Searching the databases: Home

The search box on this website allows you to search the Ebsco databases for books, eBooks, journal articles, reports and more.

Searching subscription databases is not as straightforward as searching Google, but they are worth the effort because they are a reliable source of information.

On this page, you will find some tips to help you refine your search skills and get the most out of the databases.

Searching for Books and e-Books

The whole library collection is searchable via Ebsco. You can use the search function on this website to find both physical and digital copies of a textbook.

If you are looking for a specific title, you can either enter the whole book title or a couple of keywords separated by AND plus the first author's surname.

For example:

Saunders, M.N.K., Lewis, P. and Thornhill, A. (2012) Research methods for business students. 6th ed. Pearson.

Keyword search: Research AND Business AND Saunders

Look under the cover image to establish if a book is in print or digital format. Printed books are listed as 'Book', while digital copies are listed as 'eBook'.

This book is in print format and can be found in the library. The record also tells you the exact location on the shelf (650.072 SAU) and the number of copies available.

If a title is available online it will be listed as an eBook and the record will contain a PDF link that you can use to access the file. See example below:

Searching for Journals, reports and more

The search box will also give you access to many other resources, including journal articles, reports, news, and more

To start, enter your keywords in the search bar the same way you would do for a book.
The system will redirect you to the main database search.
Use the 'All filters' function located under the search box. This will open a new menu on the right side of the page.
Select your preferred source type.

Please note that you can select multiple formats at the same time and that you can get more options than the ones displayed on the screen by clicking on 'Show more'. In the example below, the content has been filtered to display only e-Books Academic Journals.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Keyword Search Generator

Add your keywords in the top fields and synonyms then click the button to get a search string. You can then copy the search string and paste it into the search engine.