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The best way to learn about library research is to try searching. Try a basic keyword search in WorldCat Discovery to start, then slowly try the other search methods as you get more comfortable.

Places to Search

• WorldCat Discovery Search: This is the search box on the library homepage. It’s an excellent place to start. We’ll cover the basic features on this page.
• Journal Search: You can find specific journal titles in the library collection with this search. [More information]
• Library Databases: Our digital collections are available through services called databases. You can search each collection individually. [More information]

Background Information

It’s often useful to get a good grasp on your topic before delving into your research. You can do this in a number of different ways, but the best is to find a good reference article, from an encyclopedia or dictionary, to give you the basic history, scope, and terminology, of your topic. Try searching for encyclopedia [subject area] to find out what reference works the library has. Then, look within that work to find an article relevant to your topic.

Topic Keyword Searching

Most of us are used to keyword searching from using tools like Google. It’s easy: enter the words you’d like to find, and Google does the rest. What many people don’t realize is that there are a few simple techniques to improve the results you get searching Google, or any other computer search system, including the library databases.

Tricks for Better Keyword Searching

Phrase Searching: placing quotation marks around phrases will search the exact phrase as opposed to each individual word. e.g. “pigeon behaviour”

Truncation: Use an asterisk to search for multiple endings of a term. e.g. psycholog*

AND: Narrow your search to include items that contain both/all terms. e.g. pigeons AND psycholog*

OR: Broaden your search to include synonyms or related concepts. e.g. pigeons OR doves

NOT: Narrow your search by eliminating items that contain certain unrelated terms. e.g pigeons NOT technology

Nesting: Join multiple searches together by nesting each within parentheses. e.g. (pigeons OR doves) AND (psycholog* OR behav*)

There will be times when someone, whether a professor, another student, the media, or a related academic source, will recommend a certain book or article that’s useful to your research. Sometimes the recommendation will come as a full citation, with all the necessary publication information to help you find it. Other times, most often unfortunately, you will only have a bit of information to work with.

With a Citation/Reference

There are a few major citation styles (MLA, APA, Chicago, etc.) and they all will generally include the same information about the source. Here’s are two examples of APA citations, one book and one journal article:

Ellis, D. B. (2006). Becoming a master student. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin.

Soria, K. M., Fransen, J., & Nackerud, S. (2013). Library use and undergraduate student outcomes: New evidence for students' retention and academic success. Portal : Libraries and the Academy, 13(2), 147-164.

Having the full citation makes the task of tracking down the source easier. For a book, the simplest method is to do a title search for the item (eg. ti:…). If the book as a very common title, you can include the author search as well. For example, (ti:…) AND (au:…).

For a journal article, the surest way to find it is to use the library’s journal search. Type in the exact title of the journal and you’ll see a list of database collections that have it and which years are covered by full-text. Choose a suitable database and use the navigation to open the proper volume and issue. You can also often search within the journal for the title or other keywords.

Without a Complete Citation/Reference

If you don’t have the exact citation information, you’ll need to do a little investigative work. Popular magazines and websites will frequently mention only the researcher’s names, their affiliation with a college or university, or if you’re lucky, the title of the article or journal. You can use whatever information you have to search online for the complete citation information.

If you’re ever unable to find a specific source, feel free to contact the library for help.