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Science and Technology Sources - Handouts: Step by Step with EBSCOHost Health Source

Here you can find the handouts and instructions for using many of the library's Science and Technology databases as well as Bergey's Manual of Systematic Bacteriology.

Step by Step with EBSCOHost Health Source

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Have you looked atStep by Step for Finding Books and Using Popular Databases,

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Search EBSCOHost Health Source.

Step by Step with EBSCOHost Health Source

EBSCO Health Source is an all purpose database that offers a large number of full text articles on nearly every subject imaginable. This handout takes you step by step through both basic and advanced searching.

  1. Before you touch the keyboard, think carefully about your topic. Most topics for college level papers have two main ideas in them. If your topic does not have two ideas, then you may want to narrow it down. A good example of a paper topic is: the health effects of using a cell phone.

  2. The main ideas in this topic are cell phone and health.

  3. To put these ideas together in a way that EBSCO Health Source understands, your search statement becomes "cell phones" AND health. The AND is not a word but a logical operator that tells the computer to look for all articles that deal with both health and cell phones. Here is how EBSCO Academic Search Complete sees your search statement. The overlap between the circles is your search results.

    Boolean search diagram for cell phones and health


  4. To search EBSCO Health Source select H from the alphabet below the big search box on the library web page, and then scroll down to the database and click on its blue title.

    The Big blue search box with the GALILEO alphabet underneath. This is GALILEO in Panther blue

  5. EBSCO Health Source pops up in a separate screen when you click on it.

  6. Type your search statement in to the box in Basic Search. Don't forget to check off the Full Text box and include the AND.

    Using the page number option

    To remove tiny articles, scroll down and set Number of Pages to greater than 2.

    The Health Source basic search screen


  7. Click the Search button to launch your search.

  8. EBSCO presents results ten(10) at a time and you can move among them with the scroll bar and move between pages with the, Previous, Next, and Page Number links.

  9. EBSCO also lists subject headings under the light green buttons on the left side of the page.

  10. To see an article's abstract and full text where available, click on its blue title.

  11. To see an article that is a PDF file or PDF Full Text, click on its PDF icon.


    • To print an article, click on EBSCO's print icon.
    • To email an article, click on EBSCO's email icon and fill out the form.
    • To save an article to a folder you can open at home, login to your personal EBSCO account and then click on the folder icon.
    • To send a persistent link to your article or search to Yahoomail, Gmail, Twitter, or MySpace: click Share or Bookmark in small print and then choose an option.


  12. To end a seach in EBSCO Health Source, click the Home icon in the browser's top row or close your browser.

EBSCO Health Source Advanced Search

If you are visually oriented, want more space and flexibility, or plan to try several related searches, then EBSCO's Advanced Search is for you.

  1. Instead of using an AND between ideas in a search statement, in Advanced Search, you fill separate rows with your ideas, one row per idea.

  2. You can also put two or more synonyms for one idea together using OR, a logical operator joins synonyms as a single idea.

  3. In Advanced Search, fill in the multibox.

    An EBSCO Health Source multibox

    Select Full Text, and click Search.

  4. If you want to modify an Advanced Search, edit one or more rows in the Advanced Search multibox near the top of the screen.