Collection Spotlight: Using EBSCO for Expansive Searching
by Barbara Opar, Librarian for Architecture and French Language and Literature
Does your approach to research include cross- disciplinary searching? Are you looking to expand a topic beyond the basics? Then you might begin your search in a more generalized database like EBSCO. The EBSCO Database includes 91 specific databases across the humanities, social sciences and sciences. Searching across the entire range of available EBSCO databases expands the scope of any given topic. Are you looking for resources on AI in architecture? An EBSCO search will draw in articles from non-architectural databases, adding in content about how business is impacted. Resources on the writer, Albert Camus, will go beyond articles on his novels to include the influence of existential philosophy, taken from the ATLA Religion Database. Using EBSCO and not just AgeLine will glean different and broader information on age related macular degeneration than the one database alone. The EBSCO search includes citations retrieved from CINAHL. A further example might be the impact of earthquakes on Indonesian infrastructure. An EBSCO search will include yield content which addresses Asian Studies, the environment, planning and worldwide development. This type of search allows you to touch upon a myriad of issues related to the query.
While you can search across the whole EBSCO database, reviewing the entire range of its databases will help you better understand the coverage. In this way, you can select those databases most likely to touch upon your research. The selected databases can be searched simultaneously, thus saving time. There is a feature to deduplicate citations from multiple sources. As a final step, consider advanced searching for the most relevant database in EBSCO’s suite to complete your research.
The EBSCO collection is comprehensive with relevant content. The user-friendly interface enables the researcher to locate significant citations with easy access to most full text. To provide feedback or suggest a title to add to the collection, please complete the Resource Feedback Form.