EDUCATION ABSTRACTS

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ABOUT EDUCATION ABSTRACTS

Education Abstracts delivers indexing and abstracting coverage of over 500 core international periodicals, yearbooks, and monographs.  Representing preschool, elementary, secondary, higher, and adult education, the scope of this database encompasses the concerns of today's educators.  Education Abstracts provides abstracting from 1994 to the present and indexing from 1983 to the present.

Subjects include:  Adult Education, Comparative Education, Computers in Education, Educational Technology, Elementary Education, Higher Education, Language Arts, Library Science, Literacy Standards,  Multicultural/Ethnic Education, School Administration, Science and Mathematics, Secondary Education, Special Education, Student Counseling, Teacher Evaluation, Teaching Methods, and many more.

ACCESSING EDUCATION ABSTRACTS

Click on the link to access the Education Abstracts database.
Or, access Education Abstracts from the Western Libraries homepage. Select Search Databases and click on the Browse Indexes and Databases Alphabetically link.  Next select E on the alphabet bar on the top of the screen, and choose Education Abstracts from the list.

SEARCHING EDUCATION ABSTRACTS

ADVANCED SEARCH
The Advanced Search is set by default. To begin your search, check the box beside Education Abstracts at the top of the screen to indicate that this is the database you would like to search.

Enter Search Terms:  Enter one or more words or phrases in the Search For boxes.  Select the Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT) you want to use to combine your keywords from the drop-down menu on the left, and select the fields you would like to search from the drop-down menu on the right. The All - Smart Search option allows you to conduct a search across many fields including subject, author, title, keyword, full-text of the article, and abstract.  The Keyword search option locates terms only in the bibliographic citation fields and abstracts.

• Phrases:  To search for phrases, include the terms in quotes. Example: "bilingual education" will retrieve results where bilingual and education appear together as a phrase.

• Truncation:  Use the astersik (*) to truncate your search term.  Example:  using the search term child* would retrieve child as well as children, childhood, and childish.

• Wildcards:  The question mark (?) serves as a wild card for one alphanumeric character.  Example:  using the search term einst??n retrieves einstein.  This can be particularly useful if you are unsure of the spelling of a word.

• Stemming:  In both the Advanced and the Basic searches, when you search a single word your results will include that word as well as variations on the word as a root.  Example:  the search term theory would retrieve results containing both theory and theories.  To restrict your search to the word itself, enclose it in quotation marks. 

Limit Search:  You may limit your search by publication Date, Peer Reviewed articles (articles that have gone through an official editorial process by the authors peers - those considered to be experts in their field), Document Type and Physical Description.

BASIC SEARCH
On the left hand of the screen choose the Basic Search button.  Select Education Abstracts at the top of the page.  In the Basic Search you can choose to use Boolean operators or Natural Language to build your search.    Phrase searching, truncation, wildcards, and stemming work the same as in the Advanced Search.

Natural Language:  To use a Natural Language search, simply enter a word, phrase, or sentence.  Choose the Natural Language search option. Click Start.
Boolean Search: To use the Boolean operators (AND,OR, NOT) simply type the operator you need in between search words or terms.

VIEWING SEARCH RESULTS

• Your results are automatically sorted and displayed in a relevancy ranking order.  In the Advanced Search you have the option of changing the Sort by option to date or a custom sort using any field found in the citations. 

• Click on the Find-It! button at the top of the screen. This will bring you to a screen providing a link to full-text online if available.  If full-text is not available, Find-It! provides a link to search the library catalog.  If the article is not available online in full-text or in print, you may request the article through ILLiad. 

• Your results will be displayed with brief citations.  Click on the title to see the complete citation and abstract if available, or choose Full from the menu on the bottom of the screen to scroll through the full records.  Select Next from the bottom menu to go to the next page of results.

BROWSE

• Select Browse from the menu on the left hand side of the screen and select Education Abstracts on the top of the page.

• Enter a term or the first few letters of a term or word you are looking for in the Browse For box. 

• Select the field you would like to browse in and then click Start.  You can then browse a list of results that start with the same letters or word that you entered.

THESAURUS

The Thesaurus is a controlled vocabulary list of subjects and related terms used to standardize the indexing in the database.  You can select and search for synonyms, related and preferred terms.  This can help you broaden or narrow your search if you are getting too many or too few hits. 

PRINT, E-MAIL, OR SAVE

• Select the Print Email Save button from the menu on the left-hand side of the screen.  You will then have the option of printing, emailing, or saving your results.  You will also be able to choose what to include in your print, email, or saved document, in what format to email or save your results, and which results to include. 

• If you would like to print, e-mail, or save a selection of records, check the boxes while you are viewing your search results, and choose Marked Records under the Which records do you want to Print Email Save section. 

• If you would like to email your results to more than one address, simply separate the addresses with a semi-colon.

For additional help, select Help from the menu on the left-hand side of the screen or contact the Reference Desk at (360)650-3094. 

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Guide created by Cecilia Poon and Tami Garrard
February 2004