Articles are available in print and online formats. The magazines and journals in print can be browsed at the Yeary and Zaffirini Libraries, along with indexes which can assist students in finding topic-related articles.

This tutorial will cover how to find an article in one of our databases called EBSCOhost. Keep in mind that the library provides access to various database services, and although they will each look different, the research concepts will remain the same.

To find an article, go to the library website at www.laredo.edu/library, and click Online Databases.

Read descriptions of databases and select the best one that fits your research needs. If you are not sure about the subject, select a general database like EBSCOhost. The steps required to search EBSCOhost follow.

From EBSCOhost, click EBSCOhost Web—All Databases.

Select the checkbox of each subject collection you want to search. Each subject collection allows you to search different magazine and journal titles. Academic Search Complete is a good general subject collection to begin your search.

Click on the title of the collection or the “Continue” button if you have selected more than one collection.

This is the basic search interface. On this page, you can limit your search in many ways. Most students want to limit their search to full-text articles. Simply check the box next to the words “Full text” to limit your search to articles that are available in their entirety in EBSCOhost.

If your research assignment requires that you use academic or peer-reviewed articles, check the box next the words “Scholarly (Peer Reviewed) Journals.”

To limit your search to only the most current information, input a date range next to the words “Published date from.” In this example, we will limit our search to articles published between 2000 and 2007.

Next to the word “Find” type in your search terms. In this example, we will type in “Patriot Act.”

Click “Search.”

A list of articles that match your topic and limiters is generated. For each article, you will see a citation, summary of the article, and links to the full-text or entire article.

To quickly refine your search or create a smaller more focused number of articles to work with, you may click on a subject area on the left hand side of the screen or type in additional search terms.

Type “and civil rights” to narrow your search.

The list has been narrowed down from 118 articles to 18 articles.

Click on “HTML Full Text” or “PDF Full Text” to see the entire article of your choosing.

“HTML Full Text” and “PDF Full Text” articles both contain the full text of the article, that is, all of the words in the article. When given a choice between the two, keep in mind that the PDF will also contain all of the graphics, like photos and charts, in the article.

Article in HTML format. Same article in PDF format.

If you need assistance, please contact a librarian or reference assistant.

LCC Libraries

7/2007