3. Academic Search Premier

St. Catherine University Library

Databases are large collections of articles that the library pays to have access to. There are millions of articles in the library’s databases; however, there is no one place to search all of the databases at once. Instead, you must search each one that pertains to your subject.

For this exercise, we will learn how to search in Academic Search Premier, which is a general database that has articles on many subjects. Each database is different, but most of the tips here will apply to other databases as well.

1. Click “Articles” tab

2. Click “Academic Search Premier”

3. Click “Advanced Search”

4. Input keywords of your search within the search fields

5. Click “Search”

6. Limit the number of results to a manageable number to search through. Aim for having under 100 results. To reduce the number of results use limiters in the sidebar.

Limiters

Adjust the date range to eliminate older articles

Check the box to get Scholarly/Peer-Reviewed articles only

Click on “Subject: Thesaurus Term” to find subject terms related to your topic

Subject Terms

7. Use subject terms in your search to get more accurate results than a default search.

Use the “Subject: Thesaurus Term” box or the “Subjects” listed underneath each article to find subject terms that articles are tagged with

Subject Terms

Once you have found a good subject term, enter it into the search box and select “SU” from the drop-down menu.

NOTE: You must use the exact subject term, eg., searching for “cyberterrorism” works, but a search for “cyber terrorism” will result in an error; this is why we need to search for the exact subject terms the database uses

Results after using limiters and a subject term search:Original search results:

8. Hover your mouse over this icon to see the “Abstract” or summary of an article

9. To view an article, click , or *

The “ ” button could lead you to another database with the article you are looking for, or send you to the form below where you can request the article through Interlibrary Loan. Using Interlibrary Loan, the article will be sent to you electronically, often within a week or less and free of charge.

*

Confused? Have questions?

St. Catherine University Library

• Set up an appointment with a librarian

here• Call the reference desk at the St. Paul campus library at 651-690-6652

St. Catherine University Library

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