QUICK START GUIDE

InfoTrac College Edition, a complete Online Research and Learning Center, contains over 10 million full-text articles
from nearly 5,000 scholarly and popular periodicals. Covering a broad spectrum of disciplines and topics, this online
library is ideal for every type of research. InfoTrac College Edition's articles are updated daily and include research
dating back to 1980. In addition to the database, InfoTrac College Edition offers InfoWrite, a web-based training tool
designed to help develop writing skills. InfoWrite assists students through difficult areas of research writing, such as
choosing a topic, composing introductions and conclusions, and crediting sources.

Registration
Step 1
Go to www.infotrac-college.com and click on Register New Account.

Step 2
Enter passcode and create a username.

Step 3

Fill out the registration form completely to activate your account.

Note: After registration is complete, you will only need your username and password to logon.
Quick Start Guide for Students

USING INFOTRAC COLLEGE EDITION

There are three types of searches:

Subject Guide Search

Keyword Search
Advanced Search

Subject Guide Search

Step 1
Type in the term(s) you would like to search and click Search.

Step 2
After a list of results appear, select an article by clicking on the title. If your search words do not match the Subject
Guide database, a list of similar and related subjects will appear. Simply select the subject that most closely matches
your topic.

Step 4
A list containing bibliographic information for each article in your search to a maximum of 20 articles per page. To
view an article, click on the citation.

If the term(s) you typed in the Subject Guide cannot be found, it will automatically default to the Keyword Search.
2

Quick Start Guide for Students

Keyword Search
The Keyword Search looks for the word or words entered. It is more effective when looking for a specific topic, title,
author, or product.
Search by Keyword just as you would by Subject Guide.
The search will return with a list of articles containing the keyword term(s). Results are listed from most recent to
oldest publication date.

Advanced Search
With Advanced Search, a more specific search can be conducted.

Step 1
Select an index to search by. What is an index? Each article is indexed by certain variables. These indices include the
title, author, publication's name, where and when it was published (see the list on the next page). Type your search
criteria in the entry box to the right.

Step 2
If you want to search by multiple criterion, simply repeat the process with an operator between them.
!
!
!

Logical operators(and/or/not) specify inclusive or exclusive relationships between search terms or result sets.
Proximity operators (Wn, Nn) specify that two search terms must be within a specific distance (in words) of each
other. Proximity operators work only with free text indexes such as keywords, abstracts, text, and titles.
Range operators (since, before, etc.) specify upper bounds, lower bounds or both searches for numeric data.
Numeric indexes include publication dates, number of employees and annual sales.
Quick Start Guide for Students

Indexes for Advanced Search

Abstract (ab): Includes words from article abstracts as well as from any author's abstracts.
Author (au): Authors are indexed in surname/given name order; for example, "nelan bruce w." It's best to search in
surname-first order. Enter a surname and, optionally, a given name.

Date (da): The date the article was published.

Journal Name (jn): The name of the magazine or periodical.
Journal Name List (jn=): Provides a list of magazines or periodicals in which the search term appears.
Keyword (ke): Words in article titles and authors, as well as subjects, people, companies, products, vocations, events,
etc., featured in articles.

Record Number (rn): A full record always includes a unique record number. If you note a record number, you can
easily find the record again with the record number index.

Refereed (re): Experts in the same field as the writer review articles in the journal and ensure that the data and
methodology has met a high standard. This is also knows as a peer reviewed.

Source (so): Lets you search for records by the type of source from which they're taken (e.g., magazine, journal, or
newspapers).

Source List (so=): Lets you browse a list of subjects that contain the word or words you type.
Subject (su): Lets you search for references by the source types under which they are indexed.
Subject List (su=): Provides a list of references by source types.
Text Word (tx): Composed of all words from the body of articles.
Title (ti): The title index is composed of all words in the article.
Volume Number (vo): The volume of the magazine or periodical.

Using Wildcards in the Advanced Search

At times, you might want to find more than just exact matches to a search term. For instance, you might want to find
both the singular and plural forms of a word or variant spellings. Wildcards let you broaden your searches to match a
pattern.

InfoTrac provides three wildcards:

!

An asterisk (*) stands for any number of characters, including none. For example pigment* matches "pigment,"
"pigments," "pigmentation," etc. The asterisk wildcard can also be used inside a word. For example, colo*r
matches both "color" and "colour."
A question mark (?) stands for exactly one character. Multiple question marks in a row stand for the same
number of characters as there are question marks. For example, psych????y matches either "psychology" or
"psychiatry", but not "psychotherapy."
An exclamation point (!) stands for one or no characters. For example, analog!! matches "analog," "analogs" or
"analogue" but not "analogous."

If you see a message about a search being invalid, you'll need to add at least one character before one of the wildcards.

Quick Start Guide for Students

Mark List
Clicking on the Mark Box allows you to select articles you would like to retrieve for later viewing. The Mark Box is
available in two ways:

1. While
viewing the
citation list,
you may select
individual
articles or you
may select all
the items on
the page.

2. Check the
Mark Box
while you are
in article view.

Click on View Mark List to view selected articles.

Limit Search
You may limit your search if you find yourself immersed in citations or of the citations are too general. Limit your
search to dates, specific journals, and keywords. The Limit Search function is available in two ways:

1. Limit a

2. Limit a

search that has

already been
performed. To
do this, click
on Limit Search
in the left
navigation.

current search.
To do this, fill
out the Limit
Search box
below the
search field.

Article Retrieval
There are three article retrieval options available:
!
!
!

Browser Print: Print out the full text article

Acrobat Reader: Review article as a PDF file
Email Delivery: E-mail article to self or others

Click on Print or Email on the left navigation bar while viewing citations.

Quick Start Guide for Students