The MC Library has access to different kinds of search tools:
MC students, faculty, and staff can access all of our search tools and online resources from on- or off-campus.
Research Skills & Tips:
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: What significant historical events influenced Italian-American heritage in the United States?
Keywords: Italian-American, heritage, significant historical event, United States
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:
Click on the research issue you're having below to see tips for addressing it:
I'm Not Finding Enough 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.
Finding Too Many Sources
Type the word AND between the main ideas in your search to get results containing all ideas.
Finding Irrelevant Sources
Type the word NOT before a search term that you do not want your search results to contain.
If the options above did not help you find useful results, you may want to:
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:
MC Library's research guides are built by MC librarians to help students use library resources for a wide variety of academic subjects. The research guides linked below may be helpful to you if you would like to learn more about Italian-American heritage.
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Want to learn more? View our other events and special topics guides: