EbscoHost Advanced Search

“As a child my family's menu consisted of two choices: take it or leave it” -- Buddy Hackett (American Author and Comedian, 1924-2003)

EbscoHost’s powerful search engine is mostly menu driven, providing less opportunity for power searchers to enter complex search strings directly.

That said, you still can begin an Advanced Search using standard Boolean operators.

For example, you could enter …

dibenzothiophene and SO energy … to search for articles containing the word “dibenzothiophene” and appearing in any publication with “energy” in its title.

Or, you could enter the following …

dibenzothiophene and AU waldau … to search for articles containing the word “dibenzothiophene” and authored by anyone with the name “waldau”

But the key to expert EbscoHost searches lies in the menu options … check the “Full Text” box for a results list containing only those articles you can read online, for example.

Browse the following cheat sheet for a few ideas on how to improve your EbscoHost search effectiveness …
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EBSCOHOST OPERATORS CHEAT SHEET
Courtesy The Esther Raushenbush Library

AND
Use And to narrow your search. By joining search terms together, the And operator reduces the number of results. For eg. "architecture and postmodern" will only retrieve articles that contain both those terms.
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OR
Use Or to broaden your search. The Or operator searches for articles in which any of your search terms are present. Or is also useful when one is looking for terms with variant spelling or grammatical variations. Eg. "Renaissance and (woman or women)" will pick up articles that contain the term Renaissance along with either the term woman or women.
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NOT
Use Not to eliminate search terms. Eg. "Internet not World Wide Web" will only retrieve articles that contain the term Internet and do not refer to the World Wide Web.
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PARENTHESES:
Parentheses allow one to control the way the database will interpret and execute a string of search terms. Without parentheses a search is performed from left to right. However, terms that are enclosed in parentheses are given precedence and thus searched first. For eg.:
Renaissance and (history or art)
The parentheses in the above search string allow the database to search for those articles that contain the term Renaissance in addition to either the terms history or art. Thus, articles on both Renaissance history and Renaissance art will be retrieved.
Example without the parentheses:
Renaissance and history or art
The database will execute the above search string from left to right, retrieving articles either on Renaissance history or art. Without the parentheses, there will be virtually no connection made between the term Renaissance and the term art.
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SEARCHABLE FIELDS
One can search individual record fields using the following abbreviations:
AU
Author
TI
Title
SU
Subject Heading
SO
Source in which the article was published
AB
Abstracts
IL
Articles that contain illustrations or an illustration type
AN
Accession number
IS
International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)
source: http://www.slc.edu/library/research_tools/tips/ebscohost1.htm
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Finally, here are a few of the results of an EbscoHost advanced search …

dibenzothiophene IN journals 2009-2010
Thanks to: Houston Public Library, which provides access to Academic Search Complete to registered library users

Oxidative Desulfurization of Fuel Oil by Pyridinium-Based Ionic Liquids.Full Text Available By: Dishun Zhao; Yanan Wang; Duan, Erhong. Molecules, Nov2009, Vol. 14 Issue 11, p4351-4357, 7p, 1 Diagram, 2 Charts, 3 Graphs; DOI: 10.3390/molecules14114351; (AN 47256093)
Subjects: IONIC liquids; OXIDATION; DESULFURIZATION; PYRIDINIUM compounds; THIOPHENES; HYDROGEN peroxide; SULFUR oxides; CATALYSTS; SULFONES
Database: Academic Search Complete

Photocatalytic oxidation of dibenzothiophene using TiO₂/bamboo charcoal.Full Text Available By: Zhang, Juan; Zhao, Dishun; Wang, Jinlong; Yang, Liyan. Journal of Materials Science, Jun2009, Vol. 44 Issue 12, p3112-3117, 6p, 1 Color Photograph, 2 Diagrams, 1 Chart, 4 Graphs; DOI: 10.1007/s10853-009-3413-z; (AN 39451311)
Subjects: PHOTOCATALYSIS; OXIDATION; TITANIUM dioxide; BAMBOO; CHARCOAL; HYDROGEN peroxide
Database: Academic Search Complete

Zinc-Substituted Polyoxometalate for Oxidative Desulfurization of Dibenzothiophene.Full Text Available By: Lai, J.; Luo, G.. Petroleum Science & Technology, May2009, Vol. 27 Issue 8, p781-787, 7p, 5 Charts; DOI: 10.1080/10916460802108603; (AN 38028762)
Subjects: DESULFURIZATION; CATALYSTS; HYDROGEN peroxide; OXIDIZING agents; SULFUR; POLYOXOMETALATES
Database: Academic Search Complete

The Research of Ultra-deep Desulfurization in Diesel via Ultrasonic Irradiation Under the Catalytic System of H2O2-CH3COOH-FeSO4.Full Text Available By: Fan, Q.; Zhao, D.; Dai, Y.. Petroleum Science & Technology, Feb2009, Vol. 27 Issue 3, p302-314, 13p, 1 Diagram, 1 Chart, 6 Graphs; DOI: 10.1080/10916460701707679; (AN 36424764)
Subjects: LEGISLATION; SULFUR; GASOLINE; DESULFURIZATION; FOSSIL fuels; PHOTOCHEMISTRY; SULFONES
Database: Academic Search Complete