Help Using Power Search

Basic Search  -  Search by Database  -  Search by Subject  -  Advanced Search
Search Results  -  Clustered Results  -  Results by Source  -  Filter for Full Text  -  Export/Save & Email

Power Search finds information in multiple databases with a single search. You can search across all databases, limit by subject or create a customized search. The Basic Search looks for your search words in any field of the databases, although you can select to search in a specific field. The Advanced Search lets you combine search options, such as searching by keyword, author, subject, and ISSN.

Basic Search

The Power Search Basic Search gives you a simple search box over a list of individual database titles or a list of subjects.

Databases and subject categories with a check box can be searched by Power Search. Use the check boxes to select one or more databases or subjects. Use Select All to select all databases or subjects available for Power Search.

Enter your search words (keywords) and click 'Search'. Use quotes to search a phrase.

Search by Database

The basic 'Search by database' is the first Power Search screen displayed. Power Search can search any databases with a check box. Use the check boxes to select one or more databases, or use Select All to check all databases.

After you've selected databases, enter your search words and click 'Search'. You can use quotes to search a phrase.

To access a database directly, click on the database title as shown in the following sample screen.

Search by Subject

Databases are organized by category. This makes searching by subject more efficient. Click on the subject name to display the list of databases associated with that topic.

Subject categories with a check box include databases that Power Search can search. Use the check boxes to select one or more subjects, or use Select All to check all subjects.

After you've selected the subjects, enter your search words and click 'Search'. You can use quotes to search a phrase.

Click on a subject name to display the databases listed under that subject category. Use the check boxes to select one or more databases, or use Select All to check all databases.

After you've selected databases, enter your search words and click 'Search'. You can use quotes to search a phrase.

Advanced Search

The Power Search Advanced Search gives you expanded search options such as searching by author, subject, or ISSN, combining searches, and limiting your search to a specific year.

Search Results

As soon as a search begins, a Tool Box displays to the left under the Power Search title. Using the Search section of the Tool Box, you have the options to refine a current search, conduct a new search, and stop or resume a search in progress.

• Refine Search: This will take you back to your initial search query, where you can make adjustments and try the search again.
• New Search: This will bring you to a fresh search page, where you can enter a new query.
• Stop Searching: This link will appear while the search is in progress. Clicking this will pause or stop the search.
• Resume Search: You will see this link if you have stopped a search. Clicking this will continue the same search.

Results are returned in a single list. As the search progresses, the left side of the screen displays a Results by Source summary showing the databases being searched. Databases containing results turn blue with a number indicating the number of results found in that database. You can click on these blue links at any time to see the search results for that database.

On the top left of the screen are Clustered Results which allows you to organize the results by Topic, Date, Publications, or Authors. The default view is by Topic. Click on the individual entries to display matching records. Click on the tabs above the "Clustered Results" label to change the way results are organized. 

Results by Source display under the Clustered Results. This lists the databases searched and shows how many records were returned from each database. Click the database name to view the results found in that database.

When the search is finished, the complete list of search results displays on the right. You can sort the results list by clicking the Date, Title, Author or Source tabs over the search results. If you click an entry under Clustered Results or  Results by Source, the list of results will change to display only the results matching that entry.

The results header for a search will contain information that looks similar to this:

Results 1-25 of 517 returned for "any contains wood and stoves" (12725 total with 111 duplicates)

When a search is issued, Power Search queries the databases you selected,  retrieves the records from the databases, and tallies the results. The database vendors have limits on the number of records they will return from these queries, and frequently there are more matching records available than can be returned in a single query.

The first number in the results header shows the number of records that were retrieved from the databases in the first query (517 in the example above). The second number shows the total number of matches that are available from the databases (12,725 in the example). When you get to the last page of results (517), you can click on “Next Results for All Resources” to retrieve the next set of records. 

You can display the article by clicking on the title. Some of your records may not include a link to full-text content. If you can't find the full-text through any of these links, you can try broadening your search. You can also contact Timberland's Ask A Librarian service for help.  

To display only results with full text articles, click the Full Text checkbox on the right of the search results title bar. When you do this, a new Full Text Results title bar will display above the search results with a link to "Clear filters". Click on "Clear filters" to display all records. 

Beneath each record are display options.

Show Abstract - An abstract summarizes the content of a citation, so that you can get an idea of what the article will cover before actually jumping to it. Some search records return with a link to these summaries. Clicking on this link reveals the abstract, and another click hides it again.

Show In Clusters - Clicking this link shows where the record fits into the clustered results topics by highlighting the topic under Clustered Results.

Duplicate Records - When a search finds duplicate results, a "Duplicate Records" link displays. Only one record will be shown with a link to the others. Click on the Duplicate Records link to display a new page with all of the duplicate results listed.  

Export/Save and Email

Above your results are links to email or export/save selected results. To select records, use the checkboxes next to each record. Once records are selected, the "Email" and "Export/Save" links are activated.

Click on the selected records link from the results page to display only your selections in a new window.

Click on Email to display an email form. On the form, you may choose to send your selected records in a format compatible with bibliographic citation managers like EndNote or ProCite, in plain text, or in HTML.

Click on Export/Save to display a similar form to save or export records. You may choose to export your selected records directly to RefWorks, or to save the records either in a format compatible with bibliographic citation managers like EndNote or ProCite, as plain text, or as HTML.

Problems connecting? Check out Databases Help. 

Revised 08/27/08