Check out this video on searching the library catalog.
Seek First is a good choice to search for journal or magazine articles. It provides bibliographic information about an item and many of these articles come with “full text” access which means you can read the article right now, online. If it doesn’t have online access, you can usually ask the library to make a pdf copy of the article and e-mail it to you.
If you are navigating from the Library home page, you will find the link in the center of the page as the first tab. The dropdown allows you to narrow your search by keyword, title, author, or subject.
We are going to do an Exact Phrase Search by title for Bible in History. To do this, use the dropdown menu to choose "title" and then type your phrase, enclosing it in quotes: "Bible in History"
In the search results page, notice how the search bar now says TI "Bible in History". Putting TI at the beginning of any Seek First search will automatically narrow your search by title, and because the search is enclosed in quotes, the search will match that exact phrase in the title.
By default, a Seek First search returns results from all sources that match your search. The left column has a variety of limiters that you can apply to these search results to narrow them further. In the example below, the search results were limited to Full Text only.
In the results, we have circled two important icons to take note of.
These results show two records for the same book. One provides Online Access to the ebook while the other provides access to the PDF Full Text, and an offline download. Gateway Seminary gets access to eBooks through several different vendors and the access link name can change, but it'll (usually) get you where you want to go.
If you have any problems accessing a link, or a link takes you to the wrong resource, use the "Send Feedback" link at the bottom right hand side of the screen or contact us.
If you are searching for a specific...
Phrase, enclose your search in quotation marks.
"next generation leader" or "dead sea scrolls".
Subject, you can add SU to the beginning of your search.
SU "dead sea scrolls"
Title, you can add TI to the beginning of your search
. TI "Next Generation Leader"
Author, you can add AU to the beginning of your search. Try searching both Last name, First name and First name Last name formats.
AU "Iorg, Jeff"
AU "Jeff Iorg"
By default Seek First adds "AND" between each word of your search and looks for records that contain all of the searched words. Always enter Boolean operators in ALL CAPS.
Boolean Operators and examples:
AND
Example: women AND missions AND 20th century;
finds records that contain all three words.
OR
missions OR missionaries
finds records that include either word, so expands your search results.
NOT
communism NOT Russia
finds records that include the word communism but excludes records that also include the word Russia.
Wildcard searches: Use a question mark (?) to replace unknown characters.
Truncation or Variant Ending searches: Use an asterisk at the end of a word to retrieve variant endings.
Nesting complex searches: You can help nest complex searches using parentheses.
Advanced Search allows you to construct complex searches with ease.
