Library Database Information: Proquest

What is ProQuest?
ProQuest is a collection of many databases that provide access to thousands of journals, magazines, newspapers, dissertations, and other publications.

ProQuest databases include the following, as well as many others

How to Access ProQuest

Mouse over Find on the library homepage then click on Databases. Now click on ProQuest on the right side of the page under "Recommended Databases." If off-campus, you will be prompted for your BRUIN Connect login. Once you are logged into one database, you are logged into all of them until you close your browser.

How to Search
When you click on ProQuest, you will see the ProQuest One Academic interface which searches most of the ProQuest databases simultaneously and therefore,  a number of types of resources besides journals.  If you prefer, you may select one of the specific subject-related databases on the Databases list, most of which are primarily journal databases. 

Basic Search in ProQuest One Academic
The Basic Search screen has a single search box on it with tabs above. You may search All types of resources or choose one of these: Scholarly Journals, Books, Videos & Audio, Dissertations & Theses, or More which displays several more source types on its drop-down menu. 

• Search box. Once you have selected your source type, enter a search term or phrase that is relevant to your topic into the box on this page.
  • ProQuest uses autocomplete so as you begin to type, a list of search term suggestions will appear; you may click on one to choose it.
  • If using a phrase of two words or more, enclose it in quotation marks, even if was an "autocomplete" suggestion.
  • ProQuest will search document citations and text to locate articles containing your search term.
  • For more help setting up an effective search, click on Search Tips, located just under the search box.
• Search options.  Right below the search box, you have the options to limit your results to Full Text and/or Peer-Reviewed . The Peer-reviewed option will find documents that appear in academic journals, though they may not be peer-reviewed. To determine if a journal is peer-reviewed see How to Find Peer-Reviewed Articles.

Advanced Search
Click on the link to Advanced Search in the navigation bar at the top of the page.

• Search boxes.  This screen provides two rows of search boxes, with an option to add more, that allows you to combine multiple search terms.
• Fields.  The advanced search gives you the option of selecting the fields you wish to search,  such as title, author, subject, journal title, or document text. 
  • Type your search term or phrase into one of the search boxes, then use the drop-down menu to the right of the term to select a field, if desired.
  • You may leave it set to "Anywhere"  if you prefer, and ProQuest will search all the fields, including the abstract, for your search terms.
  • Before you set the field to Subject, it is a good idea to check the Thesaurus, found on the right side of the page above the search boxes.  This will help you find the controlled vocabulary that is used by the various ProQuest databases.
    • When you click on Thesaurus, a window will open with a list of the thesauri that are associated with the databases you are searching.  Choose the one that applies, usually, this will be ProQuest thesaurus (subjects); type in a search term to see the actual subject terms used by this database.
• Boolean searching.  You may use the drop-down menu in front of each search box to change the Boolean connector from AND (default) to OR, or NOT, in order to expand or limit your search.
  • Using AND between search terms will limit and focus your search, giving you fewer results, as both terms must be present in the fields being searched.
  • Using OR will expand your search, giving you more results, as only one of your search terms must appear.
  • Using NOT excludes a term from your results.
• Search options.  There are several ways to limit your search listed just below the search boxes.
  • Mark the Full-Text option to find only documents that provide the complete full text, rather than just the citation or abstract.
  • Mark the Peer-reviewed option to find documents that appear in academic journals. 
  • You may also select a Date Range to limit your search to articles that were published during a particular time frame.
  •  Other choices are Source Type (magazine, newspaper, trade journal, etc), Document Type (article, video clip, dissertation), or Language.  The options available will depend on the databases you are searching.
• For more help setting up an effective search, click on Tips, located near the search boxes.

Results List

• After entering your search terms into either the Basic or Advanced search area, and setting whatever fields and limiters you prefer, click on Search.  A list of articles will be displayed that matches your search criteria and your search terms will be highlighted.
• Your articles will be displayed by relevance but may be resorted by descending or ascending date by using the drop-down menu to the right of the list.
• Click on Preview located right next to the title of the article, to quickly display the abstract. The subject terms used to index the article will also be displayed which can be helpful in modifying your search.
• When you find an article you wish to view, click on either Full Text or Full Text-PDF, depending on which formats are available. The tabs on this page allow you to quickly toggle between full text, abstract, and references.
• If the articles in your results list aren't quite what you were looking for, scroll down to the bottom of the page, and try clicking on one of the Other searches to try suggestions. When you click on one of these related search terms, you will have to reset your options such as full text and peer-reviewed.
•  You may also use other options to the left of the results to focus or sort your results in various ways, including by specific publication, source type, document type, or subject. Click on the arrow to display the options, then click on the desired choice.  You can use the date slider to limit the dates of publication, or enter a date range.
• You may also edit your search at any time by clicking on Modify Search right under the box containing your search terms at the top of the results page.

Printing,  Emailing, and Saving Articles

• You can email, print, save, or cite articles directly from the results list. Mark one or more articles and some of these options will appear;above the list; click on the menu button to see all of them.
• When you open an article, these options will appear in the right column.

Other Features

•  Marked Items.   As you scroll through your results list, mark articles of interest by checking the box next to the article title. 
  • To view only the items you marked, click on the file folder icon in the bar at the top of the page. 
  • These marked articles are saved only for the current session and will not be saved once you exit ProQuest.
• My Research.  To save marked items for a later time, create a  free account. 
  • Click on the profile icon at the top of the page, next to the file folder icon. Then click on Create a My Research account.
  • You can then organize your saved articles into folders, create tags, and do a number of other things with them.
  • When you are signed into My Research, articles will be saved until you delete them and can be accessed from any computer by signing into your account.
• Cite This.  ProQuest provides the citation for articles in all the most popular citation styles.
  • Mark one or more articles in your Results List, then click on the symbol that looks like a quotation mark above the results.
  • This option is also available above the full text of every article as well as on the Abstract/Details page..
  • Use the drop-down menu to choose from the available citation styles, but double-check the citation yourself to make sure it is correct.

Tips for using ProQuest

• Source Image. Each article in the results list has an image next to it indicating its source, such as magazine, scholarly journal, newspaper, etc. 
• Narrow Results. The articles in your results list are sorted by source type to the left of the results list. To see only the results from a particular source type, click on it. There are several other options for sorting results in this column.
• Help.  The Help screen is available in the right-hand corner of every page.  Use the Table of Contents or Search to find the information you need; both of these options are available in the left column.

ProQuest Tutorial 

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