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GOL-105: National Parks

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EBSCOhost databases

Search more than one EBSCOhost database at the same time to find scholarly journal articles as well as popular magazine and newspaper articles.

Scholarly article databases

Newspaper database

 

If you click on any Reynolds Library database link from off-campus, you will get a Virginia's Community Colleges login screen first. Use your My Reynolds username & password to access library databases from off-campus. 

  1. From the Virginia's Community Colleges login screen, enter your username first then click on the Go button.
  2. Next, enter your password then click on the Go button.

If you are a student currently enrolled in a Reynolds course, and cannot login from off campus, email Will Weaver (Web Services Librarian) dweaver@reynolds.edu or call 804.523.5323.

AND

Type AND between your keywords to narrow your search. The database or search engine will only retrieve those articles or web pages that contain both words. Using AND will decrease the number or hits or articles or web pages in your result list.

Example: school AND crime

Note: Some databases and search engines (such as Google and Craigslist) allow you to type a plus sign (+) in front of a keyword when doing a basic search. This works the same as AND.

Example: +school +crime

 

School And Chrime search

OR

OR Type OR between your keywords to broaden your search. The database or search engine will retrieve those articles or web pages that contain at least one of these words. Using OR will increase the number of articles or web pages in your result list (especially if not used in combination with AND or NOT). Use OR between keywords that are synonyms or have similar meanings. Example: baby OR infant

 

Search for Baby or Infant

NOT

Type NOT before a keyword to exclude that keyword from your search. Using NOT will decrease the number of articles or web pages in your result list. The best use of NOT is when you are searching for a keyword that may have multiple meanings.

Example: bat NOT baseball

 

Search for bat Not base ball

Combining Boolean Operators

Use parentheses ( ) to keep combination searches in order. In the example below, the database or search engine will retrieve articles or web pages that must contain the word law and at least one of the words in parentheses.

Example: (ecstasy OR mdma) AND law

 

Search combining law ecstasy mdma

Truncation

Truncation, also known as stemming, uses a character such as asterisk (*) or question mark (?) at the end of a word, which allows you to search for a root form of a word and pick up any ending.

Example: typing teen* will find teen, teens, teenage, teenager, teenagers.

Notes:

  • Be careful not to end the stem or root of a word too early to retrieve too many results. Example: typing cat* will find cat, cats, catalog, catastrophe, catsup, etc.
  • Different databases use different symbols to truncate words. However, most of our popular databases, such as our library catalog, Academic Search Complete and Access World News (NewsBank) use an asterisk (*) as their truncation symbol. If in doubt, check the "Help" screen for the truncation symbol.
  • Some search engines, such as Yahoo! and Google, automatically use truncation without you having to type a truncation symbol.

Wildcard Symbols

Wildcard symbols can be typed in place of a letter or letters within a keyword if you are not sure of the spelling or if there are different forms of the root word.

Example: wom?n will find both women and woman.

Note: Again, check the Help or Tips links available on most library databases and Internet search engines to verify the wildcard symbol that should be used - usually an asterisk (*) or question mark (?)

  • From the Advanced Search screen, enter your search terms.
  • Search strategies to try: 
    • enter the name of the national park within quotations to find the exact term  -
      • "acadia national park"
    • connect search terms with the Boolean operators (AND & OR)
  • From the Limit your results section:
    • Checkmark the box next to Full Text to view only full articles.
    • From the Published Date menu, enter the year range in the two Year boxes to view only recent articles (e.g., articles published within the last 5 years).

EBSCOhost Advanced Searching Video Tutorial

  • From the Basic Search screen, enter your search terms.
  • Search strategies to try: 
    • enter the name of the national park within quotations to find the exact term  -
      • "yosemite national park"
    • Checkmark the box next to Full text to view only full articles.
  • From the results screen, you can narrow your results from the Limit to menu on the left:
    • From the Source type menu, you can select a source type.
    • From the Publication date menu, enter Year, Month and/or Day range in the two boxes to view only recent articles (e.g., articles published within the last 5 years.

ProQuest Basic Search Video Tutorial

ProQuest Advanced Search Video Tutorial

  • From the Advanced Search screen, enter your search terms.
  • Search strategies to try: 
    • enter the name of the national park within quotations to find the exact term  -
      • "grand canyon national park"
    • connect search terms with the Boolean operators (AND & OR)
    • From the Publication Date menus, select the Month and/or Year range to view only recent articles (e.g., articles published within the last 5 years).
  • From the results screen, you can narrow your results using the Filters menus on the left:
    • You can select a publication type (e.g., journals) from the Publication Types menu.
    • You can also select a specific subject (e.g., Earth Science) from the Subjects menu.
  • From the results screen, full articles will be identified with a content access icon - Free access, Full access or Open Access.
  • From the Basic Search screen, enter your search terms.
  • Search strategies to try: 
    • enter the name of the national park within quotations to find the exact term  -
      • "yellowstone national park"
    • connect search terms with the Boolean operators (AND & OR)
      • "yellowstone national park" AND geysers
  • From the results screen, use the menus on the left to:
    • Sort your results in relevance order by selecting Best Match from the Sort by menu.
    • Limit your results:
      • From the Date search menu, enter Year range in the two boxes.to view only recent articles (e.g., articles published within the last 5 years).
      • From the Source types menu, select a source type (e.g,. magazines).