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Library Home > Databases > Introducing Smart Search Discovery Service

Introducing Smart Search Discovery Service

 

Smart Search is a new library discovery tool that enables you to search and find materials in the library catalog and many of the databases at the same time. Smart Search is powered by EBSCO Discovery Service. There are 4 steps in a successful search:

 

1. Enter Your Search

 

On the Basic Search Screen, enter your search terms in the search box. Click on Search.

 

Basic Search

 

If you want to search for a phrase, enclose your words in "quotation marks". You can restrict your results to a Title search or an Author search using the radio buttons below the search box.

 

If you want to use any of the optional Limiters or Expanders, click the Search Options link to open a window of choices, including full text and scholarly journals.

 

Search Options

 

 

2. Limit Your Results

 

Smart Search can find results in over 20 different databases as well as the library catalog so the number of results it finds can be very large. You can limit your results by using the options on the left.

 

Refine Search Results

 

Some Useful Ways to Limit and Refine Your Search:

 

  • Full Text
  • Scholarly, Peer Reviewed Journals
  • Source Types (such as Academic Journals, Books, News, Dissertations/Theses, etc.)
  • Subject (including Library of Congress Subject Headings, which are also used in the library catalog)
  • Author
  • Publication (the journals in which the highest number of matching articles are found)
  • Location (for items in the library catalog)
  • Content Provider (the individual databases that make up the full Smart Search service)
  • Date Range

 

You can click on a single option to limit your search to just the records matching that term, or you can apply several by clicking in their checkboxes and then clicking Update. Any limits you apply will be shown in the 'bread bin' area (up near the search box) at the top of the left column with a cross next to each one so that it is easy to remove the limit again.

 

3. View Full Records and Full Text Documents

 

Smart Search displays brief records initially. These will often provide you with enough information to decide whether you want to see more. If an item is available in full text in one of the EBSCO databases, you will see an HTML or PDF full text link, along with thumbnails of images in the article. Many of the HTML full text results will include tools to listen to the text (using automated speech-to-text) or to translate it (using machine translation).

 

4. Explore More Results from Additional Sources

 

Once you have exhausted the main results set, you can use the Additional Databases panel on the right to find results in additional sources external to the EBSCO platform.

 

You can place the mouse over the name of each additional database to see how many hits it contains, or do the same over the Details link just below the Additional Databases heading to see a summary of the number of hits found in each database.


LEARN MORE

 

  • EBSCO Discovery Service Tutorial FEATURES AT A GLANCE: Click on the image for a quick overview of the layout and features of the Discovery Service.
  • ARE ALL THE LIBRARY DATABASES INCLUDED?
    The number of databases that you can search all at once continues to grow, but doesn't represent every single database available to you. All of the EBSCOhost databases will be automatically searched at once, as well as the JSTOR collections. Additional databases that you can add to your search are listed on the right side of your search results. Click on the image above to see an expanded view of how this feature works.