Scholarly Sources and Library Databases
Scholarly sources will provide the strongest articles to support your academic writing projects. Finding exactly what you need becomes more specialized and difficult when working with scholarly sources, and it requires a new set of searching strategies beyond Google Scholar.Scholarly databases like the ones your library subscribes to work differently than search engines like Google and Yahoo because they offer sophisticated tools and techniques for searching that can improve your results.
Finding Articles in Databases
Your campus library invests a lot of time and care into making sure you have access to the sources you need for your writing projects. Many libraries have online research guides that point you to the best databases for the specific discipline and, perhaps, the specific course. Librarians are eager to help you succeed with your research—it’s their job, and they love it!—so don’t be shy about asking.
Databases may look different, but they can all be used in similar ways. Most databases can be searched using keywords or fields. In a keyword search, you want to search for the main concepts or synonyms of your keywords. A field is a specific part of a record in a database. Common fields that can be searched are author, title, subject, or abstract. For example, if you already know the author of a specific article, entering their “Last Name, First Name” in the author field will pull more relevant records than a keyword search. This will ensure all results are articles written by the author and not articles about that author or with that author’s name.
The video below demonstrates how to perform a title search within the popular EBSCO database, Academic Search Complete.
Credit: “EBSCOhost Academic Search Ultimate Basic Search Tutorial” by Susan Weber CCC Library. License: All Rights Reserved. License Terms: Standard YouTube License.
Activity: Practice Key Word Search
1. Identify the keywords in the following research question: “How does repeated pesticide use in agriculture impact soil and groundwater pollution?”
Answer: Pesticide, agriculture, soil, groundwater, pollution. You want to focus on the main idea and can ignore common words that don’t have any meaning.
2. When you search, it’s helpful to think of synonyms for your keywords to examine various results. What synonyms can you think of for the keywords identified in the question above?
Answer: Pesticide: agrochemicals, pest management, weed management, diazinan, malathion. Agriculture: farming, food crops, specific types of crops. Soil: earth, clay, organic components. Groundwater: watershed, water resources, water table, aquatics, rivers, lakes. Pollution: environmental impact, degradation, exposure, acid rain
Sometimes you already have a citation (maybe you found it on Google Scholar or saw it linked through another source), but want to find the article. Everything you need to locate your article is already found in the citation.
Many databases, including the library catalog, offer tools to help you narrow or expand your search. Take advantage of these. The most common tools are Boolean searching and truncation.
Boolean Searching
Boolean searching allows you to use AND, OR, and NOT to combine your search terms. Here are some examples:
- “Endangered Species” AND “Global Warming” When you combine search terms with AND, you’ll get results in which BOTH terms are present. Using AND limits the number of results because all search terms must appear in your results.
- “Arizona Prisons” OR “Rhode Island Prisons” When you use OR, you’ll get results with EITHER search term. Using OR increases the number of results because either search term can appear in your results.
- “Miami Dolphins” NOT “Football” When you use NOT, you’ll get results that exclude a search term. Using NOT limits the number of results.
Truncation
Truncation allows you to search different forms of the same word simultaneously. Use the root of a word and add an asterisk (*) as a substitute for the word’s ending. This can save time and increase your search to include related words. For example, a search for “Psycho*” would pull results on psychology, psychological, psychologist, psychosis, and psychoanalyst.
LICENSE AND ATTRIBUTION
Adapted from:
- “Advanced Source Strategies” from English Composition II used according to CC BY 4.0.
- “How to Search in a Library Database” from English Composition II, used according to CC BY 4.0.