Academic Search Complete (EBSCO) Quick Start Guide

Access

Available from the library web site:

• https://atu.ie/library and choose ATU Sligo
• Databases A-Z
• Choose Academic Search Complete (EBSCO Host) from the list

You may need to enter your ATU Sligo user name and password:

Students: studentnumber@atu.ie and ATU Sligo Password 
 

Staff: firstname.lastname@atu.ie and ATU Sligo Password 

Searching

On the search screen, enter the term tourism        
(The system automatically provides you with a series of similar terms from which you may choose.  To ignore the suggestions and retain the word(s) you entered, Click the cursor in a blank portion of the screen)

The Search Options allow you to use a number of different search modes.  For example:  
Boolean/Phrase                                 tourism AND environment
Find all my search terms                   sustainable tourism Ireland
Find any of my search terms             tourism tourists travel
Smart text searching                                   
This allows you to type a sentence or more and the database will interpret it for you.  For example,  "How will the development of the environmental and green agenda affect tourism?" 

Another option available when searching is to use a wild card *.  For example, searching tour* will retrieve results including tours, tourism, tourists etc.

Note: An important option is PDF Full Text.  This will limit the results of your search to those items which include a pdf of the full text of the article.

When you have entered your search terms and selected your options, Click Search
Your results are displayed. To ensure most recent items display at the top of the list, Click the drop down menu at Relevance at the top of the list and choose Date Newest. 

When viewing a list of articles a number of options are shown at the left of the screen to narrow your results:  For example:
●    Peer Reviewed will limit your results to material of an academic nature.
●    You can also limit your results by Publication Date.

To view an individual item, Click on the title or the HTML or PDF link.

Combining Search Terms

Click Advanced Search just under the search box.  This brings you to a search screen which provides you with a series of boxes allowing you to create a more complex search.  For example, you could specify that all your search terms should appear in the titles of articles, or, you could search the subject headings assigned to articles.  (Note: Clicking Clear removes previous terms from the search boxes)

Example 1

Example 2

Academic Search Complete has many other features which you can explore as you become more familiar with the database.  

Extra Help

You should use the various help features available in the databases.  Check out the ? icon at each stage of the search or click Help at the top of each screen.