Using Encyclopedia Britannica Online

The Encyclopedia Britannica Online (EB Online) provides access to the entire contents of the print collection. In addition, Coastline's subscription provides access to the Britannica Student Encyclopedia, Britannica Elementary Encyclopedia, Britannica Concise Encyclopedia, Britannica Internet Guide, Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary, Merriam-Webster College Thesaurus, and Video and Media. EBO defaults to a keyword search of all these sources, but user may select specific sources as appropriate.

To get to Encyclopedia Britannica Online

1.   From the Virtual Library home page, select "Research and Information Resources."

2.   Click on "Online Subscription Databases -- registered user."

3.    Scroll down the screen to "Encyclopedia Britannica" and click on "registered user."

4.    At the prompt, enter the username !@#Coastline and the password Academic.

5.   EB Online defaults (automatically goes back to) a basic keyword search.

Using the Encyclopedia Britannica Online

The EB Online provides students with a place to begin their research, and to get an overview, including timeline, of a topic or area of study.
Although the articles in the EB Online are written by known authorities or Britannica staff, students are generally discouraged from citing them as a source for academic research.
The EB Online is an excellent adjunct to student textbooks in that it can expand on a topic students may be expected to understand, but in fact do not; it may help by filling in information left out of the text; and it may permit students to follow a lead presented in their textbook.
One of the difficulties associated with electronic research has to do with vocabulary. Use of an encyclopedia can provide students with the terms and concepts necessary to develop productive search queries in the online databases, electronic library catalogs, and the Internet.
The EB Online includes the following features

A-Z Browse -- just like thumbing through the volumes of the encyclopedia straight from the shelf.
Browse by Subject -- a very simple hierarchy of subjects that results in a brief introduction and an outline of article contents.
The Britannica World Atlas

Practice Search #1

in the first box type control and select the "subject" search option
leave the AND in place, type ammunition in the next box, and leave the search option at "Citation and text"
in the box next to "Location" type Israel
click on "search"
Open any of the articles that interest you
examine the bibliographic information, paying particular attention to the subject heading list
click on the "More like this" link
use clues in the bibliographic record from the first article to expand or refine your search
the goal of research is to find the right amount of useful, accurate information: 2 hits may be too few, while 421 is certainly too many.
to expand the number of hits, reduce the number of keywords and choose the "In article text" search field
to reduce the number of hits, limit search to only newspapers or periodicals, to a particular type of article (feature, editorial, etc.), or a specific date or range of dates.

Practice Search #2

in the first box type recipes and select the "subject" search option
in the next box type tuscan and select the "article text" search option
select the AND NOT option, and type cookbook OR book
in the "Database" box select "News--ProQuest Newspapers"
click on "search"

Practice Search #3

click on the "Topic Guide" tab at the top of the ProQuest home page

select the following headings and subheadings: environment----------->pollution--------->pollution control---------->brownfield view articles
click on each of the tabs at the top of the articles list
note: this approach may be useful for students who need help finding topics that interest them