ProQuest Central is a library database of both scholarly and popular sources including academic journals, magazines, and newspapers from a wide variety of subject areas. It’s a great place to start your research on almost any topic. Here are a few tips to get started.
1. Click on Advanced Search.
2. You’ll notice that instead of one search bar, there are several. Click the plus or minus buttons at the bottom of the search box to add or subtract rows.
3. Break down your research question into keywords. If you’re researching “How does a formal education impact second language acquisition in children?” you might try keywords such as child development, second language, and education. For additional tips on choosing keywords, see the Search Tips tab at the top of this guide. Note: The "Anywhere except full text - NOFT" setting helps to automatically filter out irrelevant results.
4. Click Search in the right corner below the search boxes to bring up article results.
5. When you hover your mouse over one of the results, a Quick look button appears.
6. Use the Quick look button to skim the abstract (summary) of the article and view a list of subjects mentioned in the article on the right.
If you’re not finding enough relevant articles for your topic, check out the information on the Search Tips tab of this guide to learn how to improve your search results.
For help accessing the full-text of an article, see the Accessing Full-Text tab.
For help with saving, sharing, and citing articles, see the Saving, Sharing & Citing Sources tab.