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Lang Library Orientation Student Guide

Search Techniques

A few tools that can be used in most databases...

Truncation - Enter the word root followed by an asterisk *

femini* for feminine, femininity, feminism

Phrase searching - Enter search terms in quotation marks " "

"Malcolm X"  

Boolean searching - Combine search terms with logical operators AND, OR, NOT - use with broader / narrower / related keyword searching

(memory OR remembering) AND art NOT war

Advanced searching - Search in specific fields (such as author), within a specific date range, more...

 

Select a Subject or Format

You will usually search library databases to find periodical articles - magazine, newspaper and journal articles.  But there are many different types of databases. 

Click on the red Browse Databases button on our website.  You can then access our databases alphabetically or by Subject or Database Type. 

In selecting a subject or format page, ask yourself:

  • Who cares about my topic? 
  • What perspective am I interested in pursuing?
  • What types of materials do I need (biographies, videos)?

If your research topic does not fit a specific discipline, start with our General databases.  Recommended databases are listed below.

Which database?

Although you can search multiple databases at the same time using BobCat, searching an individual database gives you advantages such as refining to peer-reviewed articles only, sorting by date, and downloading and emailing articles.

To identify the best databases for your research:

Click on the "more information" icons to learn more about the databases.  Then click on any database name to search it individually.

Use the Search for Databases box on the A-Z Databases page for keywords that would appear in a database description. 

Ask Us!