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November 10, 2009
Use "Easy Search" to Discover Articles in Multiple Databases at Once
Easy Search
Have you ever wished you could easily search MANY of the Library’s resources with just one search? If so, try Easy Search!
For Undergrads, Easy Search is a way to discover which online article databases offer the most articles on the subject of interest, since they may not yet know the potential of resources labeled “PubMed”, “Web of Science”, “Scopus”, “Biological Abstracts”, “CAB Abstracts”, “Academic Search Premier”, etc.
For Researchers, Easy Search is a way to discover at a glance which article databases are most fruitful for their research needs and to easily move from one resource to another.
Additionally, Easy Search currently searches the full text of over 10,000 Springer e-books, the Mc-Graw Hill Encyclopedia of Science, CREDO Reference (online dictionaries), Google Books, and more. Of course it also searches for books held in our libraries, too! And it searches the Online Research Resource (ORR) for e-journal titles that may match the search.
Where is it? You can find a link to Easy Search at the Biotechnology Information Center website:
http://www.library.illinois.edu/biotech/
Or, you can bookmark this link, to go directly to Easy Search:
http://search.grainger.uiuc.edu/searchaid/searchassist.asp
Sample Search: Biofuel*
Method: I elected to search the following groupings of resources:
• Multi-Subject Resources
• Current News Sources
• Books
• Engineering Articles
• Health Sciences Articles
• Life Sciences Articles
• Web Search Engines
• Dictionaries, Encyclopedias, etc.
Results, with “hits” shown, below:
Once the Easy Search results have all come back, you’ll just click on the link under the number of hits; a new screen will open with the results shown for the database selected. Note: In the listing below, click on the link to access the database. This is not how the results would be presented in Easy Search, where the number of hits would be hot-linked.
Multi-Subject Resources
Academic Search Premier ....................3,713
Academic Onefile ....................1,461
Scopus ....................7,794
Web of Science ....................4,089
Current News Sources
Wall Street Journal (1984-Current) ....................187
New York Times (1995-Current) ....................199
Chicago Tribune (1985-Current) ....................62
Access World News ....................10,037
Newspaper Source ....................6,641
Google News ....................2,460
Engineering
Compendex (Engineering Index) ....................2,760
INSPEC ....................1,957
Health Sciences
Medline (from Web of Knowledge) ....................730
PsycInfo ....................2
Toxicology Abstracts ....................42
Health and Safety Science Abstracts ....................30
Physical Education Index ....................0
Social Services Abstracts ....................4
AARP AgeLine ....................0
Alt HealthWatch ....................16
CINAHL Nursing Literature ....................9
SPORTDiscus ....................18
Life Sciences
Biological Abstracts ....................1,237
CAB Abstracts ....................5,474
Food Science & Technology Abstracts ....................95
Zoological Record ....................27
Environmental Sciences & Pollution Management ....................5,331
Books, Music, Documents, Media in UIUC & Illinois Libraries
and Full-Text Books
University of Illinois Library Catalog ....................13
I-Share Library Catalog [state-wide Illinois, academic] ....................36
Springer E-Books ....................440
Google Books ....................1,340
Amazon Books ....................3,523
Internet Archive Books ....................2
Center for Research Libraries (use Interlibrary Loan) ....................3
Electronic Journals and Series Titles
Online Research Resources (ORR) ....................1
Discover--E-Resources A to Z List ....................1
Dictionaries, Encyclopedias, etc.
Gale Virtual Reference ....................9
McGraw-Hill AccessScience (Encyclopedia) ....................4
CREDO Reference ....................72
Web Search Engines
Google ....................29,200,000
Bing ....................225,000
Google Scholar ....................58,200
Scirus Scientific Information Web Search ....................612,044
Give Easy Search a try! It doesn’t search ALL our resources, but it certainly should give you a starting point for your research!
Credit: Easy Search was created (and is constantly improved) by U of Illinois Engineering Librarian, Bill Mischo, and his team.
Katie Newman – Biotechnology Librarian – 2130 IGB – florador@illinois.edu – 217-265-5386
Posted by Katie Newman at November 10, 2009 12:55 PM