Database of the Month: The New ProQuest Platform

This month ProQuest is debuting a new platform for the 30+ ProQuest databases to which the Bentley Library subscribes.   This new platform allows the Bentley Library to create unique subject specific databases that best reflect the research needs of the Bentley community.  Databases such as the Worldwide Political Science Abstracts have also been moved to ProQuest from the CSA platform,  allowing users to search more resources with a common platform.

ProQuest allows users to take advantage of a basic and an advanced search screen to find information.  The basic search will look for the the users terms in the text of a document then in the bibliographic record.   Users can add the "and" operator to narrow a search, or the "or" operator to expand a search or to include synonyms in a search.    The basic search includes limiters to search for only full-text documents or scholarly resources.

The ProQuest advanced search feature allows users to create more complex searches across a variety of databases.  Users can search multiple indexes (author, title, text, NAICS code, subject, etc.) and limit to source type (books, magazines, dissertations, blogs), document type (article, case study, conference paper, market report, table of contents, etc.), document feature (chart, photograph, tables), and language.

Results returned on the new ProQuest platform can be narrowed and sorted by a number of options.  Popular options for sorting results include "Relevance", "Date (oldest first)", and Date (newest first)".  The "Sort results by" feature is located on the right-hand side of the results screen.  Search results can be narrowed by using ProQuest facets that include source type, document type, title, subject, keyword, and seven other limiters.  Multiple limiters can be employed to narrow search results. Just above the search results, ProQuest provides links to suggested subjects derived from their "Smart Search"  product.  Smart Search provides additional article content for users from across the ProQuest platform. Using the check box beside each returned document allows users to organize documents for export or to create a works cited page or a bibliography.  After marking documents users can click on the "Cite this" link to format citations in APA, MLA, Chicago, and other popular manuscript styles.  Marked documents can also be added to a RefWorks or EndNote database.

In the coming months look for ProQuest to provide support for mobile devices.  To start using the new ProQuest platform visit the Bentley Library's "Find Article/Databases" page today.

Database of the Month provides a very brief introduction to an important research database, highlighting key features of the database that you should know about. If you would like more information about this database (or any of the library’s databases) please contact the Reference Desk.  If you would like a demonstration of this database for a class, please contact our Coordinator of User Education, Elizabeth Galoozis.