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Using Current Contents

Current Contents is not only an index to journals on almost every subject, but also a browsing tool that lets you view references to articles in a wide variety of scholarly journals of your choice just as if you were looking at tables of contents. This feature of Current Contents works best when you know the names of journals that cover your topic.

1. Choose the amber tab labeled Science and Technology.
2. Select the a to z option.
3. Click on c and then click on Current Contents. The GALILEO version of Current Contents may no longer be receiving updates, so choose the ISI version.
4. When Current Contents presents check off the boxes to limit your search to specific sections of Current Contents and to limit it by time as well, choose the sections and date restrictions that fit your topic.
5. Then click the either the beige Classic Search button or the beige Browse button.

Browsing Journals on Current Contents

1. After you click the beige Browse button, click on the first letter of a journal. Remember if your journal title begins with "The" to use the next word, but journals beginning with "Journal" have J as their first letter.
2. Current Contents gives you a list of journal titles. Use the blue arrows as well as the numbers at the top of the page to move between pages of titles and the scroll bar to move up and down among the titles. When you find the title you want, click on it.
3. You then see a list of issues and/or volumes. Select one by clicking on it, and a table of contents for that issue appears.
4. To learn more about articles click on their blue titles.
5. To print a reference, click on its blue title, click on the white space surrounding it, and then click on the print button or choose print from the file menu. Remember you must tell Netscape that it is OK to print.
6. After opening a reference, you can move back to the list of references/table of contents by clicking on the back arrow or click Browse or Issues near the top of the page.

Searching Current Contents by Subject

Current Contents also offers searching by subject. It does not have subject headings but it does offer keywords. To reach the classic search area, click the CC Classic Seach beige button.

1. Remember that a well focused search usually consists of more than one concept. If you are searching for environmental estrogens, search for environmental AND estrogen. Current Contents does not offer consistent subject headings. Try multiple searches and a lot of educated guessing.
2. Click on the beige search button near the top of the screen.
3. You may type in your search terms as a single statement or let Current Contents search each one separately. If you choose this second option, you will need to do a third search that combines the two terms. A list of your search sets appears below the input box. To combine sets, put the set numbers as an AND statement in the text box and set the menu box to set combination. An example of combined sets might look like 3 AND 5.
4. Click the beige search button to activate each search after you enter it.
5. To see your results click on the blue number of results.
6. You then see a list of references to articles. Click on the blue titles for fuller references. You can move up and down through a single screen of references with the scroll bar. Use blue arrows as well as the numbers near the top of the screen to move between screens.
7. To print a reference, click on its blue title to open it to its full form, click on the white space in the entry, and then click on the print button or choose print from the file menu.
8. You can move back to the list of references/table of contents by clicking on the back arrow or the beige summary button.

EHK -- June 2005