Ohrstrom FAQ: Accessing Databases

Be aware, while Springer is a very helpful resource, searching on this database can be a bit clunky. 

When you click the link for the Springer Database, it will take you to the search bar on the home page (pictured below). Enter one of the main, or most important, keywords for your search in the search bar and then click on the magnifying glass. You will be able to narrow your search on subsequent screens.

Searching from the home page will take you to one of two "Search Result" screens: 1) The New Experience or 2) The Old Experience. 

The New Experience

If your search result page looks like the one above, be sure to click on the link that reads "go back to the old experience" (circled in green in the picture).

The Old Experience

The Old Experience is more user friendly and allows for a greater number of search options, but, if you started on the New Experience screen, you will have to re-enter your keyword and start a new search when you get to the Old Experience search results page (see image below). 

From the Old Experience search page, you can do one of two things: 1) Perform a broad search using the search bar OR 2) Perform a narrow search using "Advanced Search." 

1) Broad Search

• Enter your main keyword in the search bar at the top of the screen.
• Click on the blue button with the magnifying glass.
• When you get to the results page, you can narrow your findings. 
  • Make sure to deselect "Include Preview-Only content" (see the light red box in the picture above) so that you will only see results that can be accessed in full. 
  • In the "Refine Your Search" section (boxed in light orange above), you can limit your search by "Content Type," "Discipline" (e.g., Engineering, Environment, Computer Science), Subdiscipline (e.g., Sustainable Development, Energy Systems, etc.), and "Language."

2) Narrow Search (see gear wheel button in the green circle, above picture)

• Click on the picture of the gear wheel.
• Select "Advanced Search" from the drop down menu that appears. 

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• This will take you to a new screen (see picture above) and you can narrow your search in several ways from the "Advanced Search Screen".
  • By keyword entry (see light red box above) into specific fields (e.g. "Find Resources where the title contains [keyword]", "Find resources with all of the words [list of keywords]," etc.)
  • By publication date (see orange box above)
• Make sure to deselect "Include Preview-Only content" (see the green circle in the picture above) so that you only see results that can be accessed in full. 

After you have completed your entry, click on the blue "Search" button. This will take you to the search results screen (pictured below).

Search Result Page

On the search results page . . . 

• make sure "Include Preview-Only content" is deselected (see the purple circle in the picture above) so that you only see articles that can be accessed in full. 
• You can sort your search results by "Relevance" and publication date (see light blue circle above). 
• You can access the articles by clicking on their titles which are written in blue font (see the light red box above). 
• If your search came back with hundreds of results, you can also filter your results on this page.
  • At the top of the page (see the light orange box above), you can refine the results by publication date. In the example, when the submit button is clicked, the results will be limited to those articles which were released in the past year. 
  • In the "Refine Your Search" section (boxed in light green above), you can limit your search by "Content Type," "Discipline" (e.g., Engineering, Environment, Computer Science), Subdiscipline (e.g., Sustainable Development, Energy Systems, etc.), and "Language."