GPC Clarkston Campus Library -- Step by Step with WilsonWeb
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Step by Step with WilsonWeb

WilsonWeb is a mostly full text index which covers: science, medicine, mental health, the environment, technology, and fine arts. It is a valuable supplement and sometimes a good first choice due to its variety of well respected journals. Note: WilsonWeb features a multibox (Advanced Search) as its default. For most students, this simply means more flexibility and room.

  1. Before you begin, think carefully about your topic. Most topics for college level papers have two main ideas in them. If your topic does not have two ideas, then you may want to narrow it. A good example of a paper topic is: the health effects of cell phones.

  2. The main ideas in this topic are cell phones which you can bind together with "quotes" and health.

  3. When you put these ideas together in a way that WilsonWeb (and many other databases) understands them, your search statement becomes: "cell phones" AND health. The AND is not a word, but a logical operator that tells the computer to look for all articles that deal with both health and cell phones. This is how WilsonWeb sees your search. The overlap is the results you receive.

    Boolean search diagram for cell phones and health


  4. To reach Wilson Web via GALILEO http://www.galileo.usg.edu, click on Databases A-Z, a gold tab in the bar near the top of GALILEO's screen. Click on W and then choose WilsonWeb.

    golden A-Z tab and databases too

  5. Select the databases you would like to use. For science, mental health, medical, and technology topics, select General Science Full Text and Science Full Text Select. For fine arts topics, choose Art Full Text.

  6. Put one idea from your search statement on each of the lines of WilsonWeb's multibox search form. Turn the page over to see the illustration.

    The Wilson Search Screen


  7. Also check off the box next to either Full Text or Page Image (PDF) to make sure that you receive only full text articles. Page Image yields PDF files that require Adobe Acrobat, while full text files are just the text without the orginal images or formatting.

  8. Click Start to launch your search.

  9. WilsonWeb presents articles in groups of twenty (20). To move amomg the articles on each page scroll up and down. To move between pages of articles, click the numbers in the Browse Pages strip on the bottoms of the pages.

    page number changer


  10. To view a full text article, click its full text icon blue and black striped Full Text icon. To view an entire Page Image (PDF) article, click its Adobe page image icon icon with the red Adobe logo on it. Both types of articles pop up in separate pages.

  11. To print a full text article, click the light blue Print button at the top of the article window. To email that article, click the light blue Email button at the top of the article window.

  12. To print a Page Image (PDF) article, click on Adobe Acrobat's own printer, a small printer icon in Adobe Acrobat's own tool bar.

    Adobe printer icon


    To email a PDF document, click the Print Email Save portion of the bar at the top of the screen, and then fill out the form.

    print email save


  13. To edit your search or try a new one, click the Revise Search Icon in the top left corner the screen.

    Revise Search icon


  14. To leave Wilson Web, close your browser or click the browser's Home icon.