ProQuest Databases
ProQuest provides access to databases covering a wide range of subjects including multidisciplinary and discipline-specific as well as a variety of formats from articles to eBooks to streaming videos. It is one of the most diverse and information-rich interfaces. Popular ProQuest databases are:
ProQuest Basic Search
ProQuest databases default to Advanced Search but you can change it to Basic Search using the menu (three horizontal lines) at the top left of the screen. Basic Search is for quick keyword searches. You can use some selected limiters such as peer-reviewed, format, etc.
ProQuest Advanced Search
This is best for executing a thorough or more complex search. Enter search terms in the boxes and choose to search in specific fields such as Author, Document title, Abstract, etc. The default is Anywhere: the database will search the whole text of articles for the term so you are likely to get a lot of results.
Use the + button to Add a row.
Additional options in Advanced Search:
- Limit results to those which include the full text
- Limit to articles that are peer-reviewed
- Select by Source type (e.g., books, newspapers, etc.)
- Select by Document type (e.g., article, report, etc.)
- Select by Language
Here is a sample Advanced Search:
What is a Thesaurus?
In some ProQuest databases, you'll see a Thesaurus option above the search boxes.
A thesaurus is an alphabetical listing of all the subject terms in a single database, used to classify and organize information for that database. The thesaurus shows relationships between terms such as synonymous or related terms, and hierarchical arrangements such as broader terms, or narrower terms. Many subjects also have associated scope notes.
Most ProQuest databases have an associated thesaurus (also called a controlled vocabulary of subject terms).
Editors use the thesauri to assign subject headings to documents in each database.
To add Thesaurus terms to your search:
Click on Thesaurus.
Type a term, for example, exercise, into the thesaurus search box and click Find.
You will see an alphabetical index of thesaurus terms, and synonyms for thesaurus terms, that are used in the database.
You can click on the blue thesaurus term links to see related terms, for example:
- Broader Terms. In this example, the broader term is 'Physical fitness'.
- Narrower Terms. Some narrower terms are 'Aerobics', 'bodybuilding', and 'Pilates'.
Click the paper icon to display an explanation of what the term covers and Related terms.
Use the checkboxes to the left of the thesaurus terms to select any that you would like to include in your search.
Combine the terms using OR, AND or NOT and click the Add to Search button.
Your selected terms will be added to the search box on the Advanced Search screen. You can now either just search or combine with other terms and used the limiters available on the screen.
Viewing Results
Search results are displayed in the middle of the results screen. If you hover over a particular result you have the option of clicking on Quick look. Click on the title to go to the Full text of the result. Click the Abstract/Details link will to view the detailed record and related resources.
To see the results of an earlier search, click Recent searches at the top right of the page.
On the left hand side you will find a drop-down menu headed Sorted by which you can use to change the sort order.
There are also options to limit your results by Source type, Publication date, Publication title, Document type, Subject, and Language. Also limit by full text or peer-reviewed.
Linking to the full text of articles
Results will be tagged as Full Text or Citation/Abstract. For those available in full text, click the Full text link. If a journal is fully digitized, you will also see a Full text - PDF link.
Articles not available in full text may be borrowed via Interlibrary Loan.
Saving and exporting results
ProQuest provides multiple options for managing results such as downloading a PDF, generating a citation in the style of your choice, creating a permalink to the article for easily re-accessing, printing, emailing, etc.
More options:
Save results in My Research
To save results in the My Documents area of My Research you must create a ProQuest My Research account. The link for creating a My Research account is in the person icon menu at the top right of any ProQuest page. All you need to create an account is an email address and a password.
Creating a ProQuest account allows you to save a search to run it again in the future and to set up an alert to receive an email notification when new articles matching your search criteria are added to the database.
Change databases within ProQuest
The name of the database you are searching appears at the top of the screen. To change to another database, go to the menu icon (3 bars) at the top left of the screen and select Change databases.
You can then select one or more databases from the list. The icon next to the database name leads to more detailed information about that database.
