Using Academic Search Complete

Begin your research from www.library.niagara.edu. Click on “Use a Research Guide”

Under “Education”, click on the last link “Services and Information…”

Select the link to the database, Academic Search Complete

Select off-campus access

Log into most databases from off campus by using your MyNU log in

Select Ebscohost

Select Ebscohost Web

Click on the boxes to select all of the databases that relate to education. Academic Search Complete, ERIC, Primary Search, Professional

Development Collection, PsycARTICLES, and PsycINFO.

Type in your keywords using AND to connect them. Narrow results by the date; between the past 3 – 5 years. Click on the checkbox because you only want results

from scholarly or peer-reviewed journals.

Too many results! Narrow results further by just using articles from the ERIC database.

There are some good articles in our result list, but we should narrow further. Narrow results by the subject “mathematical concepts” on the

left.

We have narrowed our results quite a bit. Remember, using different keywords will give you different results. You will NOT find everything you need in one search

through one database. Click on the title to look at the first result…

If you find a “perfect” article, look at its’ descriptors, or keywords used to find similar articles. Also, the abstract, or the summary, of the

article to see if it will be useful to you. If so…

Look for HTML or PDF and click on the link to access the full text article. If not, how do you access the article? Copy the

Journal Title and click on the link “Check for full text…”

Copy the Journal Title into the search box. This will tell you if NU owns the article in print or in another database. Check the date to see where you may access the article.

If you can’t access it, you may obtain a copy via ILLiad.

This article is from Fall 2008. Email the reference librarian and they will be happy to scan it for you and send it to you in an email.

Remember!

• You do not have to use all of the terms in one search

• Try various combinations• Watch for misspellings• Try different databases• Plural vs. singular = different

results