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Beyond the Basics - CPI.Q.

How do I get started?
How can I refine my search?
How can I save my search results to view later?
How can I create a search alert?

How do I get started?

Once you have explored the Basic search options for CPI.Q., you can then progress to the more advanced types of searching to gain more useful and specific results for your search. Many of the features you used in the Basic search for CPI.Q. are expanded and more powerful in the Advanced Search, Subject Guide Search, or Publication Search.

Advanced Search:

If you want to search using multiple keywords, then the Advanced Search is very useful and has the same limiting options as the Basic Search (Limit by Full-text, peer-reviewed publications, document with images, publication date, publication title, publication subject, or even Lexile score). The Advanced Search can have as many keywords as you like, as well as you are able to search multiple cataloguing fields like Abstract, Author, or ISBN number.




Subject Guide Search:

The Subject Guide Search is a very powerful feature of this database. If you are having trouble identifying useful keywords for your search, or how to narrow your results further, this can be a very intuitive feature. When you do a search using the Subject Guide Search page, your results page is a little different from the other search options. Your results are organized into narrower categories, allowing you to 'drill' down into the results list to find the most appropriate results. For example, when searching for "vehicles", our search results allow us to see the Keyword, and sub-divisions of the results, with other related keywords to help narrow and refine your search.




Publication Search:

When you start a Publication Search, you are searching the full list of Periodicals available to browse. This can be a very simple and quick way to find timely results from your local community newspaper or magazine. You are not searching all articles, but instead are searching just the periodicals that are selected. You can limit your Publication Search by such powerful limiters as




How can I refine my search?

CPI.Q. allows you to refine any of your searches by clicking on the "More Search Options" link under the main search input box. No matter what type of search you are doing (Basic, Advanced, Subject, or Publication), expanding this option will give you more power in narrowing your results set.

When searching through the Subject Guide Search, you can further refine your search based on sub-topic, or related keywords to help you navigate through the many results. When searching through the Advanced Search, you can refine your search using the many limiters and with multiple keywords.




How can I save my search results to view later?

If you are happy with your search results and would like to review them later at a more convenient time, then you can "Bookmark" your results to copy for later, or to send yourself an email with a link directly to your search result set. In the top-left hand corner of the screen, underneath the white and red Maple Leaf, is a link titled "Bookmark". Click this to open a new window which will let you copy the link, or automatically add it to your bookmark list in your browser, or even email it to yourself and students.




How can I create a search alert?

When you have a search done that you think will be useful to share with your class, colleagues, or to just revisit in the future to see if there are any new results, or wish to be 'alerted' when any new articles or resources are added to the database, you can create whats called a "Search Alert". When you are at the search results page of your desired search, on the right hand side, you will see a link titled "Create a Search Alert".




This will take you to a new page that will allow you to have two types of alerts:







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