Searching PROQUEST Databases
Includes CBCA Business, CBCA Education, CBCA Reference, Canadian Newsstand and others
Library How to Guide
http://library.nlc.bc.ca
PROQUEST DATABASES
ƒ
ƒ
ƒ
ƒ
Canada’s Heritage from 1844 – The Globe & Mail
Canadian Newstand
Canadian Newstand Pacific
Canadian Research Index
ƒ
ƒ
ƒ
ƒ
CBCA Business
CBCA Education
CBCA Reference
National Post
HOW TO CONNECT AND LOGIN TO NORTHERN LIGHTS COLLEGE DATABASES
When searching from off campus, you will be asked for a log-in name and password. See Off Campus Access
http://nlc.bc.ca/library/offcampusaccess.php for log-in information.
From the Library homepage, http://library.nlc.bc.ca, click on Research Databases under the Journals and Articles
heading. This will take you to the list of databases and indexes. Click on the name of the database you wish to
search
You may also connect to the Journal Article Indexes & Databases directly at the following web site:
http://nlc.bc.ca/library/articleindexes.php.
SEARCHING PROQUEST DATABASES
PROQUEST databases are searched in the same manner, with similar searching techniques, formats, and
commands.
The only exception is Canada’s Heritage from 1844 database from The Globe and Mail..
See: http://heritage.theglobeandmail.com/Default.asp for details on how to search this database.
See: FAQ page for further information: http://heritage.theglobeandmail.com/Default.asp
To print, use the Adobe Acrobat Reader (.pdf) toolbar to print.
SEARCH TIPS
Truncation: use an asterisk (*) to find words with alternative endings
ƒ Example: the search term advertis* will find articles containing the following words: advertise, advertising, advertisements
Wildcard: use a question mark (?) to replace a single character within a word.
ƒ Examples: the search term wom?n will find articles containing the following words: women and woman: (plural and
singular). The term “behave?r” will find articles containing the words: behaviour and behavior: (British and American
spelling)
ƒ Use an asterisk (*) in Canada’s Heritage from 1844 database.
Word Order
ƒ Enter a keyword or keywords (subject term, a word or phrase) from the title or abstract, an author’s name, or a journal.
ƒ Do not use sentences in your search terms.
ƒ Do not use stop words. They are ignored if you search for them. These are small and frequently occurring words, such as
adverbs, conjunctions, prepositions. Examples include: the, of, on, was, be, in…
1
Phrases
ƒ
ƒ
ƒ
Phrases should be surrounded by quotation marks if they are three words or longer.
Example: “Canadian Charter of Rights”
If you have 2 words, quotation marks are unnecessary.
Example: the 2 words child abuse will retrieve all articles that have the words child abuse together as a phrase. You do not
need to use quotation marks
Use the Exact Phrase under Search Types in Canada’s Heritage from 1844 database.
Combining Keywords and Phrases. You can combine keywords and specific phrases to get the information you're
most interested in. Phrases should be surrounded by quotation marks if they are three words or longer. For example,
you might search for "First Amendment rights" AND music industry to find documents discussing first amendment
rights issues in the music industry.
Boolean Operators are the terms, AND, OR, AND NOT
♦
Using AND finds all the words. When searching for keywords in Citation and Document Text, AND finds
documents in which the words occur in the same paragraph (within approx. 1000 characters) or the words
appear in any citation field. Example: Searching for child AND abuse will retrieve only those articles containing both
♦
♦
the words child and abuse anywhere in the article.
Using OR finds documents in which any of the words appear. Example: Searching for child OR abuse will retrieve all
articles containing the words child or abuse anywhere in the article.
Using ANDNOT finds documents containing the term before AND NOT, but not the terms after AND NOT Example:
Searching for child ANDNOT abuse will retrieve all articles containing the word child, but will omit all articles containing the
word abuse. Use NOT for Canada’s Heritage from 1844 database.
Proximity Searching: Finds documents where the specified words are within some number of words apart (either
before or after).The proximity operators are composed of a letter (W) and a number (to specify the number of words).
The proximity operator is placed between the words that are to be searched, as follows:
ƒ
ƒ
Within Operator (W) - In the following example, W/8 finds the words if they are within eight words of one another.
Example: Searching for tax W/8 reform will retrieve all articles containing the words tax reform but will omit reform of
income tax.
BASIC SEARCH
Type in your search
terms, also called
keywords,
here
Click on the Search
Button once you have
entered all your search
terms
If you are looking for a
specific time period, fill
in the published date
range.
Click here to add more
search options, such as:
publication title, author,
sort.
Click here to search multiple databases at once
2
SEARCHING MULTIPLE PROQUEST DATABASES
You may search multiple ProQuest
databases simultaneously.
From the main Search Screen, click on
the words Select multiple databases to
bring up the list of databases.
Click on the boxes to select or deselect
databases.
Click on the Continue button at the top
or bottom of the screen to select
databases
SEARCH RESULTS LIST
Too many results? You can
narrow your search by clicking
on one of the Suggested Topics.
You may also limit your results
by clicking on Scholarly
Journals, Magazines, etc.
If the article is available
electronically, this is displayed
under the Title as Full text, Text
and Graphics , or Full
text – PDF. Click on either the
underlined title, or on
Full text, Text and Graphics, or
Full Text – pdf to open.
To mark a record for later use in
My Research, click on the box.
3
If you would like to save a list of articles and work with them once you have finished going through all the results,
click on My Research. You’ll be able to
• Create your bibliography to email, print, or download.
• Email marked documents with a bibliography.
• Export citations into EndNote, ProCite, RefWorks or Reference Manager. This option will allow you to save an
article’s citation information onto your personal bibliographic management software such as EndNote, ProCite, or
Reference Manager. The NLC computers do not provide this software
•
Create a web page with links to your articles, searches, and publications.
VIEWING THE
ARTICLE
The Document View displays
the complete record of the
article, showing bibliographic
information, including an
abstract (summary) and the full
text, if the full text is available.
Your search terms are
highlighted in red.
WHERE CAN I GET
THIS?
If the item is not available in
full text, check to see if the
journal, magazine or
newspaper is available in print
in the NLC Library. If not,
contact Library staff to see if
the article can be brought in
from another Library.
_____________________________________________________________________
NOTE: On average, journal documents take 1 - 3 days to arrive from
another campus or library. A book may take 1 - 3 weeks to arrive.
Library staff will contact you when your article arrives.
PRINTING, E-MAILING, SAVING, & EXPORTING YOUR RESULTS
Save: There is no icon available. Save the article(s) to a computer, NLC Z-drive (campus server), memory stick, disk or
floppy. If you wish to save articles to NLC, save the information to your folder on the Z drive. Do not save to the computer’s
hard drive (C drive) in the College, as it will be erased when you log off. To save: Email or print a copy of the article, or else,
use the File, then Save As functions, from the browser toolbar. If you are using a .pdf file, use the functions on the Adobe
Reader (.pdf) toolbar.
Print: Click on the Print icon to go to a screen which will allow you to select print options, such as, select your preferred citation
format, and send the document to a printer. If you are going to print an Adobe Reader (.pdf) file that you have opened, use the
.pdf toolbar to print.
4
E-mail: Click on the E-mail icon to send the citation format, abstract and/or full-text, if available, to one e-mail address.
Cite this: Click on the Cite this icon to view the citation in different style formats.
Copy link: Click on the Copy link icon to get the web address (url) for your article. You can then cut and paste it into your
document reference (citation) list.
Mark Document: Checking the box beside your article, adds the article to a marked list for later viewing or printing through My
Research.
If You Require Assistance
Contact NLC Librarians in person, by email or phone.
Dawson Creek Library
Janet Beavers, Coordinator of Library Services
Phone: 250 782 5251 (ext. 1251)
Email: [email protected]
Fort St. John Library
Dawna Turcotte, Campus Librarian
Phone: 250 785-6981 (ext. 2012)
Email: [email protected]
See also: Getting Started with ProQuest:
http://training.proquest.com/trc/training/en/gettingstarted.pdf
See also: ProQuest Training Materials:
http://www.proquest.com/en-US/support/training/materials.shtml
Updated: 13-May-09
5