Finding Sources Basics: Search in Summon

Finding Sources Basics: Search in Summon

Now that we have our example search,

fracking AND “climate change” AND effects AND “British Columbia”

we can add the search into Summon. Once you see your result list, you will be able to add limits to make your list of results shorter and more relevant to your needs.

Vocabulary

• limiter

Applying limiters in Summon

Summon (and many databases) have a series of limiting options that can help make your search results more specific and relevant to your topic or research question.

For example, many instructors will ask you to use peer-reviewed journal articles. In Summon you can limit your search results to these items specifically, once you have run a search. Other limiters can be date range, geography, subject area, and more. 

Additional Summon features

Summon has a number of other features that can be helpful when searching for sources. For example, you can add results into a folder, which you can then email to yourself if you'd like to review them later.

A citation generator will allow you to select your citation style, and copy and paste the citation into your document (note: any automatically generated citations need careful checking, even those from library tools).

Let’s try putting all of this together in Summon. Watch the video below [4:35].

Link: Transcript of 'Summon '

Activity

(Need the worksheet? Finding Sources Basics Worksheet (Word Document) Download Finding Sources Basics Worksheet (Word Document)

Complete the following in your worksheet.

2. Try the example search in Summon, without using quotes around phrases. How does it affect your results?

3. Try taking away a search term, for example, the phrase “British Columbia.” How does this affect your results? 

4. Try changing “British Columbia” to Vancouver or Kelowna. How does that affect your results?

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