FirstSearch is an electronic information service providing online access to popular databases. Access is available at NDSU through the World Wide Web at http://www.lib.ndsu.nodak.edu/FirstSearch/.

Contact your subject librarian for help if you have any questions.

FirstSearch Databases Available

• WorldCat Books and other materials in libraries worldwide
• A&H Search Arts & Humanities search: a citation index
• AppSciTechInd A general index to science and technology periodical literature
• ArtIndex Leading publications in the world of the arts
• BasicBIOSIS Wide range of bioscience topics: a selected subset of the complete BIOSIS (Biological Abstracts)
• BioAgIndex A general index to biology and agriculture periodical literature
• Bus Dateline Index to nearly 450 newspapers and business magazines
• Bus/Industry Provides company, industry, market, and product information
• ContmpWomenIss Contemporary Women's Issues with full text
• DataTimes An index of regional newspapers
• Disclosure Basic financial information on 11,000 U.S. companies
• Dissertations Abstracts of dissertations and thesis published since 1860
• EconLit Index of economic literature
• EducationIndex Leading publications in the field of education
• EssayGenLit Index to essays in collected works in the humanities and social sciences
• FactSearch Facts and statistics on topics of current interest
• GEOBASE Worlwide literature on geography and geology
• HumanitiesAbs Index to humanities periodicals
• IndxLegalPeriodicals Index to legal periodicals
• InternetPCAbs Index to Internet technolgy publications and computer product information
• LibraryLit Materials on libraries and librarianship
• NetFirst OCLC database of Internet resources
• NewsAbs Abstracts to articles in 25 major newspapers
• PAIS Index to public affairs publications
• PapersFirst An index of papers presented at conferences
• Proceedings An index of conference publications
• SocialSciIndex Index to 350 core periodicals in the social sciences
• UnionLists OCLC Union Lists of Periodicals
• Worldscope GLOBAL Financial reports on 9,000 of the world's largest companies

• Web address:
  • http://www.lib.ndsu.nodak.edu/FirstSearch/ (on campus). Available to all faculty, staff and students.
  • http://www.ref.oclc.org:2000 (off campus). Authorization Code to faculty and staff only. Contact a subject librarian (listed below) for authorization code and password.
• Once logged on to FirstSearch, select a topic area, then select an appropriate database for your search. You cannot search more than one database at a time!
• FirstSearch will log you off if there is a period of time with no activity.

Searching

To search for a Topic

Type the key word or words in the search window. The key words will be searched in the title, abstract, notes, and subject headings.

Multiple word searches

FirstSearch assumes an AND between multiple words:
North Dakota will retrieve "North Carolina and South Dakota" as well as "North Dakota".

Phrases

To connect words of a phrase insert W (with) or N (near):
North w Dakota will retrieve only North Dakota
North n Dakota will retrieve North Dakota or Dakota North

Type a number (1-25) after W or N to specify the how many words are allowable between terms in a phrase:
North 2w Dakota will retrieve "North or South Dakota"

Plural word endings

Singular and plural forms of some words may be simultaneously search by typing + at the end of a search word; the word itself and -s and -es will be searched.
Other plural forms will not be searched, such as -ies, -ae, etc.
Entrepreneur+ retrieves entrepreneur or entrepreneurs.

Boolean connectors

AND, OR, NOT and parentheses are acceptable

Entrepreneur+ and (risk+ or reward+) will retrieve entrepreneur and risk, entrepreneur and reward, entrepreneurs and risks, etc. Be sure that parentheses surround each segment of the search to insure correct logic.

type AU: then as much of the author's name as you know in any order:
au: larry leistritz retrieves Leistritz, F Larry or F Larry Leistritz.
au: larry w leistritz retrieves "Larry Leistritz" as a phrase.

Note: use Boolean connectors to combine author searches with other types of searches:
au: larry Leistritz and north w dakota will retrieve articles authored by Larry Leistritz which are about North Dakota.

• FirstSearch does not allow for combining set numbers; however, complex search statements can be constructed using boolean operators (and, or, not), truncation, adjacency and parentheses.
• You can also click on the Limit button to limit your search to a range of years, or type of search.
• Wordlist is an index of terms used in the each database--it is sometimes helpful to scan the wordlist to better determine the search terms to use.

Print/download

• Individual records can be sent to your e-mail address by clicking on the e-mail button while viewing the complete record.
• Up to twenty records at a time can also sent to your e-mail address:
  TAG records of special interest; then SAVE the tagged records for that page. SHOW the tagged records; at this point, you can e-mail the tagged records (up to 20 at a time). When finished e-mailing a group of records, remember to CLEAR them.
• You can also use the windows "copy" and "paste" features to copy to a notepad or word processing program.