Academic Search Complete
Academic Search Complete contains thousands of full-text articles on a wide range of topics. Use this database to access magazine, newspaper, and scholarly journal articles on current events, the social sciences, humanities, general science, and education.
How do I access Academic Search Complete?
Current Montgomery College students, faculty, & staff can access databases from on or off-campus. To access
Academic Search Complete:
- Start at the Montgomery College Library home page: www.montgomerycollege.edu/library
- Click on Databases by Subject. Click Academic Search Complete in the list of general databases (in the box titled "Start Here").
- Off-campus or using a laptop on-campus: When you click on the link to the database, you will be asked to log in. Enter your Montgomery College ID ("M number," including the M) in the box. Problems logging in? Try the tips in our Troubleshooting Checklist.
How do I search Academic Search Complete?
There are three Academic Search Complete search screens: Basic Search, Advanced
Search, & Visual Search. The Basic Search appears when you open Academic Search Complete.
You can select Advanced Search or Visual Search by clicking the link below the search box. Use the same methods to search in either the Basic or Advanced screen:
- Keywords: To search Academic Search Complete, choose several keywords that describe your topic. Enter them in the search box(es) with the connector words and & or. If you do not use and & or, the search will look for your words as a phrase (in the order you type them into the search box). This can prevent you from finding a lot of good articles.
- AND: Combines search words so that the articles you get back contain all of the words. Use and to connect the different ideas that you want the articles to discuss (e.g., pollution and antarctica).
- OR: Combines search words so that the articles you get back contain at least one of the words. Use or when you are searching with synonyms (e.g., pollution or contamination). NOTE: In the Basic Search box, put words connected with or in parentheses: antarctica and (pollution or contamination). On the Advanced Search screen, put the terms connected with or together in the same search box.
- Limiting Your Search: You can tell the database to search with a specific set of requirements. To do this, use the options available under the Search Options link below the search box. Selecting more limits will give you a smaller list of results.
- Full Text: To only retrieve articles with full text available, check the full text box on the left side of the screen.
- Search Mode: The search mode should be set to Boolean/Phrase. This means that you will use and & or to search (see above). Find all my search terms will retrieve articles that have every word that you typed, like using and. Find any of my search terms will retrieve articles that have at least one of the words that you typed, like using or.
- Published Date: To specify a date range for the articles you retrieve, use the drop-down boxes to select months. Enter the year with four digits. If you want to search only one specific month, you must put it in both date areas (e.g., September 2008 to September 2008).
How can I view my search results?
After you enter your keywords and click search, you will see a list of results:
- The list of results will include different types of sources, if available-- academic journals, magazines, newspapers, etc. The first list you see combines all of these types of articles. If you only want to look at one type (e.g., academic journals), click on the category linked to the left of the list of articles. If no categories appear, all of the articles are from the
same type of source.
- To see the bibliographic information and an abstract (summary) for a specific article, click on its title. This will take you to the full record for the article and a link to the full text (if available).
- If you have searched for full-text articles, you will see a link to the PDF and/or HTML below the article citation on the results list and above the article information on the full record page.
How can I print or e-mail articles?
Click on an article title and go to the full record page. You will see several links above the article title that give you the option to print, e-mail, and more:
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