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What is it?
| Research Pro is a way to search across selected library online resources to access citations and full text articles. You choose the resources or databases that you wish to search from a list provided and do a search across all of them. This can include searching across hundreds of journals for journal articles. It also includes some web searches. You can also use Research Pro to search the UQ Library catalogue.
You need to be a UQ staff member or UQ student to search using Research Pro. You will be asked to authenticate your access credentials, that is, provide UQ Username & Password or UQ Library No. & Password. Some resources may also require that you be asked to provide this information again further into your searching.
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| Research Pro offers a selection of the databases or resources accessible via the Library. To access the full range of the Library's online resources, click on the More database options link on the Research Pro page, or go the Library home page and click the Databases tab, then select a resource by title or by subject.
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How does it work?
| When you do a search in Research Pro, that search will be done simultaneously in all the resources you have selected. The results are displayed in a series of tabs. You can view the results tab-by-tab, or select the option to inter-file the results. |
Simple Search
| On this screen you begin by selecting the resources you wish to search. There are 3 options: |
| 1. General articles and more |
This is the default search. It is recommended as a starting point for broad or basic searches. Enter your search term(s), select your search type [keywords, author, title, subject] and click the Submit button. This will do a search of the default group of databases. |
| 2. Search by Category |
Relevant resources are listed under specific headings. This is a good starting point for broad subject searches. For example, all the available resources that would give good results for a student studying in the arts and humanities area are grouped under the category heading Arts and Humanities. To select by category, check the box next to that category and enter your search term(s) in the search box. Your search will be done simultaneously over all the chosen resources. You can see which resources you will be searching by looking at the list in the next option - Search by Resource. |
| 3. Search by Resource |
the resources in the specific categories are listed here. For more information about a resource, click on the resource name. Some, e.g. Blackwell Publishing and Cambridge Journals, allow you to search for full-text articles across a number of individual journals from specific publishers. Others, e.g. Highwire and Ingenta are platforms that host journals from a variety of publishers. To choose a resource to search, click in the checkbox next to the name. There is no limit to the number of resources that can be searched and they can be chosen from any category. After making your selection, enter your search term(s) in the box. Your search will be done simultaneously in all the chosen resources.
To de-select a category or individual resource, check the box next to the category or resource. |
Advanced search
| Use the Advanced Search for more complex searches using a combination of search terms and/or types. Note that this option does not use any of the advanced search options offered by the individual resources. For more complex searching, it is recommended that you go to the individual resource or database to perform your search. |
How will results display?
| The results will start to display as soon as one of the resources returns some hits. It is a tabbed display, with the resources you have searched named in the tabs on the left-hand side of the screen. The number of hits for each resource is displayed in the tab under the name of that resource. The default display is a view of all results interfiled. To see the results for each individual resource, click on View Results Tabbed by Resource, or click on the name of that resource.
The order, citation details and relevance of the results of your search are determined by the way the search was performed within your selected resources or databases. Not all results will include the date of publication. To find out more information about a particular result, click on the link for that title. The details will open up in a new window.
To view more records, click on a page number or the next page or previous page icon in the top right of the results screen.
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Can I save records and email them to myself?
| Yes. To save any of the results, click in the checkbox next to the entry. If you have results from multiple resources you wish to save, check all the boxes first. Then click on the View Saved button at the top right of the screen. This will bring up a screen which displays all the checked items with a facility at the top to email the results. Enter the email address into the box, select HTML or text display and click on the Email Results button. Once you have finished, click on the Close Window button at the bottom left of the page to return to your results screen. |
Can I save a group of my favourite resources?
| Yes. When you are on the Simple Search or Advanced Search page, select your favourite resources from the Search by Resource section. Then click on the Save Group button. This will bring up a screen asking you to name your group. Click on Submit to save it. To get back to the search screen you must click on the Cancel button. Don't worry - your group will have been saved. |
How do I search my favourite group of resources?
| Once you have saved a group and named it, access your patron record. Another entry will have been added at the bottom of the right-hand column with the heading Database groups. Click on this and a list of all your saved groups will appear plus a search box. Select your search and your group and enter your search terms. From here you can also choose to search all resources available in Research Pro.
You can also manage (delete) your groups on this page, but to create a new group you need to go to the Research Pro search page. |
Tips and tricks
- By searching many resources at once, Research Pro can be a good tool for identifying individual resources or databases that might be useful for your research
- It is recommended that you employ simple search techniques in Research Pro, and then do more advanced searching in the individual databases as needed
- If your search is too complex, Research Pro may not produce useful results. Identify relevant resources or databases by performing a broader search, then perform your more complex search in the individual database
- You can choose the maximum number of results displayed per page
- As the Library may not have access rights to all the material searched via Research Pro, you may not be able to access the full text of every citation your search finds. Search the UQ Library catalogue to see if a print version is available
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