CQ Researcher
CQ Researcher is highly regarded
as having accurate, in-depth information on a variety of topics. Each report
has a chronology, background information, statistics, a pro/con section and
more. This very thorough kind of information can be hard to find in a typical
journal article, such as what you might find in the EBSCO database.
Here is a quick tour to get you more familiar with CQ Researcher:
Get to the Database
Go to the Database page (link
will open in a new window) and select the News & Current Topics
category.
The first database listed is CQ Researcher, click on it. On the
front page you will see CQ
Researcher's current
report, most recent reports, topics in the news and reports that will soon
be covered. On
the left, there are several options for accessing the issues, including Advanced
Search,Browse by Topic, Browse
by Date, and Issue Tracker. CQ Researcher is
a database where you can browse as well as search for information.
There are additional options for you if you create a profile: get email
alerts, save searches, favorite
documents, or view a list of the last 25 documents you accessed in
document history.
Get reports
Click on Issue Tracker to get a list of all the major
topics covered in CQ Researcher. Clicking on any topic will result in a list
of all reports available on that topic. Scroll down the page to find Jobs
and Skills,
and click on it. Now select Future Job Market. A new browser window
will pop up with the report.
Navigate in the report
Notice
that on the left side bar, you may navigate
(see 2 in image below) to different parts of the
report, such as Pro/Con. There are options above the report (see
1 in image below): pull-down menus at the top of the page that allow you
to print or email either portions of, or the full report; view the full
report as a PDF document by clicking on the PDF icon; and more.
CQ Researcher Report
Alternate Ways to Get Reports
You may also browse by date or topic
or perform a search. You can perform Quick Search from
the main page by typing in your topic, or click on Advanced
Search to
perform a more effective search. Using the Report Titles
only or Topics
only options in Advanced Search can be very effective. You may also
limit the results by date, search just specific parts of a report, choose
how to sort
the results, or choose how many results per page you'd like to retrieve.
EBSCO Databases
EBSCO offers many individual databases as well as interfaces that search multiple databases simultaneously. The focus here will be on Academic Search Complete, but the EBSCO interface works the same way in most of the EBSCO databases.
Here is a quick tour to get you more familiar with searching the EBSCO databases. Go to EBSCO: Academic Search Complete under the News & Current Topics category on theDatabasepage (link will open in a new window) and click on it.
After accessing the main search page, type in terms or phrases to perform a search on your topic.
EBSCO Academic Search Complete
Most searches in EBSCO result in hundreds to thousands of articles. Once you’ve performed a search, you’ll have lots of options for narrowing and limiting your results.
Limit Results Most people would rather get their articles online then look for articles in print, the easiest way to save time is to limit your results to just full text articles. You can do this by selecting the Full Text box, then clicking on the Update Results button. This will take out all articles that aren’t available full text online and you should have fewer to sort through. Two other quick limits are limiting to articles with references available and limiting by publication dare. You can see more limit options by selecting Search Options. A pop-up window will open that displays all the limit options available, including Scholarly (Peer Reviewed) Journals.
You can apply as many limits as you want to any search. Occasionally this will result in no articles. In that case try deselecting some of the limits until you retrieve results. It may be that for some reason there are no full text on your topic. Or, you may want to re-think the terms you entered in the search box. Try using different terms to describe your topic. See Search Techniques that can be used in EBSCO databases, other databases and even with Internet search engines to see how to take advantage of Boolean logic and other search techniques.
Top Tip
Limit to Scholarly (Peer Reviewed) Journals the easy way. You probably won't have to use this option for all of your research projects, but if your instructor requires that you use academic, scholarly or peer reviewed journals, this is the only easy way to get them. Simply select Search Options from the Limit your results column, Scholarly (Peer Reviewed) Journals box and clikc the Update Results button. All your resuls will now be from peer reviewed journals.
Narrow Results Other easy ways to narrow down your results are available on the right had column of your result page. You can narrow results by:
Source type: Use when you want just academic journal articles or one of the other source types.
Subject: Use to narrow down to a subject retrieved by your search; selecting an appropriate subject one can get you closer to what you really want for your paper.
Publication: Use to narrow down to a specific journal retrieved by your search
Subject: Thesaurus Term: Use to narrow to a specific subject thesaurus term retrieved by your search. Sort of like subject, but more specific—can be the most effective to narrowing down to your real topic.
Author: Use to narrow down to a specific author retrieved by your search
Company: Use to narrow down to a specific company retrieved by your search
Publication Type: Use to narrow down to one of the publication types retrieved by your search.
Geography; Use to narrow down to a specific location retrieved by your search, such as United States or Texas.
NAICS/Industry: Use to narrow down to a specific industry retrieved by your results.
More Ways to Save Time
Use Sort by to…
You can use Sort to re-sort your result list by author, source (periodical or other resource in which the article was published) or relevance (how closely it matches your search). Depending on your topic, sorting by relevance combined with the date limit can really save you some time in your search. By default, EBSCO sorts the articles by date, putting the most recent articles at the top of the list.
Use the Citation/Abstract to...
You can use the information in the citation/abstract on the result list to go through your results more quickly. Every article has at a minimum a citation that lists information like title of the article, source, publication date, volume, number and issue if applicable, page number(s) in publication and length as published. Many articles will also have an abstract or summary of the article. The length can be especially helpful. If the article is less than a page, you may want to skip it. It probably will not have enough information to use in your paper. The citation will also indicate if it is a book review, which you can also skip. Generally an article about a book on your subject won't help with your paper.
Use the tools to... Once you are looking at an article, EBSCO shows a toolbar a the top of your article with a number of time saving features:
print:
You can use this tool to opt to print out a citation style of your choice when you print out your article, as well as estimate the number of pages that will print out.
email: You can use this tool to opt to email a citation style of your choice when you email your article, as well as the format of the email, subject, comments and which email adress(s) you choose to email. The only options you have to use are enteering an email adress to which the article will be sent.
save: You can use this tool to opt to save a citation style of your choice when you save your article. If you are going to save more than one document to disk, you probably need to change the file name in the Filename box from the default name assigned by the database to anything you choose. Why? In EBSCO the default name for every article will be the same. That means that every time you save a file it will write over the previous document, leaving you with only one document, whichever you saved last. It’s also best to save as Text file or Web page, HTML only.
cite: You can use the Cite icon at the top of every article to get a citation of your article to copy and paste into your works cited page. Formats available are AMA, APA, Chicago/Turabian, MLA and Vancouver/ICMJE.
export: You can use this tool if you have access to citation software to which you can export a citatioln of the article.
add to folder: You can use the folder to make it easier to keep track of the articles you are interested in, EBSCO has provided a folder in which to keep selected articles. To add articles to the folder, use the Add to folder icon. It’s available both on the result list, and when you are looking at the article itself. When you are done looking at your results list, simply click on the folder icon at the top of the page to see just the articles you selected.
Use Similar Results to…
You can use Similar Results once you are looking at an article—it’s a available form the right hand column—to find more articles like the one you are currently looking at.
Use Preferences to…
You can use preferences to save yourself some time, if you take a little time to set up a free EBSCO account. This is completely optional. Preferences you can save to your account include language preference, autocomplete search suggestions, what displays on the result list, page layout, default format—including preferred citation style, the email address to which you prefer to send articles, email format and export settings. The biggest time savers here are the email and citation format preferences. To use these preferences, you do have to log in each time, so it is a bit of a trade off.
Facts on File Facts on File is actually composed of three databases: World
News Digest, Issues & Controversies, and Today's Science. Each
of the databases has useful information, but the focus here will be on Issues & Controversies.
Issues & Controversies covers controversial topics and includes chronologies,
illustrations, maps, tables, sidebars, statistics, bibliographies, contact
information and the current and historical events related to the topic. If
you need graphics or statistics on your topic, this database is a great place
to find them.
Get to the Database
Go to the Databasepage (link
will open in a new window) and select the News & Current Topics
category. Scroll down to Facts on File: Issues & Controversies and
click on it. There are a number of ways to access the information
in Issues & Controversies. Like CQ
Researcher, information can be searched or browsed.
Search for articles
You can search by entering terms in the search box shown in #1. The search
function in Issues & Controversies can be very effective. Results
are sorted by relevance by default, but you may re-sort results by date or
titles. You can limit results by using the tabs above your results list: articles
load by default, but you can switch to just editorial cartoons, by the numbers,
or reference shelf by clicking on the appropriate tab. Using the pull-down
menu you can further limit by retrieving only main articles or sidebars.
Facts on File: Issues & Controversies
Browse for articles
You can browse for articles through the Subject Index or Issues:
Pro and Con from the left side bar as shown in #2. The Subject
Index as the name implies, lists articles by
subject. Issues:
Pro and Con provides a list of the more controversial topics that are
likely to have people on opposing sides of an issue.
Special Features/Need a Topic?
Use the Special Features links available at the bottom of the main
page as shown in #3 to go straight to specific types of information, such
as By
the Numbers (statistics), Source
Documents (primary
historical documents), Newspaper Editorials, Groups to Contact (organizations
that have information on your topic), and Photos, Charts & News Maps.
Or, if you're stumped, try Need a Research Topic? to browse through
topics covered.
Gale
Gale offers quick facts sheets, brief guided
tours, navigation guides and detailed guides in PDF* format. Note: Not all
the databases have each type of guide. Access all Gale databases. Try a Gale Screencast, Guide or search tips:
These PDF files require the free Adobe® Acrobat Reader®.
Click the icon to get it:
Questions?
If you still have questions after reading this guide,
try some of COM Library's FAQs, or you may
ask the Reference Librarian for assistance. The Reference Office is located
on the ground floor of the library near the Online Library.
Most people would rather get their articles online then look for articles in print, the 
Top Tip
Other easy ways to narrow down your results are available on the right had column of your result page. You can narrow results by:
Once you are looking at an article, EBSCO shows a toolbar a the top of your article with a number of time saving features:
Add
Library @ COM Blog: