Learning Objectives

• Explore the ISearch interface and understand which content collections are available in ISearch.
• Develop good search strategies.
• Use the tabs to find the right content for your students.

To make it easier for you and your students to find the items you need among the thousands of results in ISearch, INFOhio displays results on different tabs. When you initiate a search in ISearch, if there are any results available in the My Library tab collections, you will land on the My Library tab. If there are no results available in those collections, you will land on the Encyclopedias tab.

Because some ISearch tabs include results from multiple databases that are updated daily and that may contain millions of items, you may have better results with advanced searches and advanced topics on the Basic Sources, Advanced Sources, STEAM, and Open Access tabs than you do on the My Library or Encyclopedias tabs.

For example, if you were covering modern social and civil rights movements and wanted texts about Black Lives Matter, you might not find many resources in your school library with a search for "black lives matter". To save you a step, if ISearch can't find anything with your search terms in your school library, you will automatically land on the Encyclopedias tab. In this case, the Encyclopedias tab includes some relevant results.

To get to the full text of any Research Starter on the Encyclopedias tab, click the title link (1). Research Starters are from academic encyclopedias and provide a basic overview of a topic. To get to the full text of any other item you find on the Encyclopedias, Basic Sources, Advanced Sources, STEAM, or Open Access tabs, click the View/Download button (2).

When you click the View/Download button, you will land on an EBSCO Detailed Record page.

These are the main components of the EBSCO Detailed Record page:

1. Options for viewing full text: this may include direct links to the item in another interface or options for viewing in HTML or PDF formats
2. Item details including title, publisher, and description
3. Tools for saving including import to Google Classroom, Google Drive, print, email, or save to the device or an external drive
4. Citation tool that provides a rough draft of the citation in a variety of formats
5. Permalink—this button is very important!

If you want to save a link to an item you find in ISearch, you must use the permalink. Do not use the URL you see in your browser address bar as that URL is dynamic and will not get you back to that item. Instead, click the Permalink button. A box just above the record information will appear that includes a URL you can use to get back to that item.

You can find thousands of results for "black lives matter" on the Basic and Advanced Sources tabs. Results on these tabs are sorted by Relevance by default, but you can change the Sort By drop-down to sort by date as well.

Because the Open Access tab includes results from collections of government documents, theses, and dissertations, you can find results for recent or complex topics on this tab. Note that the results on this tab tend to be more scholarly.

Getting Better Results

If you or your students are looking for information on a topic, you will likely need to try multiple searches. It's a good idea to take notes about the searches you've already tried so that you don't needlessly do the same searches over and over again. As you search, record your search terms in your notes.

If you are searching for information on a topic that uses abbreviations (e.g., GMOs), you might need to try another search with the abbreviated words spelled out (e.g., "genetically modified organisms"). If your search terms include Roman numerals (e.g., World War I), you might need to try another search with standard numerals (e.g., World War 1) or see if a date corresponds to the Roman numerals (e.g., World War, 1914-1918).

Think of synonyms or closely related words, broader concepts, and narrower or more specific terms. For example, if you are looking for information on the people the pilgrims met, you might try a search for Indians, but you should also try a search for "Native Americans". Then think more broadly and try a search for "indigenous people". Finally, try a more specific search for Wampanoag.

When you get results, look at the terms that appear under the Subject limiter under each tab as those can lead to other good search terms to try. Complete the following exercise to practice this approach:

1. Try a search for Indians.
2. On the My Library tab, click the View All link below the Subject limiter.

   From that list of subjects, find 3 other terms that might be good additional searches to try.

3. Click the Basic Sources tab. Then click the View All link below the Subject limiter there.

   From that list of subjects, find 3 other terms that might be good additional searches to try. From that list of subjects, you can also see that many of your results are not about your topic but are instead focused on Cleveland's baseball team.

4. Try a new search for Indians -"Cleveland Indians".
5. Explore the Subject limiters on the My Library and Basic Sources tabs. How does that change your subjects?

In a future lesson, you will learn how to apply the limiters to your search. For now, click the other tabs and expand the Subject limiter on each tab to see how it can help you come up with additional search terms.

Reflecting on Your Learning

1. What features have you learned about so far that will be most useful to you as you use ISearch to build or supplement your curriculum?
2. What features have you learned about so far that will be most useful to your students as they use ISearch to find sources of information?
3. What strategies do you use already for helping students learn how to search for reliable information?