Transcript Slide 1
How to Access and Search Online Reference Databases by Ms. Speerstra WHS Teacher Librarian What you may already KNOW about research… Nonfiction books are very helpful The internet may contain untrustworthy sources or incorrect information You need to find credible information You need reliable sources ??? ????????????? What do you WANT to learn about using an online database for research? You may WANT to know… What are databases? Databases are organized collections of information put together in one place and accessible on a computer. Are databases free? The databases that require a user name and/or password are not free. Our school pays the database company for a subscription to their service. Online databases will help you with your research because you will find… Reliable sources Credible information Easy to use format Current information Advertisement free articles Our school uses databases from EBSCOhost. You may want to know that the EBSCOhost databases are… Easily accessible from school computers and any computer with internet access! You will just need to know the WHS Ebsco user name and password. Log in information is available in the WHS Library Media Center. How do you log in to Ebsco? 1. Log in to the WHS library home page at www.whslib.org 2. Click on the “Online Databases” link which will lead you to this page 3. Click on the Ebsco Student Resource link To log in to Ebsco at school or at home, enter your user name and password. Log in here Remember, you can pick up this information from the WHS Library Media Center. Depending on what you want to learn, you will select one of the following: Ultra Online Package * (Student Resource Center) *Use this database package to find newspaper articles, magazine articles, and more on current topics and reference. Literary Reference Center * *Use to find information about authors, books, literary criticism and reference. Ultra Online Package (alternate interface) * * Use this if you want to search in a specific database Search terms are something you will want to know about. You can search by keyword, subject, title, name or topic You can try searching by different phrases such as “gun control” or “gun laws” or “gun legislation” in order to yield more results There are several ways to search for information. Enter a term for a basic search here Search by topic here Select categories for search by checking or unchecking boxes here Click here to use an advanced search Search Results You can sort your results by source type Results can be sorted by selecting a term here To access the article, you can click on the article title or on the HTML or PDF link What can you do once you find an article you want to use? Print the article Email the article Save the article to your Ebsco “virtual file folder” This folder is available for you no matter which of the EBSCO databases you use. Each time you log-in to your personal folder, you will be able to access your saved files. This is a great time-saving tool to use. Click here to create your folder Select “I'm a new user” to set up a folder account or enter user name and password if you already have one. You have to fill in all 6 of the boxes to create an account. Make sure you write down the user name and password. Once you have a folder, you can save articles by simply clicking on “Add” next to the article summary or “Add to folder” when viewing the full text article. What can you do if you need help? Click the “Help” button in the top right of your EBSCO screen. There are many helpful tips there. Ask the teacher librarian or library technician to help you. That’s what we are here for. Click the “New Search” button on the top left. Begin your search again. Sometimes it helps to start over. ??????????? What have you LEARNED about using Ebsco online databases? You can access this presentation again on www.whslib.org for review if needed.