Welcome to the wonderful world of database searching! There is a lot of information in this tab, so take your time, study the videos and tutorials, maybe take some notes, and then dive in and get your hands dirty. Even if you have lots of experience searching library databases, you may still learn something new. If you have no or little experience, don't panic! The databases are easier to use than you might think. Take it one step at a time, and try every tip, trick, and tool on this page at least once!
You can get to our database list by clicking on this button on Foley's home page:
We have over three hundred databases, many of which focus on specific areas of study. The ones you will use most are probably ERIC and Professional Development, both of which focus on education.
What is a database, anyway?
In the context of a library, it usually means a collection of articles which the library pays to access (and allows you to access for free!). Most of these articles cannot be found on the general internet (so Google won't find them). To learn more, watch this video, created by a student at Yavapai College.
Wondering what "peer review" means? Watch this video from the librarians at North Carolina State University.
You're ready to try a basic search! This video walks you through a keyword search in an EBSCO database.
Not every database stores the full text of an article. Sometimes a database only stores the citation and abstract. This is useful for you to find out if the article is something you want, but not so useful if you decide that yes, you do want it.
But don't worry! Foley has a tool called that searches all of our other online databases and resources and connects you to the full article if we have it somewhere else. Look for a link in your results list. In EBSCO databases it looks like this:
Clicking this link will take you to "Periodicals@Foley," our internal list of all the periodicals (journals, newspapers, and magazines) we have access to, in whatever form, electronic or physical, that we have it. In this case, we can see that we have access to this article in several other databases.
Just click the link and you'll be taken directly to that database's entry for the article, with the attached full text.
If we don't have full text, you're still in luck! Another magic link appears for ordering the document by interlibrary loan:
See the section of this guide on interlibrary loan for more info.
If you are searching for a particular article or journal, it would take forever to search every single database we have. Fortunately, we have a quick index of every single journal, magazine, newspaper etc. that we have and where to access it, whether in print or online. This is called Periodicals@Foley (though we hope to change the name soon to something that makes more sense, like "Journal Finder!").
When an article you want isn't available from one of Foley Library's resources, or, say, when you find an article in a web search but the publisher wants you to pay $35 to download it, the library's Interlibrary Loan department comes to the rescue!
There are two ways to order an article using Interlibrary Loan. The first is to click on the link to Check Gonzaga Libraries for Full Text Options that accompanies a citation in a database:
If we don't have the article in any other database, you'll see a link to request the article via interlibrary loan:
Click there to get to the sign-in page for Interlibrary Loan. Once you sign in, the system pre-fills a form with all the information needed to order the article.
Select your Needed Before date and your Department (Organizational Leadership, Religion, etc.) and Status (Graduate, Undergrad, etc.), then Submit the request.
What happens next? Our interlibrary loan department identifies a library that owns the journal and sends the request to them. That library scans the article into a PDF and, once it's uploaded to your ILL account, you get an email that the article is available. An uploaded ILL document is only available for 30 days or five views, whichever comes first, so it's a good idea to download the PDF right away! Oh, and even though the name of the service is interlibrary loan, articles are yours to keep. Books, on the other hand, do need to be returned . . . but you knew that already.
The other way to order an article requires a bit more effort, but it works just as well. Log in to ILL, click Create Request, and select the type of item you are requesting: Article, Book/Media, or Book Chapter. Fill in the form with as much information as you can and submit the request.
We can get almost any article requested through ILL. It is seamless, fast (but not instant), and free to you, so don't let that perfect article get away!
Google Scholar is Google's system for searching for scholarly content across the internet.
Link Google Scholar to Foley's full text!
Google Scholar tries to find PDF and .doc full text when it can, but it mostly finds citations, not full text. However, you can connect Google Scholar to your Gonzaga account! This will allow you to almost instantly access the full text if we have it. CLICK HERE for directions.
Google Scholar can be a great tool for some things, and a poor tool for others.
Things Google Scholar is good for:
1. Google Scholar allows you to see how many times an article has been cited, and by whom. Just click "Cited by . . ." in the search result listng for the article you are interested in to bring up a list of every citation Google can see.
Why is this useful? Well, you already know that you can look at the works cited or bibliography page of an good article to find other useful articles on your subject. That's looking backward in time to articles and research that preceded the one you are reading. By looking up the article you are reading in Google Scholar, you can do the same thing but look forward in time, to articles and research that followed it and hopefully built upon it.
2. Google Scholar is great for getting a quick-n-dirty overview of a topic. We're all used to Google's keyword-heavy searching. Searching Google-style in Google Scholar is a great way to find relevant articles quickly, which can help you get a feel for the journals, terminology, and issues surrounding your subject of research. You can then use that knowledge to search more deeply in a subject-specific database!
3. Google Scholar can find "gray literature," like conference proceedings or unpublished works, that are often not indexed in scholarly databases.
4. Google Scholar is a good place to go if you have a partial citation: often Google's magic search algorithm can find the full citation for you.
Things Google Scholar is poor at:
1. Google Scholar cannot see anything that is not available or cited on the surface internet. This means that anything that is behind a paywall — like scholarly databases! — is invisible to Google. A majority of scholarly work is not visible from the surface internet.
2. Google Scholar has no subject headings and few ways to refine a search. This makes it more difficult to zoom in on just the right results.
3. Google Scholar has no way to search by discipline. Searching is almost entirely keyword based, and your keywords may apply to many disciplines.
3. Not everything Google Scholar finds is actually scholarly. Google's magic algorithm takes into account indicators like whether the article has been cited elsewhere, but at the end of the day it's just a guess.
While searching:
Database Searching Tips from Foley Librarians
“Boolean Searching” uses the words “AND” “OR” “NOT” to limit or expand a search in a database. Most of the time, you will use “AND”.
In EBSCO databases, the MyEBSCO folder can help you to keep track of articles you are interested in.
In addition to journal articles, the ERIC database contains a variety of other resources called ERIC Documents. These can be special reports, white papers, articles, curriculum materials, and even complete books. Most are available online through eric.gov. When searching the ERIC database through Foley Library, you will see the Full Text from ERIC link on most of the items classified as ERIC Documents. Click on the link to get the full text.
Note that the Full Text from ERIC option is usually the only way to get the full text of the articles where it appears. Since these articles are stored outside of Foley at eric.gov, our internal SFX search won't find them in Foley's collections. So if you see Full Text from ERIC option, use it instead of SFX.
Search Alerts provide automatic e-mail notification whenever new search results become available. You can also retrieve those alerts to perform the search immediately, instead of waiting for the alert to run. There are two ways to save your search as an alert.
Note: To create an alert, you must log in to My EBSCOhost to create a search alert.
If you do not log in prior to setting up a Journal or Search Alert you will be prompted to do so. If you do not have a My EBSCOhost personal folder, you can set one up by clicking on I'm a new user. It is free and signing up is quick and easy.
Creating a Search Alert
To save your search as an alert from the Share link:
Run a search and view your search results.
Click the Share link and select E-mail Alert from the resulting pop- up menu. The Create Alert window appears over the result list.
If you have not done so already, click the Sign in link in the alert window to sign into your My EBSCOhost folder.
Set your alert parameters and click Save Alert.
Note: When you create a Search Alert, the sort selection of the result list is honored for your alert. For example, if your result list is sorted by relevancy when you create your alert, your alert will be sorted by relevancy when it is delivered.
In the E-mail area of the window:
Subject - In the Subject field, enter a brief explanation that will appear in the subject line of the Alert e-mail.
E-mail from - Defaults to: EPAlerts@EPNET.COM. You can enter a different "From" e-mail address if desired.
E-mail to - Enter your E-mail Address. If you are entering multiple e-mail addresses, place a semicolon between each e-mail address.
Hide addresses from recipients - If you select this option, the e-mail addresses you enter will be placed into the BCC (Blind Copy) field of the e-mail, rather than the "To" field.
E-mail format - Select Plain Text or HTML.
In the General Settings area of the window:
Frequency - Select how often the search will be run:
Results format - Select a results format for your alert.
Articles published within the last - To limit which articles are searched, select one:
Note: To view all available alert settings, click the Advanced Search link.
To save a search as an alert from the Search Alert/History window:
Run a search and view your search results.
Click the Search History/Alerts link, and then click the Save Searches/Alerts link. The Save Search Alert Screen appears. If you have not already signed in your personal account, you will be prompted to do so.
On the Save Search Alert Screen
Enter a Name and Description for the Alert.
To run the Alert against a different database, select the Databases from the drop-down list. (Hold down the control key and left-click your mouse to select multiple databases.)
Search strategy - The search terms are displayed. (not editable)
In the Save Search As area of the screen:
To save the search as an Alert that can be automatically run, click the Alert radio button. The Save Search Alert Screen appears.
To select how often the search will be run, from the Frequency drop-down list, select one:
To limit which articles are searched, from the Articles published within the last drop-down list, select one:
In the Run Alert for field, select one:
In the Alert Options area of the screen:
Select the Alert results format: Brief, Detailed, or Bibliographic Manager.
To limit EBSCOhost access to only the articles in alert (rather than the entire site), mark the checkbox to the left of this field.
Note: When this box is marked, the folder feature will not be available to users accessing articles from the alert.
In the E-mail Options area of the screen:
Indicate how you would like to be notified. Select one:
Enter your E-mail Address. If you are entering multiple e-mail addresses, place a semicolon between each e-mail address.
Hide addresses from recipients - if you select this option, the e-mail addresses you enter will be placed into the BCC (Blind Copy) field of the e-mail, rather than the "To" field.
In the Subject field, enter a brief explanation that will appear in the subject line of the Alert e-mail.
Title - you can optionally enter a title for the e-mail. The default value for the Title field is: EBSCOhost Alert Notification.
E-mail [From] address - Defaults to: EPAlerts@EPNET.COM. You can enter a different "From" e-mail address if desired.
Select the E-mail format to use: Plain Text or HTML.
To have your search string included with your results, mark the Include query string in results checkbox. To include the alert frequency, mark the frequency checkbox.
When you have finished making changes, click the Save button.
Related terms: alert, EBSCO Discovery Service, EDS
To edit a search alert:
From the Advanced Search Screen, click on the Search History link below the Find field.
Click the Retrieve Alerts link.
Sign in to My EBSCOhost.
Click the Search Alerts link.
Locate the alert you want to edit.
Click on the Edit Alert link to access the Save Alert page.
Edit the alert.
Click Save.
Note: If you would like to edit the search terms or limiters/expanders of your alert, click the Edit link in the Search History box at the bottom of the alert.
You can delete your Alert by logging in to your My EBSCOhost personal folder (once you are logged in to EBSCOhost).
To delete an alert:
Click the Sign in link in the upper left corner of the screen.
Click the Folder link.
Your folder contents display, with a menu located on the left-hand column.
Click Search Alerts.
Mark the check box for each alert you would like to delete.
Click the Delete Items button. The selected items are removed from the folder.
EBSCOhost alerts are set to display the first 100 results. If your alert produces more than 100 results, and you want to view the remaining results, there are two ways to view all results from your alerts.
Click on the persistent link in the alert email to view all available results or view them by using the Retrieve Alerts feature in EBSCOhost.
To view all results from an alert in EBSCOhost:
From the Advanced Search Screen, click the Search History link.
Click the Retrieve Alerts Link.
Sign in to your personal account.
Locate the alert you want to view, and click on the date of the alert. Your search results will appear.
Notes:
If you do not remember your My EBSCOhost login values, click Sign in and select either I forgot my password or I forgot my user name and passwordfor assistance.
If you are receiving a search alert that someone else has set up for you, only the creator of an alert can stop the alert from being sent.
For additional assistance, Contact EBSCO's Technical Support Department.
