Guide to OCLS QUICKsearch / About OCLS QUICKsearch
WHAT IS OCLS QUICKSEARCH?
OCLS QUICKsearch (powered by EBSCO Discovery Services) may look like EBSCOhost databases such as Academic Search Complete or CINAHL Complete, but it is so much more!
QUICKsearch doesn't just search content IWU has subscribed to from EBSCO but also content from other vendors across most of our databases and collections.
Use QUICKsearch instead of a Google search, and you'll find magazine and journal articles, primary sources, educational videos, encyclopedia articles, ebooks, and more in just minutes.
QUICKsearch will first show you items that are available in full text, which can cut down your research time compared to using Google Scholar, where you will come across articles behind a paywall.
You can access QUICKsearch from the OCLS homepage search box or from the A-Z Databases page.
Guide to OCLS QUICKsearch / Searching
SEARCHING IN OCLS QUICKSEARCH
- Enter your keywords into the search boxes at the top of the screen. To search for a phrase, put the words into quotation marks.
- As you type, suggestions will come up. Use your own keywords or click on any suggestions to use that in your search instead.
- The default Select a Field option will search all fields in a record and the full text.
- Use the dropdown menu to search specific fields. For example, you can search just the titles or subject headings.
NAVIGATING RESULTS
- Search results will look familiar, as they are similar to other EBSCO databases like Academic Search Complete and CINAHL.
- Results will be displayed by Relevance. You can change this to sort by Date, Author, or Title.
- The Limit To section on the left displays available filters. The most useful are:
- Filter by Full Text. Use this only to see items available in full text.
- Filter by Scholarly (Peer Reviewed) Articles. Use this if your assignment requires you to use scholarly, academic, or peer-reviewed articles.
- Filter by Ebooks only. Use this if you are looking for ebooks instead of articles.
- Filter by Publication Date. Use this if your assignment requires you to have recently written articles (e.g., written in the last five years).
Guide to OCLS QUICKsearch / Viewing
OPENING AN ARTICLE
Click the article title
Click the article's title to view all the information about the article. This page will give you all the information you need to create the article's reference.
Click the Full Text link
You can click PDF Full Text, or HTML Full Text link (whichever is available or your preference).
Click the Check Online Availability link
As you search EBSCO databases you may see the Check Online Availability link. This means that OCLS has access to this article but it is in a different database. Click the link to view the article.
Guide to OCLS QUICKsearch / Saving & Citing
SAVING, EMAILING, LINKING, AND CITING
OCLS QUICKsearch features several options for saving, printing, emailing, and linking to items. The options are along the right side of the page and generally are labeled in clear ways.
- Google Drive - Save pages to your Google Drive.
- Add to folder - Add this item to your My EBSCO folder.
- Print - Print an article.
- E-mail - Similar to the Save option, the PDF file will be emailed to you instead of downloaded to your computer.
- Cite - See suggested citations in APA and other formats.
- Note: There are always errors with computer-generated citations. Check for capitalization and other errors.
- Export - For power users, export the citations as a RIS file you can upload into Academic Writer or other citation managers.
- Permalink - The permanent link you can copy and save to revisit. This is the link you want to use if you are sharing a link in a discussion board.
- Listen & Translate - These features are available for HTML Full Text.
Guide to OCLS QUICKsearch / Video Tutorials
QUICKSEARCH VIDEO TUTORIALS
