Accessing Canadian content for all subjects is now a simple process through EBSCO. This is a premium online information resource specializing in Canadian content. Our EBSCO site gives us access to:
- Canadian Reference Centre through Explora Canada (a fantastic resource for
debates or controversial/argumentative essays) - Flipster Magazines
- KnowBC
Please note that secular content will be included and parents should be supervising their students’ searches.
Introduction to EBSCOhost is a video explaining this powerful online tool that offers a full-text database from leading information providers.
To find the login for EBSCOhost research site, enrolled students with HCOS should go to the Search Portal in the Learning Commons website, choose “Subscriptions” from the menu and scroll down to find “EBSCOhost” in the column on the left.  Alternatively, you can use the blue buttons at the top of this page.
Using Explora:
For help building a research project and bibliography, contact Pippa Davies.
Research Made Easy with Explora from EBSCO on Vimeo.
Helpful Tutorials on using Explora:
Browsing Subject Terms in EBSCOhost Databases
Advanced Searching on EBSCOhost
Saving Student’s Work
Students may set up their own folder in EBSCOhost for saving research materials. For information on how to do this, go to the help page:  My EBSCOhost Folder – Tutorial
Note: If you are unable to view videos on YouTube, click the following link to view this tutorial.   My EBSCOhost Folder Tutorial
Canadian Content
- When entering a search term, include “Canada” or the name of a province to get Canadian content.
- In the Canadian Reference Centre, you can choose “Sources Published in Canada” as one of the filters or limiters.
EBSCO tutorials may be found on this help page.
2020-21: Please do not use the curriculum correlations found in Explora, because they are from 2006 and 2007, so are very out-of-date. The EBSCOhost representative has suggested that we could go into the BC Curriculum website and choose the grade/topic/content to which we need to correlate, then copy/paste it into the Explora Advanced Search. This will allow us to ensure that the content we are using will meet the BC Ministry guidelines.
Features of EBSCOhost:
EBSCO allows students to listen to the content, if needed, and choose the Lexile level for reading. Â The navigation on the left-hand side of the page allows you to refine the search.
A search for “frogs”, for example, brought up the screen below. Â Pointing to the magnifying glass at the top right-hand side of each entry gives the option for the citation of that entry in any one of 9 different formats. Â Clicking on the folder icon allows a student to save the article to their folder in the site. Â They can also make their own notes to go with the article and save them.
You will note that there is the option to open the full text .pdf of the article or periodical, to print it, and to choose to listen to it as an .mp3 file, as well as to choose the accent in which it will be read to you! Â The words are highlighted as they are read aloud. Â The “Translate” option above allows students to read the article in a different language, but removes the option to have it read to you.
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In order to directly assign an article to your student, you can go to the Tools menu and scroll down to “Permalink”. The Permalink will link directly to the article, so you can assign it and the student can find it without having to search for it.
Explora Escape Room Activity
Designed for students in grades 5 through 8, this Explora Escape Room Activity is best suited for students who are already familiar with EBSCO’s Explora search interface. Students can complete this multidisciplinary escape room activity on their own or with a group – in person or remotely. It can take anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour to complete.
To access National Geographic magazine full-text:
- Log in at the EBSCOhost site
- Choose “Canadian Libraries/EBSCOhost – Research Databases” from the top of the list
- Choose Publications from the menu along the top of the page
- Type “National Geographic” into the search bar or choose the letter “N” and scroll down the page to find National Geographic, National Geographic Adventure or National Geographic Kids Magazine.
- Choose the National Geographic magazine you wish to access. (eg. National Geographic Kids)
- Choose the year and issue of your choice from the list on the right side.
- A list of titles will open up, allowing you to view the article description, or save it to your own folder from the options to the right of each title:
Alternatively, and much more easily, you can access National Geographic Kids through the BC Digital Classroom. Do not log in at the top of the page. Scroll down to click on the “National Geographic Kids” icon. Then, log in with the username and password for the BC Digital Classroom from our Subscriptions page in the Search Portal, and choose the issue you want.
If you would like to find help in using EBSCOhost products, please go to Where can I find tutorials on EBSCO interfaces? (Scroll down to find EBSCO Health Tutorials)
If you had set up personal accounts in various EBSCO sites, the EBSCO Merge Accounts feature now allows you to merge account information (saved articles, searches, alerts, videos, etc.) from one Personal User Account into another. This new feature helps users who may have created more than one My EBSCOhost account for saving articles, searches and alerts. Users who have personal folders associated with two accounts are now able to merge them into one chosen account. Users who have more than two accounts can repeat the process until all accounts are merged into one.
Benefits to merging personal user accounts:
- Users will need to remember only one set of login credentials.
- All saved articles, searches, alerts, images, videos, etc., will be stored in one folder location.
Once accounts are merged, the account that contained the data that was merged into the target account is permanently removed.