FirstSearch is a collection of more than 50 databases in a wide variety of subject areas. These databases include citations to books, and to articles in journals, magazines and newspapers. Several of these databases also provide direct access to the full text of selected articles.
1. Selecting a subject area and database:
Connect to FirstSearch by clicking the link on the Library Home Page. When the connection is made, click on the appropriate subject area for your research (or choose "All Databases"), and then click on the database you wish to search from the displayed list. When the connection is made, information about the database you have chosen will be displayed at the bottom of the screen.
2. Searching:
If you are doing a simple search, type your search term in the box,
choose the appropriate search index (e.g.subject, author, title, etc.)
and click the 
button located near the
bottom of the screen.
- Hints:
- To find words next to each other in exact order, place w between them (e.g. albion w college);
- To find words next to each other in any order, place n between them (e.g. higher n education);
- To search for singular and plural forms of search terms, add + at the end of the term (e.g. "briton+"= briton or britons).
If you are doing a more complex search, click on 
. In this mode you can
combine search terms in several search indexes by using the boolean operators
AND,
OR, NOT, which you can select from the 
boxes on the left side of
the screen.
- Hints:
- BROADEN your search by using OR to find records
containing any (but not necessarily all) of your words.
- children or teenager+ or adolescent+
- NARROW your search by using AND to find records with both of your words.
- oil w spill and exxon
- EXCLUDE terms from your search by using NOT.
- shark+ not shark w bay
3. Viewing search results:
When your search results are returned, FirstSearch will display up to 10 items on the screen. The total number of hits will be shown at the top of the screen. Click on the "NextPage" button to display the second page of results and the "PrevPage" button to go back. To view the full record for any item, click on the citation.
4. Limiting the search:
If your search results are too numerous, you can narrow the results by limiting by date, type of publication, or language.
