The Proquest Central database is a huge collection of full-text resources. This multidisciplinary database covers all major subject areas including health sciences, business and technology.

It contains articles from scholarly journals, newspapers, magazines, reports, dissertations and many other publication types.

Although ideal for academic research projects, navigating and comprehending some of the material in the database can be challenging.


Improve your searching with AI Research Assistant
 

Be a more competent researcher using the AI assistant. It is easy to use and is especially useful for those just beginning their searches. It can help you find articles, focus your searches and understand your topic.

 

How to AI in Proquest


A. Enter your search terms.
B. Select additional search terms from AI generated list on results page to narrow results (optional)
C. Select item from result list.
D. AI Research Assistant will appear in right hand column

The AI Research Assistant provides several helpful features depending on the source it is analyzing. The AI usually provides some information about the article and options for finding additional resources.

Common features include:

Key takeaway - creates a short and easy to understand summary of the document.
Suggested Sources - AI analyzes documents and provides links to related material in Proquest.
Indexing Terms - extracts subject terms from text and links to other documents using same terms
Brainstorm research topics - suggests possible research topics based on analysis of the article. Helpful when starting a paper and looking for defined sub-topics.
Important Concepts description - creates ranked list of concepts with definitions to aid with comprehension of document and topic
 

Example Search
 

1. We will enter the term “sleep hygiene” into the Proquest Central Interface.
 

2. The AI Research Assistant will provide you additional terms to help you narrow your search. These terms are pulled from the documents found in the results list. Clicking on one of the terms will add it to the search box and automatically run a new search including the new terms.
 

 

3. Select item from search results. This will take you to the full text.
 

 

 

4. Research assistant will generate the “key takeaway” from selected material in right column on the full text screen.
 

 

5. The assistant also creates a list of “suggested sources” that is located just below the “key takeaway”. This list often contains links to resources to help you better understand your topic.

 

6. The third item in the right hand column is the “indexing terms” display. It can be used to refine your search topic. Read the list and select terms of interest to run a new search that adds the index terms to your original search.

 


7. Below the “indexing terms” are two blue buttons that can be selected to run additional analysis.
 

 

 

 

 

 

8. The “Brainstorm related research topics” is similar in function to the indexing terms display above but uses AI to help you focus your search. Select one of the related research topics by clicking on the magnifying glass next to that topic. This will run a new search in the database. 

 

 

9. The “Describe the important concepts” button will do additional analysis of the selected document and create a list of concepts that it finds. Each concept will include a definition written by the AI designed to help with comprehending the material.

 

Optimize your searches using the AI research assistant in Proquest Central. It is easy to use and can help you find information that you didn't even know you needed.