IBSS (via EBSCO):
Search guide
Content





The International Bibliography of the Social Sciences (IBSS) is a major bibliographic
database which indexes journal articles and book chapters covering all areas of the social
sciences from 1951 to the present day. It is a good starting point for tracing academic
journal articles by subject or author.
specialisms are Economics, Politics, Sociology and Anthropology. However, there is also
extensive coverage of interdisciplinary subjects such as development studies, gender
studies and social policy
Updates are made weekly.
In many cases It is possible to follow links from the results list to the full text of the articles
listed.
The database complements the service offered by the ISI Web of Knowledge databases.
Access


IBSS is one of several databases accessible via the EBSCO website.
It is therefore possible to cross search it with a number of other databases including
PsycInfo (psychology), Business Source Premier, Race relations abstracts. To cross
search select the choose databases option (highlighted in blue from the top of the screen)

To access the database search for the title on the LSE library catalogue. Expand the
catalogue record and click on online links field.

Click on the title of the resource. Access using your LSE Network username and password
.
1
Search tips
The basic search screen looks like this.
Image: screen grab of EBSCO search engine
Subscription resource: yes
URL: http://www.ebsco.com/index.asp
Edited: Yes
Amendments: 1) cropped to exclude browser window




Enter your search terms in the boxes provided. Choose which fields (eg author, title) you
want to limit your search to.
You can truncate terms by using the *. This will retrieve all alternative spellings of a word.
For instance Marx* will retrieve marx, marxist and marxism.
You can refine your search by proximity searching . Enter N between your search terms. Eg
if you enter Tax N3 reform the database will retrieve only those articles where the word tax
appears within 5 words of reform. This is an effective way of narrowing your search down to
make it more specific.
The search options section of the screen enables you to
*Broaden your search by searching for your search terms in the full text of articles.
* search for all or any of your search terms.
* search by Boolean operator. This means that you can combine search terms using
and, or. Eg tax and reform will retrieve all those documents containing both search
terms. Tax or reform will retrieve those documents containing either tax or reform or
both words.

The search limits section of the screen enables you to
*restrict your text to full text items only.
*Limit by language
*Limit by date of publication
*Limit by publication type – select review if you wish to limit your search to book
reviews only.

You can also browse the subject and author indexes on the database. Select the blue
buttons at the top of the screen.
Using and refining your Search results
2
A typical search results screen looks like this.
Image: screen grab of EBSCO search results
Subscription resource: yes
URL: http://www.ebsco.com/index.asp
Edited: Yes
Amendments: 1) cropped to exclude browser window





The total number of results is displayed at the top of the screen.
On the left handside of the screen you can view your results cluster by subject terms.
The options on the right handside of the screen enable you to narrow your search. by
language and full text availability
You can sort results by date and author.
Notice the orange article finder symbol under each record. Click on this to find out if the
article is available in full text from the LSE ejournals page. Note that this symbol appears
next to all articles some may not have the full text. If the full text is available you will be
given the correct url. Note you may need to login again using your LSE network name and
password to retrieve the full article.
Here is an example.
3
If the full text is not available. You should search the lse library catalogue.
http://catalogue.lse.ac.uk/. To see if a printed copy of the journal is in the library. This is still quite
common in terms of older and foreign language materials.
Combining searches.



It is possible to refine your search terms by consulting your search history. Select the blue
Search History/Alerts option from the centre of the screen.
This enables you to view all searches done within the current session. You can then
combine them by ticking the boxes next to the relevant search numbers.
This screen also gives you the option to print your search results or to save them as an
alert.
Saving and printing results


To save individual articles expand and view the abstract abstract You will then see a row of
icons for printing and emailing.
To save a results list. Either go back to your search history (note this option is not available
unless several searches have ben performed) and then choose to view and print or email
all the results. Alternatively create a results list by clicking the option Add to folder which
appear under the titles that you want. Then choose the yellow folder option this will give you
the options for printing and emailing the results.
Personalisation features.



It is possible to register to have access to a number of personalization features including
the ability to save searches and set up regular search alerts.
Select the blue My EBSCOhost option from the top of the screen.
To save searches. Run a search on EBSCOhost and view your search results.
4
Click the Search History/Alerts link, then click the Save Searches/Alerts link. The Saved
Search/Alerts Screen appears. If you have not signed in to My EBSCOhost, you will be
prompted to do so. Then fill in the details of the search.

To create search alerts
o
Run a search on EBSCOhost and view your search results.Click the Search
History/Alerts link, and then click the Save Searches/Alerts link. The Save Search
Alert Screen appears. If you have not already signed in your personal account, you
will be prompted to do so.
o
Give the search a name and select the databases you wish to run it against,
o
Then choose the frequency of the search. The default is once a day. However, if
this is too often you can also select weekly, bi-weekly or once a month.
o
You can also limit your search to articles published within the last month, or year.
o
The Run alert option- specifies how long the search alert will be saved for. The
default is one year.
o
The alert option feature – automatically defaults to enable access to only those
articles listed in the alert emails (rather than the full database) if you do not want this
uncheck the box.
o
Under email properties you can choose to have the alerts sent to a single person or
a group. If entering multiple email addresses separate each address with a semicolon
To create RSS search alerts
o
o
From the Result List or Search History Screen, click the RSS alert icon Alert / Save /
Share »
A pop-up screen displays with the search alert information. Copy the Syndication Feed
URL into your newsreader. Such as IGoogle.
Further help




The supplier has an online tutorials on the website at:
http://gate2.library.lse.ac.uk:2098/ebscohost2/
Consult the Library web pages to book a course
http://www2.lse.ac.uk/library/training/Home.aspx
Ask at the help desk, Library First Floor
Email the library http://www2.lse.ac.uk/library/enquiriesandfeedback/Home.aspx for help
with password and access problems.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.5 License.
5
6