ProQuest is a platform with a huge number of databases which cover most of the areas taught at CSU. Subject strengths include health, education, and the sciences. It includes a couple of useful specialised databases: ANZ Newsstream - a database of Australian and NZ newspaper articles - and ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global - a database of doctoral and masters theses (many in full-text) from around the world.

It also includes a number of "subject-area packages" of databases, including ProQuest Health & Medicine Databases and ProQuest Science & Technology Databases.

You can change the database(s) you are searching by using the breadcrumb trail at the top left of the ProQuest search screen. The databases are grouped in a hierarchy, and many "databases" are in fact collections of subsidiary databases. This can be a bit confusing.

Within ProQuest:

• The default should be to the Advanced Search screen, with 2 lines of search. (You can add extra lines.)
• The default search is to search Anywhere except full-text - ALL, but you can change this to search in a specific field.
• The default is to a keyword search. This means that if you enter multiple words in the search box, you will get results that contain both or all words. If you want to search for the words as a phrase, you need to enclose them in double quotation marks.
• Many of your results will have the full-text attached. For those that don't, you can use the Find a copy links to search for the full item in other databases.
• If you want to go back to a previous search to view results, use the clock icon (labelled Recent Searches) at the top right of the screen. This will display a table of searches you have run since last login. You can also combine previous searches using AND or OR.