Help with Summon
First do your search, then refine your results.
- To find phrases (words next to each other), use quotation marks (eg, "student sleep deprivation"). Results will be more relevant than for the same search without quotation marks.
- To find material about Australia, type Australia in the search box as well as your other search words (eg, "green politics” Australia ). Choose asia & the pacific in the Subject Terms for results with an Australasian geographic focus.
- To find words starting with the same stem, use the * symbol, eg, film* finds film, films, filmic, film-maker
- To find variations in spelling, use ?, eg, mao?i finds maori, maohi, maoli, Maoui
- For Boolean searching, type the operators in capitals - AND, OR, and NOT. When two or more words or phrases are next to each other without any Boolean operators, Summon assumes an AND is between them.
"teacher education" OR "teacher training" finds results where either of those phrases occur.
Use NOT, or the minus sign (-), with no intervening space, before a word or phrase in quotation marks to exclude items from your results: extinction ("prehistoric animal" OR dinosaur) -australasia -australia -oceania
Search faster, search smarter (more about Boolean searching) - FAQ - more tips
Refine your Search results with the options on the left of the results screen:
FAQ - more tips
What are the Recommendations about?
eg: 
Summon may suggest a resource which contains a lot of information on your topic, and where you will get better search results by searching it separately. Go to it it via the green link in the Summon recommendation, or you can find direct links to these resources in the database lists or subject guides.
The items at the top of the results are all too old. How can I get new material?
Use the date slider on the left hand menu and click Update, or use the Relevance picklist at the top-right of the results to change to Date (newest)
Why is there no recent coverage of a current news story?
Summon is not yet a comprehensive current affairs database. For full news coverage, use the Proquest Newsstand databases , Factiva.com , or try our other News Services
I searched for a journal title because I want to browse it, and it wasn't found.
To find a link to a journal, as opposed to articles in a journal, use the Advanced Search and type the journal name in the With these words in the title box. Next, select Journal from Content Type
There are lots of ejournal and newspaper articles in the results, but I just want some books.
To highlight books and other material from the Library's catalogue found by your search: Scroll down to Library location > more options > select Include Library Location > Continue.
I used Limit to articles from scholarly publications, and now there are no books or journals from the Library catalogue!
This limit displays only the online journal articles found by your search, and excludes other scholarly materials such as books, which are in the Library catalogue. We are working with the Summon developers on this issue.
How can I find items about Australia? Why is Australia not included in the Subject Terms?
Type Australia in the search box as well as your other search words if you need material about Australia, and select asia & the pacific from the Subject Terms. We are working with the Summon developers to improve finding Australian material.
The results page never finishes loading. I'm using Internet Explorer 8
Turn off Compatibility view (Tools > Compatibility view)
How do I save records in the search results, and email or print them?
Mouse-over the top right-hand corner of each record in the result list, to display Preview this item or Save this item. Click the Save option.
The Saved items folder displays at the bottom of your screen. From here you can print or email your selected records.
How to I export records to EndNote?
EndNote Guide > How to export from Summon to EndNote
How do I know what kind of Content I should be chooosing? How can I find out more about the significance of Scholarly & peer-reviewed publications versus Newspaper articles?
Summon uses the Ulrichsweb's classifications of journals. Scholarly describes the primary audience for the publication. Peer-reviewed "refers to the system of critical evaluation of manuscripts/articles by professional colleagues or peers. The content of refereed publications is sanctioned, vetted, or otherwise approved by a peer-review or editorial board."
Most peer-reviewed/refereed publications are also Academic/Scholarly serials, but it is possible for a publication to have one designation but not the other.
Watch Scholarly versus non-scholarly resources, and for more information, check out the eSearch to Research online tutorial for new students. There are modules covering four different disciplines (Arts, Education and Social Work, Law, and School of Business). The information in each is very similar but the examples are discipline-specific. Choose the most appropriate discipline for you.
For more help, Ask A Librarian.
I can’t find what I need in Summon
Try the Library catalogue or a subject-specific database – check the Subject Guides or Database lists for options.