Library Resources for General Research: Find Sources

Unlike Google, library databases can't understand an entire sentence. You'll need to break your topic down into the most important ideas: the keywords. Keywords are individual words or short phrases that represent the main ideas in your topic, thesis, or research question. 

Example Question: Should the federal government be able to regulate content on the internet? 

Keywords: federal government, regulate, content, internet 

After you've identified your main ideas and some keywords to start with, think of additional search terms for each concept. These can be synonyms, related ideas, broader terms, or narrower terms. Since a database will match only what you type, using different terms for similar ideas can help you find more articles. 

Example Search Terms: 

• federal government: Congress, legislative branch, laws
• regulate: oversee, allow, freedom of speech, censorship
• content: information, misinformation, language
• internet: websites, social media, memes, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok

Click on the research issue you're having below to see tips for addressing it:

I'm Not Finding Enough Sources

I'm Finding Too Many Sources

I'm Finding Irrelevant Sources

None of These Tips Solved My Research Issue

Not Finding Enough Sources

• Type the word OR between related search terms to get results containing either term. Put the related search terms in parentheses.
  • Example: government and regulate and (internet or "social media")
  
• Use a truncation character (often the asterisk, *, but it can vary by search tool), which is a symbol added to the root of a word to tell the search tool that you want all forms of that word. 
  • Example: elect* will search for elect, election, elector, electoral, electorate, electing, etc.
• Use a wildcard character (often the hash sign, #, but it can vary by search tool), which is a symbol that replaces any character in a word.
  • Example: wom#n will search for woman or women.

Finding Too Many Sources

• Type the word AND between the main ideas in your search to get results containing all ideas.
  • Example: government and regulate and internet and "free speech"
  

Finding Irrelevant Sources

• Type the word NOT before a search term that you do not want your search results to contain.
  • Example: election not "united states"
  
• Type quotation marks around a specific phrase to get search results that contain only that exact phrase.
  • Example: "social media"
• Use the search tool's filters to target search results that will meet your needs. You'll find filters on the search results screen. The exact location and filtering options varies by search tool.
  • Example: use a publication date filter to find sources published in the last five years.
  • Example: use a source type filter to find only articles or only videos.

If the options above did not help you find useful results, you may want to:

• change your search terms,
• select a different search tool,
• make your topic broader or narrower, or
• get research help from a librarian.

Research Skills & Tips:

After you've selected your search tool, identified keywords, and fixed research issues, it's time to choose your sources. It is common to get more search results than you will use, so you must evaluate the sources you find to choose the best ones for your research.

Start by scanning the search results to locate sources that fit your research question or need. The search results page will include information about each source, such as the title, year, and abstract, to help you determine its relevance.

Once you've found a source you'd like to use, evaluate its credibility by considering the evidence, source, context, audience, purpose, and execution of the source. Learn more on the Evaluate Information and Fake News guide linked below.

Research Skills & Tips:

Scholarly books are nonfiction books usually based on academic research done by the author or authors. They can contain multiple chapters on different aspects of a particular topic, or they can focus entirely on one concept or idea.

When & Why to Use Scholarly Books:

• You need to understand a complex topic. Books are generally easier to read than journal articles.
• You need very in-depth analysis of a topic.
• You need a broad understanding of one or more topics.
• You need a summary of existing research on a topic.

Search for Books and E-Books:

Research Skills & Tips:

MC Library has access to streaming videos and audio, as well as DVDs and CDs. Different types of video and audio include documentaries, educational videos, mainstream movies, radio interviews, and podcasts. Additionally, users have access to a variety of images that can be used in their research.

When & Why to Use Videos or Media:

• You need to include an expert's point of view, and a documentary or podcast on your topic includes an interview.
• You're doing a presentation and need to include a visual or audio element.
• You need to learn a concept that is best understood visually.

Search for Videos and Media:

A database is essentially a compilation of resources on a particular topic or field of study. Some databases cover multiple topics, and these are called multidisciplinary databases.

When & Why to Use Multidisciplinary Databases:

• You're unsure of which database to choose for your research.
• Your research encompasses several different topics.
• You're just getting started with learning how to use databases for research -- multidisciplinary databases are often easier for beginners to navigate.

Search Multidisciplinary Databases: