After you have a research topic and a research question, it is time to learn more about your topic by searching for information. Using library resources may be a bit different than using Google or other search engines.
Many of the tips we will cover can be used just about anywhere you do research!!
A research database is a collection of resources. Libraries pay subscription fees to have access to these resource. These resources can include full-text documents, abstracts (summary of articles), book chapters, and more. Research databases can help:
A Research Database is a great place for focused research.
Each database has a brief description of the type of information it contains directly below the name of the database.
If you are just getting started with your research, you may want to focus on databases that contain newspaper articles or contain reference materials. Newspaper articles contain information on what the general public may currently talked about. Reference databases can give you background information and help lead you to more accurate resources.
When you are doing getting general information on your topic, you can move on to the next part of your research.
You can always Ask a Librarian if you are unsure about which database to use. You can also use the Subject or Type drop-down menus to help you select the database you would like.
Break down your topic or ideas into words or short phrases or concepts. Databases work best when using short terms. For instance, you are just getting started on your topic and you want to know what is climate change? It is best to just enter "climate change" into the databases search box then click on search (see the two image examples below).
Sometimes, your research topic will require you to search more than one concept at a time. For example, how will climate change affect the US consumer price index is a topic that has a few concepts. If we just look for climate change, our results will have a mix of subtopics of climate change. Also, if we search just consumer price index, our results will be mostly business data related. In order to find the most relevant information for our topic, we will have to combine terms using Boolean Operators.
Boolean Operators are simple ways for you to expand or restrict your search. There are only three to remember: AND, OR, NOT
When you connect to concepts with AND, your result set will be narrower because you are telling the database you want information that contains both concepts.
Your search would look like: climate change AND consumer price index
OR will expand your search because you will now be looking for information that contains one word, the other word, or both.
Your search would look like: climate change OR global warming
