Library:Summon Guide/Getting Started

Getting Started

What is Summon?

Summon is the Library's most comprehensive search engine. Fast and powerful, it is a good starting point no matter what your topic. Use it to find information in any discipline and pretty much any format: journal articles, print and electronic books, dissertations, maps, CDs and DVDs and much more.

• You can find Summon news, announcements, changes and service issues by checking out the Summon blog

Starting out

To search in Summon, start by choosing the 'general' tab above the large search box on the Library's home page. Think about the keywords that best describe your topic. These can include general concepts as well as the names of people, places or things. Enter them in the search box remembering to use quotation marks when looking for phrases and multi-word terms.

As you will see, one of Summon's strengths is the ability to return large numbers of results quickly. Sometimes it returns too many. The next section shows how easy it is to refine your results set by limiting your search to specific subjects, content types and date ranges.

Related Guides/Tutorials

• Finding Books: web guide

• Finding Articles: web guide
  • Finding Articles from citations: Tutorial