Save Time on the Result List
Once you've done a search you can save time by using options on the right side of the screen (see clocks, below). Each of the options shows several items to limit; click More Options... to view all your options.
Using any of the options will potentially help you focus and save time, but these are generally your best bets:
- Full Text
Select Full text included to limit to articles with full text online.
- Source Type
You can easily narrow down to academic or scholarly resources if your instructor requires it by selecting Scholarly Journals.
- Document Type
This is an easy way to limit your search to things like audio/video, biographies, case studies, commentary, editorials, government documents, interviews, speeches, statistics, transcripts, and more.
- Subject
Save a lot of time by selecting a subject. This will eliminate articles that just mention your topic, but are not mainly about your topic.
- Preview
View a summary of your article.
Once you've run a search the first thing you'll do is check to see if any of the articles look like they'll work for your assignment. Here are some key features to focus on to scan more quickly.
- Date Published
Check the date the article was published when your assignment requires a time range like no older that 5 years OR when your topic is time sensitive like technology that changes rapidly.
- Length of Article
Check the date the article was published when your assignment requires a minimum length. It can also be helpful to note if the article is less than a page as it provably won't have enough useful information, or if the article is very long (such as 50 pages) and you prefer to find a shorter one.
- Title of Article
You can frequently tell from the title of an article if it is relevant or not.
- Article Folder
The blue folder icon to the left of the article is not information you'd scan, but it can save time. By clicking the folder icon you are saving the articles from the result list that are the most relevant to your research. When you think you have a good number find the Folder in the EBSCO toolbar at the top of the page to see all the articles that you saved.
- Abstract
Every article on your result list has an abstract or summary. Frequently you can tell from the abstract if the article is relevant to your research or not.
- Article Subjects
Article subjects can be useful to determine if the article is relevant. The subjects can also be very useful if you are only finding a few relevant articles. If that's the case, see what subjects were used for the good articles. These are new terms you can try searching on to get more articles like them.
You probably won't have to use this option for all of your research projects, but if your instructor requires that you use academic, scholarly or peer reviewed journals, this is the easiest way to get them: