Database in focus

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ProQuest

Four databases containing leading publications covering the last 35 years

  • ABI Inform
    Search top international publications dealing with business topics. Coverage is from 1971 – to the present.

  • ProQuest Science
    Search Journal articles and images for topics including the sciences, technology, computers, engineering, physics, telecommunications and more
    Coverage from 1994 to the present.

  • Academic Research Library
    Browse a broad range of subject areas including business, art, education, psychology, social sciences, health, children and more
    Coverage is from 1971 to the present

  • US National Newspaper Abstracts
    Search the index for the New York Times, USA Today and the Wall St Journal from the 1980s onwards.

To access ProQuest from within the Library

When using computers 5-14 in the Library, click on the ‘get info’ heading onthe library home page. The ProQuest databases are under the ‘Subscriptiondatabases’ heading on the right under the Business, Student and Science
headings. For the computers numbered 1- 4 and 14 – 20 click on ‘Databases and key websites’ under the heading ‘Online resources’ and then click on ‘Research databases’ and select ProQuest.

To access ProQuest from home

From your web browser access the library website: www.nelsonpubliclibraries.co.nz
Click on the heading ‘Online resources’ then ’Research databases’ and select ProQuest

Link directly to ProQuest

What is ProQuest?

ProQuest is an aggregated electronic publications service providing online access to the full text of thousands of journals, newspapers and magazines as well as indexing to thousands of further publications. NZ coverage is limited but international sources are extensive.

New Zealand journals include the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health (full text 1997 – 2001), Chartered Accountants’ Journal of New Zealand, Journal of New Zealand Literature, New Zealand Economic Papers (full text from 2009), New Zealand Journal of Ecology (full text from 2009), New Zealand Journal of Employment Relations (full text from 1997, New Zealand Management ( full text from 1997 ) and New Zealand Manufacturer ( full text from 1994 – 2000).

The coverage of International publications is more extensive ranging from 1971 to the present.

Why use a database?

  • The source of the information is authoritative
  • Material is stored and accessible in fulltext for several years
  • Material has been through an editing process and verified

Getting started with ProQuest

The following tabs give access to the database

  • Basic
  • Advanced
  • Publications

Basic Search

Click on the tab labelled ‘basic’. A single search box and other options for narrowing the results are presented (database, a date range, full text and scholarly journals)

How to search:

Search by keyword or phrase.

  • If you are using more than one word in the search use AND between the words or if it is a phrase use “quotation marks” around the words
  • Once the results are listed they can be sorted by relevance or date order from the drop down ‘sort results by’ box on the right hand side of the results screen.

Advanced Search

For complex searches a structured framework is provided to help build your search. Each drop down box presents further options for narrowing the search (subject, author, title and more). Click ‘add a row’ if more than three search terms are required.

Publications

To look for a particular journal click on the Publications tab and use the A-Z listing or type the name of the journal in the search box. Journals can be browsed issue by issue.

Using the information

The results of a search may be printed, emailed or saved to a folder. See the help screen for more advice on how to do this. The folder option is particularly useful if you are studying or doing research on a particular topic and need several articles on the same subject. It can be set up from the database but needs to be saved onto your home computer as the publiccomputers in the library have their history cleared daily.

Updates

An Alert service is easy to set up from the database. If you need or want to know when new material is published about a particular topic, current event or organisation you are interested in, the results will be emailed to you. This is easy to set up from a result list or the publication list. Click on the orange RSS feed icon and follow the instructions. Again this must be done on your home computer.

See past database in focus features: