[Michlib-l] MeL Minute: One Stop Shop with Academic Search Complete

[Breed, Liz (MDE)]

[A close up of a sign    Description automatically generated]Academic Search Complete<https://widgets.ebscohost.com/prod/customerspecific/mel/auth.php?database=ebsco-a9h> is the fourth most popular MeL eResource with over a half million retrievals in the last three months.

Have you checked it out since it went live on Oct 1?



Anne Rau of Lansing Community College writes: “My instructor says I have to get peer-reviewed and scholarly articles. Help!!!” This has to be one of the most frequently asked questions academic librarians hear from students. Here at the LCC Library, one of our go to databases for this is Academic Search Complete from EBSCO. It was added to the Michigan eLibrary this past fall. It covers a wide variety of subjects, so it can be used for almost any program of study.



For Beginning and Experienced Searchers

What I especially like about Academic Search Complete is the one stop shopping to find scholarly/peer-reviewed/trade journal articles on so many diverse subjects.  I have observed that students find the interface easy to navigate and find relevant articles quickly. A really nice thing about Academic Search Complete is that it is good for both beginning and experienced searchers. Search options and limiters are displayed without being too intimidating. Novice searchers will be able to get relevant results without getting too fancy. Experienced searchers can use search techniques such as Boolean/Phrase searching, and choose search fields such as: Author, Journal Name, Author Supplied Keywords and much more. Limiters include: Document Type, Number of Pages, Publication type and more.



Content and Features

The database is a great place to go for STEM research. In addition to scholarly and peer-reviewed articles, Academic Search Complete also contains material from trade journals that support our students in Business, Law, Fire Science, and many of our other programs. Images will appear in search results, as well as video from the Associated Press. This makes it visually appealing, and students can enhance their projects with multimedia elements.



Results can be saved/shared in the ways we have all come to expect, including cloud storage and social media. The citation tool generates citations from MLA, APA, Chicago/Turabian and more. Of course, we always tell the students to double check those citations!



I have focused on the peer-reviewed/scholarly/trade journals, but Academic Search Complete contains full-text articles from popular magazines and newspapers as well.  So if you have a stressed out student beginning an assignment, Academic Search Complete can be a great resource to get that research ball rolling. (It’s good when you aren’t stressed out too!)



Here are the some additional thoughts from two Michigan academic library directors about Academic Search complete:

Marc Bouchard of Lake Superior State University: Students in the K-12 environment need exposure to EBSCO's excellent content and its professional interface. This is what will greet them at colleges and universities in Michigan where EBSCO is the most commonly used vendor. I was so excited the day the change to EBSCO was announced. This helps everyone.



Jen Adams of Jackson College: When we learned about the changes to MeL, we were thrilled with the increased focus on academic resources. With reduced budget dollars, our library depends heavily on MeL to help our students. Also, since we use EBSCO Discovery Service, the vendor choice suited us especially well. Students now have more of a seamless search experience, and many were already familiar with EBSCO’s interface through Discovery. I have received nothing but positive feedback from students and faculty since the changes to Mel.



Brought to you by Anne Rau, Reference and Instruction Librarian at Lansing Community College and the MeL Team.



Supporting Michigan Libraries by Putting You First.



Want more information on MeL?  Stay tuned for the next MeL Minute available on many Michigan library listservs,  visit http://mel.org<http://mel.org/>, or sign up for the MeL Minute and other Library of Michigan e-mail lists via GovDelivery<https://public.govdelivery.com/accounts/MILOM/subscriber/new>. We encourage you to share MeL Minutes with your colleagues and networks.



MeL databases are available to Michigan residents or for Michigan library or school access only.



#IMLSGrant


Liz Breed
Michigan eLibrary Coordinator
Library of Michigan
Michigan Department of Education
517-335-1497
breedl at michigan.gov<mailto:breedl at michigan.gov>
www.mel.org<http://www.mel.org/>

Our collective efforts can help make Michigan a Top 10 education state in 10 years! Here are the goals and strategies: http://mi.gov/top10in10/.

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