A guide to the basic features of the search interface of Ontario
Scholars Portal at the University of Ottawa
Prepared by:
Ann Romeril
Library Bibliographic Training Coordinator
Morisset Library
Email: aromeril@uottawa.ca
Tel: (613) 562-5800 ext. 3656
Ontario Scholars Portal
Table of Contents
• What is Ontario Scholars Portal
• Access to Ontario Scholars Portal
• Registration and Login
• Browsing the Journal Collections
• Search functions
• Specific Features
• Saving/printing/exporting Options
• Your Personal Settings
• Online Help
Ontario Scholars Portal
What is Ontario Scholars Portal?
Ontario Scholars Portal provides seamless access to
approximately 5,452, 194 articles from 4,091 full text
journals acquired by national and provincial consortia
of which the University of Ottawa is a member
Ontario Scholars Portal features:
• Searching full-text articles
• Tracking citation via automatic updates
• Browsing tables of contents
Ontario Scholars Portal
Access to Ontario Scholars Portal?
Ontario Scholars Portal is available to faculty and
students at the University of Ottawa.
You can access Ontario Scholars Portal:
• Directly at http://scholarsportal.info
• Through the University of Ottawa web site at
http://www.biblio.uottawa.ca (through the
electronic journals page)
Ontario Scholars Portal
Registration and Login
To take advantage of all the features of Ontario
Scholars Portal, you need to register and obtain a
username and password:
Ontario Scholars Portal
Browsing the Tables of Contents
From the “Browse/Quick Search” menu option
you can access the tables of contents of the
journals:
You can browse by
journal title
or
You can browse by
publisher
Ontario Scholars Portal
Browsing the Tables of Contents
Once you have selected a journal from the list, you
can browse the tables of contents for the available
issues and view the articles that are of interest to you
Ontario Scholars Portal
Browsing by Subject
You can browse
Elsevier journals
by subject area.
This feature is not
yet available for
journals from the
other publishers
Ontario Scholars Portal
Search Functions: Search Modes
There are three search modes in Ontario Scholars
Portal: Simple, Advanced and Expert
The simple search
screen allows you to
enter search terms and
select a field
Ontario Scholars Portal
Search Functions: Search Modes
In the advanced search mode
you can apply various limits to
your search such as journal
name, language or date of
publication.
The advanced search screen
allows you to combine terms
with a logical operator.
Ontario Scholars Portal
Search Functions: Expert Mode
The limit categories of the
advanced screen are also available
in expert mode. The expert search
screen allows the users to
customize their search strategies.
In the expert mode you can
enter complex search
strategies, with multiple terms
and logical operators.
Ontario Scholars Portal
Search Functions: Logical Operators
AND All terms entered must occur in the references retrieved: coral AND
Australia.
OR Retrieves any of the terms in the search statement: coral OR reef OR
barrier.
NOT Excludes the terms following it: coral NOT reef.
ADJ The term that follows it appears immediately after the word preceding it:
coral ADJ reef.
NEAR This proximity operator determines the maximum number of words that
separates the words in the search statement: coral NEAR5 reef. The default
value for the near term proximity search is 10.
Ontario Scholars Portal
Search Functions: Logical Operators
The asterix character (*) at the end of a term becomes a wild
card: micro* will match microscope, microscopic, micron,
microcomputer etc.
The quotation marks (“”) around a term indicate a phrase
search. The software is going to look for an exact match to the
query: “coral reef degradation”
Ontario Scholars Portal
Search Functions: Tips to Remember
• Combining your terms with logical operators is the most
efficient way to build precise search strategies.
• In Ontario Scholars Portals EXPERT search mode logical
operators require capitalization. Capitalization is ignored for
all other search terms.
• You can use operators on any of the search screens.
• In a full-text environment, proximity operators such as ADJ or
NEAR are very useful to retrieve relevant articles.
Ontario Scholars Portal
Specific Features: Current
Awareness
When you save a
search, Ontario
Scholars Portal uses it
to create an alert. Your
successful strategies
can be stored and run
when you need to find
new material on a topic
of interest.
Ontario Scholars Portal
Specific Features: Current
Awareness
You customize the details of your Alerts, from their frequency to the
search strategies.
Ontario Scholars Portal
Specific Features: Saving Articles
You can save search strategies but you can also save and keep
specific articles. You can view your articles by clicking on “My
Articles” from the menu bar. You can remove articles from your
list at any time.
Ontario Scholars Portal
Specific Features: Citation Alerts
You can create a citation
alert for a specific article
and Ontario Scholars Portal
will alert you by email
when this article is cited.
Just click on the
bibliographic view page
and select “Save as Citation
Alert”.
Ontario Scholars Portal
Specific Features: Citation Alerts
Your citation alerts will be
stored with your search
alerts. You can view them
by selecting “Alerts” from
the option menu. You can
delete a citation alert at
any time.
Ontario Scholars Portal
Saving/printing/exporting Options
To print, save or export your article you need to select a view:
bibliographic page or full text PDF
Ontario Scholars Portal
Saving/printing/exporting Options
•From the bibliographic page
you can choose to save the
citation through your browser
“File/Save” option.
•You can view the full text and
print or save to disk.
•you can export the reference
into a citation managing
software such as Reference
Manager.
Ontario Scholars Portal
Your Personal Settings
You can access and edit your preferences by
clicking on “Settings from the menu bar.
Ontario Scholars Portal
Your Personal Settings
•You can edit your
user information
•You can set your
default search screen
•You can set the
parameters of your
Alert searches and
deliveries
Ontario Scholars Portal
Online Help
Detailed help
screens are available
by clicking on
“Help” from the
menu bar
Ontario Scholars Portal
Online Help
You can also print the help files in PDF format
for more convenience.
Ontario Scholars Portal
Questions and Comments about
Ontario Scholars Portal
If you have questions or comments about
Ontario Scholars Portal, please send an
email to:
University of Ottawa|
Library Network at:
Support@lib.uottawa.ca
Ontario Scholars Portal