ProQuest Platform

Basic search

Top of the main page

At the top of the basic search menu, results of a search can be delimited and retrieved in full text or Peer Reviewed.

In the main menu bar there are options to search in: Scholary Journals, Books, Videos & Audio, Dissertations & Theses.

Under All Sources users can access, select and limit a search to all available source types not found in the main menu.

 

 

Bottom of the main page

Search Tips, such as limiting searches by subject or author name, may be accessed at the bottom of the main basic search menu.

A tutorial to help with searches is also available.

On the left-hand side of the page under Search by subject area, a bubject can be specified or you can browse a list of databases organised by subject area before searching.

 

 

 

Search by database

Before carrying out a search, start by selecting in the top left menu of the Basic Search page the Databases option, where all the databases of the ProQuest platform subscribed to by ISEG are listed.

Detailed information about each database may be checked in Detailed View. To delete view details, select Quick View.

By clicking View Title list the list of publications from that database that contain full text will appear.

Under the Information icon, in green, you can find more details about each database.

In the upper right corner, click View by Subjects to see a list of subjects.

In this menu, the desired topics may be selected, allowing search within an area of study.

If more than one option is selected, after the selections have been made, click the Use Selected Databases button in the upper right corner to return to the basic search screen.

 

 

Example of a basic search

A basic search can be simply a set of words written in the search box, or various search tools may be used.

A search strategy should be created using terms in English, which ensures that documents in all languages will be retrieved.

Use Boolean operators and other characters, including:

• Boolean operators: OR, AND, NOT
• Special characters: asterisk (*) and quotation marks (" ")
• More advanced operators can use NEAR and PRE

 

Here is an example of a basic search:

In this search, "renewable energy sources" is placed in quotes. This means that all results will contain exactly this phrase.

The word hydro* is truncated with an asterisk to include several possible endings of the root term.

The first and second parts of the search are linked with a Boolean operator, "AND", which requires that both the first and second parts of the search are also in all the retrieved results.

Results page

To assist in the search process, the following functions are available:

• Books that match the search (right hand side of the page): suggestions from the platform.
• Icon next to each document - document type.
• On the left side you can sort the results by Relevance.
• There are also several filters that allow refinement of the search (left hand side of the page)