a specific title, you may input the complete
book title or a few pertinent keywords separated by the logical operator "AND," along with the surname of the
primary author. For instance, to locate the following title: Saunders, M.N.K., Lewis, P. and Thornhill, A. (2012)
Research methods for business students. 6th ed. Pearson, you may perform a keyword search using "Research
AND Business AND Saunders."
To distinguish between printed and digital copies, you can examine the cover image and the corresponding label
listed in the record. Printed books are classified as "Book," while digital copies are categorized as "eBook." For
books in print format, the record provides information on the exact shelf location (e.g., 650.072 SAU) and the
number of available copies.
Searching the databases
On the other hand, if a title is available online, it is labeled as an ebook and accompanied by a PDF hyperlink that
allows you to access the digital file. An illustrative example is provided below.

4. The search box will also give you access
to many other resources, including
journal articles, reports, news, and more
To start your search, enter your
keywords in the search bar the same
way you would for a book.
The system will redirect you to the main
database search.
Use the filter on the left side of the page
to select your preferred source type.
In the example provided in the
screenshot, the content has been filtered
to display only academic journals, but
you can select multiple formats at the
same time and get more options than
the ones displayed on the screen by
clicking on 'Show more'.

5. Finding the right keywords
Before starting your assignment, ensure that you have understood the brief. Break the
brief down to its components to ensure that each section has been addressed.
BRIEF: ‘Critically evaluate the evolution of HRM, its role in business strategy
formulation, its relationship with other functions within the organisation and how it
contributes to achieving and sustaining a competitive advantage’.
ACTION: Critical evaluation of the main themes
THEMES: Evolution of HRM, Role of HRM in formulating a business strategy,
Relationship between HRM and other business functions, Impact of HRM on
competitive advantage.
Now that you have identified the main themes, you can begin your search.
HRM is the main topic of your research, so it should be included in all your searches.

6. Example of Search based on the
assignment brief
It is important to remember that the search function on
subscription databases is not as advanced as a Google
search so you should always ensure that a word has been
spelt correctly and that you search by keywords, rather than
using whole sentences. You should also use ‘and’ to
separate your keywords.
Search examples:
HRM and Evolution (or “evolution of HRM”)
HRM and Business Strategy
HRM and impact on business functions
HRM and Competitive Advantage
TIP: Play around with synonyms and see if you can find
other search terms to use.

7. Boolean operators
Boolean Operators can be used to focus a search, particularly when your topic
contains multiple search terms, or to connect various pieces of information to
find exactly what you're looking for.
Boolean operators connect your search words together to either narrow or
broaden your set of results. The three basic boolean operators
are: AND (narrow), OR (broaden), and NOT (exclude).

8. AND
Some databases, such as Google, automatically
put AND in between your search terms; the Ebsco
databases don’t offer this function so you should
do so manually.
Use AND in a search to:
• narrow your results
• tell the database that ALL search terms must be
present in the resulting records.
For example
Google Search: Ethical concerns with human cloning
Ebsco database search: Human AND cloning
AND ethics
Although all your search terms are included in the
results, they may not be connected in the way you
want so you may want to consider using phrase
searches as well. You can search using phrases by
entering quotation marks to make your results more
specific.
For example: “human cloning" AND “ethical
concerns".
The area with the white dots on the Venn diagram
is the point where all the circles intersect, and it
represents the result set for this search.

9. OR
OR is often used to connect two or more
similar concepts (synonyms)
Using OR broadens your results, because
you are telling the database that ANY
of your search terms can be present in
the resulting records
For example: Cloning or Genetics will
bring back records on either of these
topics.
OR can also be used for words that have
different spelling (Organization OR
Organisation).

10. NOT
NOT can be used to exclude words from your search and it is useful if you
want to narrow your search by excluding certain aspects of a topic
For example: Cloning NOT Sheep.

11. For more information, please contact the
librarian at: Debora@cct.ie