ProQuest is a platform containing over 100 databases. It contains scholarly and popular publications (i.e., newspapers, magazines, scholarly journals, eBook titles, dissertations and theses) across a variety of different subjects areas, including social sciences, business, arts and humanities.
1) Use the Advanced Search Tool
The Advanced Search Tool allows you to build your search with multiple keywords that you can combine with Boolean Operators (AND, OR, NOT) from the dropdown menu between the search fields.
There is also to option to limit your results to "Peer reviewed" (i.e., articles in peer-reviewed journals) and "Full text" (i.e., PDF or option to read online is available within ProQuest). These filters are also available on the search results page.
2) Sort your Results
- Sort your results (Relevance, Date)
- By Relevance: It is determined by an algorithm that factors in the number of time your search terms appear in the record as well as where in the record your search terms appear.
- By Date: It may be useful to arrange the results chronologically (oldest first) in order to follow the entire production process of a particular film, from gossip about potential stars to reviews and box-office grosses.
- Learn more about ProQuest Search Results Page (ProQuest Guide)
3) Using ProQuest Search Filters
- Narrow your search results using filters on left sidebar. Look for a "More ..." link at the bottom of each filter to view more options.
- Peer Review: Click the checkbox if you are seeking journals with peer review editing process (papers are send to experts to assess and provide feedback to the author). Learn more about Peer Review Journals.
- Full Text: Limit to items that ProQuest can provide the PDFs or Text
- Source Type: Scholarly Journals, Books
- Publication Year: Last 12 Months, Last 5 Years, Custom Date Range or Specific Date
- Subject: Look for subject headings tied to the discipline or topic you are interested.You can order the results alphabetically by clicking on Subject at the top of the pop-up window.
- Document Type:
- Scholarly research articles - Feature, Article, Literature Review (overview of research trends & findings on a topic), Case Study, Front Page/Cover Story
- Opinion articles - Review (e.g., book, film, resource), Editorial (written by editor), Letter to the Editor / Correspondence (written by readers and submitted to the publication)
- Look for in-text citation and bibliographies to identify scholarly works.
- Publication Title: Canadian Journal of Film Studies
- Language
- Click on More filters link at the bottom of the filter menu to including: Location, Database, Person, Company/organization
Using the More+ link in Search Results
Several filters display a More+ link at the bottom that opens a pop up window containing all the filter options.
- Left column (Include, Exclude) - Use the Include or Exclude checkbox to narrow your search
- Centre column - Click on the heading in the centre column will reorder the list alphabetically.
- Right column (Count) - Order the filter based on the number of articles tagged with filter options
- Click Apply to submit the search
4) Mark relevant records
If you find interesting articles, be sure to .
- Go to the search results page and click the check box to the left of the article title
- When you are ready to email the articles to yourself, scroll to the top of the results list and click on Email link (on right side) or click on the Folder icon in the top right corner of the screen.
- Set your preferred citation style and email the marked records to yourself.
- Click on the person icon in the upper right corner of the screen to access MyResearch.
- Create a free account with your UToronto email.
- Save your searches and selected items in your MyResearch profile
Learn more about ProQuest
More details can be found in ProQuest Search Tips Guide
