| Magazine Databases |
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Several magazine databases are available on the library's home page. Some are specialize and others are more general in coverage. To illustrate the use of these types of databases, go to the library's home page (see above figure) and select the ProQuest link.
Library Home Page:
http://library.mpcc.edu
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| Basic Search |
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Much of your research can be done from the Basic Search screen if you are careful in selecting keywords. (Typing Inuit rather than Native American in the search field will result in fewer documents but better defined ones.) You may also limit your search to nursing journals by changing the database field. Other limiters restrict the search to certain dates, full-text articles, or scholarly journals.
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| ProQuest Help |
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Clicking the Search Tips (1) opens a window that has help topics for this database. This is a good source for information on Boolean logic, truncation, and examples of searches.
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| Full-Text Database |
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ProQuest Research Library is a full-text database that contains general content. These contain all of the content that was in the original journal or magazine. Abstract databases may also be used to locate periodical articles but you will not be able to read the article on the monitor. A paper copy will need to be sent from a library that has a paper or microfiche copy of the magazine. In most cases, you will begin your research with one of the full-text databases (ProQuest, Wilson, Lexis-Nexis, Electric Library) and, if you still need information, use ArticleFirst to locate an article and request it through interlibrary loan.
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| Advanced Search |
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If too many or too few results are produced by the Basic Search, the Advanced Search gives more control and allows a more tightly focused search. You can control the fields that are searched (1) and use Boolean terms (2) to narrow or expand your search.
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| Topics / Subjects |
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Another window will open when you select the Browse Topics link (1). It allows you to search the file of topics used to categorize the magazine articles. This list is useful for keyword suggestions when you are beginning research, looking up the spelling of words, or for additional keywords to expand or narrow a search.
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| Example of Search Results |
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| Be careful how keywords are typed in the search field. For example, a search for solar planets produces 35 documents while a search for solar AND planets yields over 1700 documents. ProQuest considers two words typed together to be a phrase (the words must occur in documents together and in the order typed) and may limit results more than expected. The documents found for this search and most searches are a combination of full-text (1) and abstract (2) articles. If desired, you can limit the search to full-text articles. Another feature of the database allows documents to be marked (3) and returned to later in the session when the My Research (4) tab is selected. You may also have new results automatically send to your email address by using the Set Up Alert (5). feature. |
| Documents |
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| Clicking the text link opens the Document View window. This page contains the abstract (1), a brief summary of the article, that you should read to determine if the article is relevant to your research. This page also contains the full-text (2) of the article and information (3) about the publication that will be needed for citations if you are writing a paper. The buttons (4) at the top of the page allow you to print a hard copy of the article or you can email it to an Internet address. The Back to Results (5) link returns you to the list of documents found by the search. |
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For more information and instructions for using this database, see the Quick Reference Guide. To access the guides, click the Search Tips from the Basic or Advanced Search screens and then Quick Reference Guides at the top of the window that opens. |
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