Privateer Pathways : Finding Books and Articles

Database searching is a repetitive learning exercise; the more you practice, the better you get. Many databases function similarly: a basic search engine plus a set of relatively sophisticated limiting functions. 

Search interfaces have common features: the ability to search for topics by a keyword (like using Google), an author, the title of an article, a review, or a specific subject. The search parameters can sometimes be specialized according to subject matter indexed by a particular database.  One of the most important things you can do to learn about a database is to check the section (often in upper right-hand corner) labelled 'Help'. It will often define the terms you see listed in a database, and once you learn them you will find they are common to many databases.

Common limits you will see include ways to restrict your search to a specific time period, i.e. 2002- to the present, to filter out peer-reviewed from popular materials, to a certain journal, to a specific author, or publisher. All of these can be profitably used to narrow your search to retrieve high-quality citations and articles for your research. For help in database searching, please contact me (contact information on the right)   or contact the library's reference service via email or chat. 

Evaluating and re-evaluating search results gives you ideas for refining your search and retrieving more targeted results. Scan the titles of the articles in your search result list. Note any subjects included in the description. For an article that has a promising title, click on it and check the abstract--that will give you a good idea of the scope of the article. Is it entirely appropriate or partially appropriate to your research topic? You can profit from both varieties, but at the beginning of your search process, it is best to focus on articles that you can use in its entirety.

Connecting to full text is your next task. Many databases will offer you a link to the full text, but it isn't always available in every database. There are several options, in that case. The first is to check our catalog and find the journal in print. Using the citation from the database (you can often email yourself the full citation, sometimes in your preferred citation style), you can search the catalog and locate the item in the 2nd floor Periodical stacks. Copiers are located on the 1st and 2nd floors.

If UNO does not own the book or article you need you can use UNO's Interlibrary Loan service. Click on 'First Time Users' to create your personal account. Typical transit times are 7-10 days for printed materials and 1-4 days for online items. 

For help in searching, finding, and using complete citations as well as questions about how to obtain materials, chat with a librarian online or contact me, Hannah White at 504-280-6548 and jwhite15@uno.edu.