Waggoner Library Tutorials

Basic Search

Advanced Search

Citation Tools

Learn how to apply citation tools to an article. Citation style options include APA, Chicago, and MLA. 

Sources found in Academic Search Ultimate include:

• Magazines, journals, trade/professional publications, and newspapers.
• The full-text sources are identified by links to HTML or PDF formats under the abstract. 
• Full-text available in other EBSCO databases is shown by the term, 'Linked Full Text'.
• Charts, graphs, pictures, etc. that are part of the article are shown by thumbnails under the abstract.

Getting the Full-Text 

Full-text availability is shown under the abstract for the record in the result list. Options are HTML or PDF formats. 

• HTML format: This is the full text of the article formatted in the database. 
  • Click the link to view the article. 
• PDF format: This shows the article in its original format, it's like viewing it in the actual journal with pagination, etc. 
  • Click on the PDF Full-Text link to open the document in Adobe Acrobat Reader. Users are provided with a digitized version of the actual print article.
• If you see 'Linked Full Text' as an option when you click the link you'll navigate to another EBSCO database for the full-text.

Limit and Search Options in the database

Academic Search Ultimate is one of many EBSCO databases that are part of the library collection. The search interface is the same for each database but limit and search options vary, e.g., subject terms vary in the different databases. The information below is specific to Academic Search Ultimate (ASU). 

 To search ASU:  To begin by entering search terms in the boxes provided. Best practices include:

• Each keyword/keyword phrase should be entered in a separate search box.
• Use quotation marks to enclose a phrase, this searches the words next to each other resulting in greater specificity in search results. e.g., "academic honesty"
• To search for variant endings (truncate) of a word,  place the asterisk (*) at the root of the word. e.g. child* will retrieve 'child,', 'childs', 'childhood, 'children' etc. 
• Search modes: Search using Booleans or exact phrases, automatically place AND or OR between your search terms, or search using large amounts of text with SmartText Searching.

Result List: Setting Limits and Refining Search Options

The result list is displayed in a sort default of Relevance. You can change the sort option by clicking the down arrow at the top right. Sort by most pub date newest or oldest, alphabetically by source or author, and relevance. 

Defaults

Apply Equivalent Subjects is a default designed to broaden your search results using a mapped vocabulary pulled from multiple high-quality vocabularies used for indexing content.  e.g. A search for 'workplace injury' will also find "workplace injuries." This can be turned off by clicking the x near the term. 

Limits

• Limits help to narrow your search to more accurate results.
• Limits can be applied before the search is executed or at any point during the search.
• You can always limit an EBSCO search by Full-text, Scholarly (or peer-reviewed), Date range, Source type, Subject terms, Publication title, Publisher, Geography, or Language. Additional options are available in relation to the database topic. e.g. Business Source Ultimate includes limiter by Company or NAICS code.
• Limits can be removed by clicking on the X in the Current Search box found on the left.

Limiter examples include:

• Full Text: This is not recommended for dissertations or thesis research as it will eliminate access to links to full text in other databases or the possibility of interlibrary loans.
• Source Types: Limit to articles published in a specific periodical type. e.g. Journals, Newspapers, Reports., etc.
• Subject: Thesaurus term: Subject headings present in results from the current search. Use these to focus a search. 
• Subject: These words typically come from the authors. Scan the Subject: Thesaurus terms for more accurate terms.