Search Literature Effectively for Business Research : PowerSearch

Use PowerSearch to search and find what the Library has and where things are.

Basic Searching

Word/Phrase:  The default search. Type your search words in any order

Title: All Library materials (books, journals, sound/video recordings, etc.) can be searched by their titles.

• Articles at the beginning of the title such as "a", "an" and "the" can be omitted.
• You can enter just the first few words of the title, such as "lion the witch" instead of the full title, "The lion, the witch and the wardrobe".

Call Number

• Every library item has a call number, except newspapers.
• Call number represents an item's subject, and is also the shelving number in most cases.
• Use the EXACT call number (e.g., HD9696.A3 J3245 2008) to find an item. 
• Use a partial call number (e.g., HD9696) to find materials on similar topics.

Subject

• Subjects are standardized terms assigned to describe the content of library items.
• Try Word/Phrase search if you do not know the proper subject terms, then identify appropriate subject terms from the retrieved records.

The Library has lots of e-books. Use PowerSearch to find and access them from anywhere.  Here are the steps to get an e-book.

Example: Get an e-book about "project management" by someone named Samuel Mantel

1. Go to Library's homepage, choose the "PowerSearch" tab. Untick "Articles+", type in keywords, and click search button.

2. In the Results list, choose "Online Resources" to limit to e-books.

3. From the results list, Choose "Online Access".

4. A new tab will open. Click on the link under "View it".

Off campus?  You will be brought to the EZ Proxy login. Use your usual HKUST login and password. Details about EZ Proxy.

On campus, or after logging in via EZ Proxy: you will be brought straight to the vendor or publisher's site to read the book.

Use PowerSearch to search and find what the Library has and where things are.

Advanced searching in PowerSearch

Advanced Searching

Set Scope:  Select search from Library Catalog, Articles+, or both

Field Search: Search the material using Author, title, date, etc.

Use PowerSearch to find a printed book in the library.

Example: Get a printed book about "project management" by someone named Samuel Mantel, published in 2011.

1. Go to Library's homepage, choose the "PowerSearch" tab. Untick "Articles+", type in keywords, and click search button.

2. In the Results list, choose "Available in the Library" to limit to printed books.

3. From the results list, you will see the Call Number of the book. This indicates the location of the book in the library. Click on it.

4. A new tab will open. Under "Get it", click "Locate". A floor map will pop up to show you where the book is located.

5. To get the book, you can

• get it from the bookshelf yourself, or
• sign-in PowerSearch and use Library Material Retrieval Service to request the book.

The book can be then checked out at G/F Circulation Counter.