Research Help Tutorial:
Using Academic Search Premier
When you have a paper or project assignment that requires scholarly research, you’ll probably want to use a library article database. One of the largest databases available at our library is Academic Search Premier.
Finding Academic Search Premier
First go to the library webpage. Then click on Articles and Databases. Academic Search Premier is at the top of the list of databases. Click on the words Academic Search Premier.
Using Academic Search Premier
Now that you’re in the database, please note that the title of the database is listed just above the basic search box. You may think that the database is called “Ebsco” or “EbscoHost” but that’s the name of the company that provides the database. You may need to know that “Academic Search Premier” is the title of this database when you are documenting your sources in your paper.
On the basic search page, you’ll see many options for searching. Two of the most important ones are on the lower left. If you click Full Text you’ll limit your search to only articles available online, and you’ll miss out on many articles that actually available in other databases. If you click Scholarly (Peer-Reviewed) Journals you’ll narrow your search to only scholarly journals. The term “peer-reviewed” means that experts have evaluated the article before publishing it.
Type a keyword or two in the basic search box, and click Search. You’ll see a list of results and the number of results will be reported at the top of the left hand column. Each result will be numbered and start with the title of the article, followed by the authors, journal title, as well as volumes, dates, and pages. Below the information about the article will be a number of subject terms, which are like tags for each article. They may give you some ideas for alternate keyword searches.
On the same results page, you’ll see on the left, several options for narrowing your search, such as subject terms and geographic areas.
If you find an article on the results list that sounds interesting, you can hover your mouse over the magnifying glass icon (at the end of the article title) and read the abstract or summary in a pop-up box.
If you are ready to read the article, you can click on PDF full text to pull up the article. From the PDF page, you can use the print and save functions at the top of the page to print the article or to save it to your computer or flash drive.
Emailing and Citing Articles
If you click on the title of the article, you’ll see a list of options on the right. One of the options is email. Click on the email icon, and enter your email address. You can use any email address. Click Send at the bottom left.
Another option, under the email icon, is cite. When you click on cite, you’ll see a pop-up window which lists the article in five or six different citation styles. You can copy and paste the citation you need into your paper. Your instructor will tell you which style to use, such as MLA.
Remember that you may need to narrow your search, using keyword phrases or more specific terms, such as “teenage online risks.” Alternately, you may need to broaden your search, such as “privacy.” Try several combinations of keywords and synonyms. You may need to use the “advanced search” button (which is found under the basic search box at the top) to do a more precise search or to search for a specific author or journal title.
Need More Help?
If you need more help, go back to the library webpage and click on Ask a Librarian. You’ll find the chat widget, the phone number, and the email address for the Reference Librarians. We’ll be glad to offer more help!