Thursday, July 8, 2010

Using UWI's databases has just become easy

You get the assignment and you are ready to access the article online so you paste or type in the URL and you are sent to a site similar to the following asking you to log in:



You have to access it through UWI in order to get through. Well, don't start pulling out your hair in frustration! I finally figured out how to access the databases that UWI subscribes to and I have explained the steps in this post.

You might be aware that if you are using UWI's wireless internet you will automatically get into these databases. However the problem arises when you are at home using your personal computer. Here is the solution. First, determine the name of the database. From the login screen, you can see it is “Ebscohost". You could see it also in the URL that was given: http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=f5h&N=27349103&site=ehost-live. Next, from UWI’s home page, "http://www.sta.uwi.edu/" click on Main Library, Databases, Click here to access our online databases (Metalib Search) and you will come to the page below:



Click on “Find Database” and you will see the following page:



The default is “By Title” so leave it as is. Then type in the name of the database. The example shows “Ebscohost”. Select “Start with” and click on “Go”. A list of databases that begins with the letter “E” is displayed.




Choose “Education Research Complete (EBSCO) and you will be taken to the page below. You are in! You can perform a basic search (the default) or an advance search. Under “Search modes” choose “Boolean/ Phrase” or "Find any of my search terms”:


You will be rewarded with access to your article as shown:



Now you can relax and download all you want. Have fun.





4 comments:

  1. Thanks Colin for that timely insight on the use of UWI”s databases since I no longer need to feel frustrated and disenchanted when I try to access information and am prohibited. This is also very helpful for the Masters in Education programme especially when we are given links that are problematic to open. It is so much easier to sit in the comfort of one’s home accessing information than travelling to UWI which is costly, time consuming and even inconvenient because one’s use of the library might extend outside library hours. I tried it and was successful. Thanks again for the simple and explicit information given to your fellow colleagues.

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  2. I am overjoyed and thrilled that you have benefited immensely from this post. Creating these screen shots to facilitate easy communication and aesthetics is time consuming. I am pleased that my hard work has paid off. Knowledge is power. As you said this information saved you time, money, energy and removes the frustration. As reading specialists we need to work the technology to our advantage and to the benefit of the children.

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  3. Thank you so much for this particular blog. The information provided in it allowed me exhale with ease. I was extremely frustrated one evening at not being able to access the much needed literature that was assigned for this course.I decided to view blogs to release the stress and also to add comments where applicable when I came upon yours.I was so delighted that I called a colleague and immediately shared the information with her. We tried and were successful.We are truly grateful

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  4. I understand fully, Priscilla. Not being able to access the much needed articles from UWI's data base when you are not on campus is really frustrating. I am elated that you and a colleague were successful in downloading through reading my post. Now we can confidently download the articles that we need for the Web 2.0 and lessons assignments from the comfort of our homes.

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