PerAbs*

PerAbs includes over 800,000 abstracts describing articles from more than 1,500 scholarly and general-interest publications. It also offers full-text availability for some of the articles and includes library holdings of all records. Subject areas include: business, culture, economics, history, literature, psychology, religion, sociology, and women's studies.

Connecting to PerAbs via FirstSearch

From school:
Connect to http://www.usd320.k12.ks.us/whs/lmc/odatabases.html
then select Full Text Databases - General category.

From home or elsewhere:
Access the Kansas Library Card (KSLC), log in with your PIN number and date of birth, and select the database you wish to search.  (If you don't have a KSLC, contact any Kansas library to obtain one - they're free!)

For a guided tour of the new version of FirstSearch, click here.

*This database is brought to you by the Kansas State Library and the Kansas Library Network Board  (9/1/00).
 

Simple Subject Searching

At the FirstSearch Home screen, go to the Select a Database box and, from the pull-down menu, select PerAbs.

Type your keyword or topic in the search box,

OR

Type your topic in as a Subject.   In the search box, for example, type su: marijuana.

The gray box on the top of the Search Results page will display the total number of articles that contain your keyword or subject (Records found: 194).  These may be full-text articles or may only be citations with abstracts (brief summaries).  These articles will contain your term somewhere in the article (title, notes, abstract, subject heading).

To obtain full-text articles only, click on “Searching” in the left–hand menu column.  A search box will display containing “Limit to Full-Text Only.”  Check this box and click <Search> again.
 

The Search Results/List of Records

The List of Records displays articles that match your search request.  Records are listed as citations, with two links:   Click on a title to see the detailed record; click on a checkbox to mark a record to be e-mailed or printed in Marked Records.

If you choose to mark records you are particularly interested in, use the checkboxes, then select Marked Records from the menu along the left-hand side of the screen.  You may have to return to the top of the screen to select this item.

Once you have the Marked Records list displayed, select the first article to be viewed/read by clicking on the “View HTML Full Text” link.  To see other marked records, return to the Record List by selecting “Results” in the left-hand menu.
 

To Print an Article

While in the Full Text article screen, select the “Print” button at the top of the FirstSearch screen.  This reformats the article for printing.  Use your browser’s print function to print the article.
 

Other Access Options

You may download articles to your network file for later use.  To do this:

1. Go to “File” on the Browser menu bar,
2. Select “Save as…,”
3. Name your file and make sure you are placing it in your personal network folder.

You may also email articles to your personal mailbox to read, download or print at home.  Choose the Email button at the top of the FirstSearch screen, type in your email address, and Send.
 

Please Note:  When you are finished using the database, choose EXIT from the left-hand menu to properly leave the database.

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