Funk Library · University of Illinois · www.library.illinois.edu/funkaces
EconLit
Published by EBSCOHost
http://www.ebscohost.com/academic/econlit
EconLit
EconLit is a large bibliographic database that covers a number of economic issues spanning
over 1,000,000 records. It is an expanded version of the Journal of Economic Literature (JEL).
Indexes journal articles, books, collective volume articles, dissertations, working papers and
JEL book reviews. Covers multiple economic subject areas, e.g., agricultural and natural resource economics, business administration and business, country studies, economic development and technological change and growth, economic history, financial economics, general
economics and teaching, health and education and welfare, industrial organization, international economics, labor and demographic economics, law and economics, macroeconomics
and monetary economics, mathematical and quantitative methods, methodology and history
of economics thought, microeconomics, public economics, and urban, rural, and regional eco-
Dates of Coverage:
1886-present.
Access:
From the Funk Library ACES homepage (http://www.library.illinois.edu/
funkaces/), click the “Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences
(ACES)” link under the “Collections and Subjects” heading. Under “Key
Databases,” select “EconLit.”
**When off campus, log in with your UIUC NetID and password.
Types of Searches:
There are four main search types: (1) Boolean /phrase searching, (2) find
all terms, (3) find any terms, and (4) SmartText Searching. Each search
capability Is outlined below.
Boolean Operators:
Boolean searches consists of using “AND,” “OR,” or “NOT” within your
search phrase. Use AND to find those results that contain all the search
terms. For example, “Livestock AND Price” will find results that contain
only both of those terms in the document.
Use OR between search terms to return documents that contain either of
the terms. For example, “Livestock OR Price” will find results that contain
either livestock or price in the document.
Choosing search terms
1. Choose specific terms
closely related to your research topic.
2. Choose terms that you
might use when discussing your topic with a colleague, including current
jargon.
3. Include synonyms and abbreviations.
4. This search is not case
sensitive.
5. EconLit also finds variant
spellings and forms of a
word.
Use NOT between search terms to return documents that do not contain
any of the terms following it. For example, “Livestock NOT Price” will find
results that contain livestock but not price.
Important: And takes priority over OR if both are in a search phrase. To fix
this, use parentheses to nest search terms. For example, “(Livestock or
Cattle) AND Price” will return results that contain either the word livestock and price or cattle and price within the document.
If there are nested parentheses, the innermost parentheses are run
through the search engine first followed by the next innermost parentheses until the search phrase has been completed. For example, “(Livestock
OR Cattle) AND Price) OR (Market AND Price).”
Phrase Searching:
Phrase Searching simply means enclosing terms within quotations marks
in order to search for the exact phrase. For example, “Market Price.”
Truncation / Wildcard symbols:
(?) replaces one character in a word (judge? finds judges and judged, but not
judge)
(#) use this to find words that may contain alternative spellings (colo#r finds
colour and color)
(*) truncates the end of a word or phrase (comput* finds computer and computing)
If you need assistance,
contact a
Funk Library librarian!
Phone:
217.333.2416
E-mail:
aceslib@illinois.edu
Hours:
http://www.library.illinois.edu/
Funk/ACES Library · University of Illinois · www.library.illinois.edu/funkaces
Find All Terms:
This search option automatically places AND between all search terms, even if you don’t.
Find Any Terms:
This search option automatically places OR between all search terms, even if you don’t.
SmartText Search:
SmartText search allows you to copy and paste up to 5,000 characters from any source, including articles
into the search box. The search engine will then determine the most relevant search terms in the text and
run a search based on those terms. SmartText will run the search using the citation’s abstract. If no abstract
is available, SmartText will run the search off the article’s title.
Results:
You can sort results by relevance (default), date, author, or source. On the left hand side of the results
page, you can limit your results to full text, references available, or peer reviewed journals. You may also
limit by year of publication. By clicking “show more” you can further narrow by month of publication, geographic location, book reviewed and more. In addition, you can limit your results by source types, subject,
and publication. Moreover, the number of results matching these inquiries are displayed on the left hand
side of the search results page.
Truncation / Wildcard symbols:
(?) replaces one character in a word (judge? finds judges and judged, but not judge)
(#) use this to find words that may contain alternative spellings (colo#r finds colour and color)
(*) truncates the end of a word or phrase (comput* finds computer and computing)
Find full text:
You can limit your search results to full text documents, if you wish. To retrieve the full text when available,
simply click on “PDF full text” below the title of the article. Or after you click on the title of the article and
view the record/abstract, you can click “PDF full text” on the left hand side. Also click
to link to UIUC Library e-subscriptions (or Interlibrary Loan link as needed).
Personalization
From the results page click on “share” to view your personalization options. First, you can add your search
results to a folder or search folder. Additionally, from the results page click on “page options” to see how to
customize they way you view your results. This includes the format ranging from a brief view or a detailed
view of the results, how many columns to display, and how many results to list on each page. You may also
customize your settings at any time by clicking on “Preferences” at the top of the page from any screen.
You may also view your previous searches by clicking on “search history.”
To save, print, email, export, cite, or
tag an abstract:
From the individual record/abstract page, you have many options on the right hand side. These include, the
ability to print, email, save, cite, export, bookmark and annotate, permalink, and bookmark. Clicking on
“cite” will give you the article’s citation in seven different styles, including AMA, APA, Chicago Author-Date,
Chicago Humanities, Harvard, MLA, and Vancouver/ICMJE.
Help:
EconLit is available through the vendor EbscoHost. EbscoHost has a general Help page that may be useful if
you run into trouble. Follow this link: http://tinyurl.com/lwgwbry
Additionally, you can click on “Ask a Librarian” at the top of any page on EconLit to connect with a University of Illinois reference librarian to answer any of your questions.
E-mail alerts:
To set up email alerts, click on “share” at the top of the search results page, then click on “E-mail alert.”
From here you may set up email alerts for any new articles that fall within your search phrase. You can
choose to be alerted on a daily, weekly, biweekly, or monthly basis. You may also choose to limit your alerts
to only recent documents, such as within the past year, past six months, past two months, past month, or
no limit at all. Note: you must create an account and enter your email address to use this feature.
RSS Feeds:
To set up RSS feed alerts, click on “share” at the top of the search results page, then click on “RSS Feed.”
From here you may set up RSS alerts for any new articles that fall within your search phrase. You can
choose to be alerted on a daily, weekly, biweekly, or monthly basis. You may also choose to limit your alerts
to only recent documents, such as within the past year, past six months, past two months, past month, or
no limit at all. Additionally, you can have your results formatted in as brief, detailed, or bibliographic manager. Note: you must create an account and enter your email address to use this feature.
For more “Help” contact Funk Library at 217-333-2416, OR just Ask A Librarian !
This guide is available online at: http://www.library.illinois.edu/export/funkaces/handouts/EconLit.pdf
Created 08/09/2013 by brw; updated 5/22/2014 by ma; rev/ 8/26/2014 ma