ProQuest

ProQuest's full-text and indexing periodical databases are available to TCC students through the Internet. To access ProQuest, follow the Athens login directions at the TCC Portal. ProQuest is particularly strong in newspapers and in business and trade journals.

Select a Database

At the ProQuest Advanced Search page, the default search (if you make no changes) will result in a search of all of the databases. If you wish to limit your search to one or just a few of the databases (for example, EthnicNewswatch or local newspaper articles in the Washington State Newsstand), click on "Databases selected," "Clear all databases," and then mark the specific ones you wish to search before clicking on "Continue" at the top or the bottom of the page.

Search

The default search is a keyword search of "Citations and Abstracts." If you don't find enough, try changing to a "citation and document text" search. Another tactic is to use the default search and then choose from an appropriate "Suggested Topics" that will appear near the top of the screen. If your instructor has specified that articles must come from a "professional" or "refereed" journal, select the "Scholarly journals" check box. If you are under a looming deadline, you might also limit the results to "Full text only." When you do this you do run the risk of missing out on some excellent articles that may be available through the library's print collection or through one of our other databases. Type in one or more important words that describe your topic and click on Search.

Focused Searching

Searches may be focused with great accuracy by using the drop down menus to the right of each search box, which allow searching in a number of individual fields such as subject, author, title document type, or geographic location. You may also specify date ranges.

Reading Your Results

Here is a standard ProQuest citation, including the title of the article, title of the periodical (in bold type), author's name (in italics), and the date of the article.

Notes under the citation represent the formats in which the article is available; these include one or more of the following: abstract, text (the words, but no graphics) or PDF (an image of the document as it originally appeared in print).

If only the citation/abstract icon appears, check the library's online periodicals list or holdings notebook to determine whether the full article is available elsewhere in the library. Otherwise, you may view the complete article at the computer. Adobe Acrobat software is required to view the "Page Image." All campus computers include Adobe; you may download it free to your home or office computer if do not already have it.

Clicking on a given article's title link will result in a screen containing the article citation, a list of the subject terms assigned to it (good for finding related articles), an abstract (if available) and the full text of the article (if available). A menu on the left offers options for printing or e-mailing the available information.

Printing Articles

Before you print, it is wise to click on File, and then Print Preview (from the Explorer menu at the top of the computer screen) before printing. This will allow you to view the exact number of pages before using the print button. If you are on campus, print outs go through the Pharos printing system and cost $.10 each.

_{Last updated February 13, 2008}