Study Toolbox: Searching ProQuest Central

Creating an advanced search

Enter your search term/s in the first search box on the Advanced Search screen.

Choose a search field from the All fields drop-down list (e.g anywhere, document text, author, title or subject headings).  Search fields tell the database where in the article’s record to look for your search terms.

Repeat the steps above for the second search box if required.

Click the Boolean operator drop-down menu to combine the search box entries with AND, OR, NOT.  (The default operator is AND).

• The Boolean operator AND will narrow your search and provide fewer results because the database only retrieves results that contain all of your keywords. 
• The Boolean operator OR will expand your search and provide more results because the database retrieves results that contain at least one keyword. 
• The Boolean operator NOT will narrow your search and provide results that include the first keyword and excludes the second keyword.

Click the Add a row link if you would like to add more search boxes to your advanced search.

Within the search boxes you can use different search techniques e.g. phrase searching, truncation and Boolean operators.

Applying filters before an advanced search

Before clicking Search apply any desired limiters to your search.  For example, you may want to limit results to items with full text available, peer reviewed and published within a specific date range.

To limit your search results further select location, source type, document type and language options.  You can select more than one option for each filter.  If you do not make any selections, the database will search all options available under each filter.

At the bottom of the Advanced Search page is the Results page options (this menu is closed by default). From here you can adjust the sort order of the results page, how many items per page will display, whether to exclude duplicate documents and an option for variants for your search terms.

• By default, ProQuest evaluates the terms you enter to also look for variants such as US/UK spelling variants (color, colour), comparatives (smaller, bigger), superlatives (smallest, biggest) and plurals. This helps you discover relevant results you otherwise would miss.

When you are done making selections, click Search to view the results list.

Applying filters after a search

You can refine your search results by applying filters.  The Filters panel is displayed on the left side of the screen.  Click the arrows to expand facets and display the available filters.  Select filters that best meet your search and assignment requirements.  After each filter is selected the results list will be adjusted to further limit the search results.

The results list and the quick look tool

To have a quick look at an article’s details hover over the article in the results list and click the Quick look link.

The Quick look makes it easy to read the abstract and decide is it worth reading the full article.  Click See full document to go to the article’s detailed record.  It also lists the subjects covered within the article.  Throughout the Quick look your search terms will be highlighted. 

Accessing articles

After running a search, you can go directly to the full text of a result from the full text links or click the title to go to the article’s detailed record.

From the article’s detailed record select either Full text or Full text - PDF.

• Some articles will have the option of Full text or Full text - PDF.  There is a difference between Full text and Full text-PDF.  Full text is in HTML format and displays as one long continuous page and does not include page numbers.  You will need to reference a HTML document as an electronic source with counted paragraphs.  PDF is a scanned copy of the original article and has page numbers.

On the article’s detailed record use the tools in the top right corner to Download PDF, Cite, Copy URL, Print or within the All options icon you can Save to your My Research account, Add to a folder or Email the article.

• To permanently save or add to a folder you must be signed in to your personal My Research account.

Reading the full text version of the article

There are different tools available when the article is viewed in the full text format. 

• Search term navigation identifies your search terms within the article and jumps directly to the search terms.  To activate click Turn on search term navigation.
• Translate the article into another language.  Please note that this is a machine translation and is in no way intended to replace human translation.
• Listen to the article being read aloud.  You can adjust the volume and speed as well as download a mp3 recording of the article.

Reading the full text - PDF version of the article

Within the PDF reader you can download or print the article.  You can also use the icons in the top right corner to manage this article.

My Research (located in the top right corner of ProQuest) is where you can save, manage, and organise documents you find in ProQuest Central.  To retain items saved to your personal My research account, you must set up a personal My Research account and sign in before every search.

Creating a My Research account

Create a personal account by clicking on the person icon in the top right corner and select Create My Research account.

Fill in the fields, use your SIT student email in the email address section.  Follow the password guidelines to create your password.  Confirm you are over 13 years old and consent to the use of personal information consistent with ProQuest Central’s privacy policy.  If you do not consent to the policy, you will be unable to continue creating an account.  When you are finished, click Create account.

Signing in to your My Research account

You MUST sign in to your My Research account before you start saving items.  If you are not signed in, items will not be retained past your current session.

Your personal profile folder stores information collected across searching sessions.  All the items you save to your personal folder remain until you remove them.  

Adding items to your folder:

There are two ways to add items to your folder.

• From the results list, tick the box to the left of the title.

• From the item's record, click All Options from the toolbar located on the right hand side of the title. Next, click Add to selected items.

• After adding an item to your folder, click on the folder in the top right hand corner and select Save to My Research.

Accessing saved items:

To access your folder click once on the person icon located in the top right hand corner and select Saved Documents.  You must be signed in to access any saved items.  Within your folder you can create custom folders e.g. for different assignments or papers.

Remember if you want to retain an item in your folder you must be signed in.