button. When you click the SFX button, you will find out if the article Where is the information?
You are almost ready to start searching, but first think about your research question. What types of information do you need?
Who Cares?
One way to narrow down your list of relevant resources is to ask yourself who cares about your topic. Remember the student who wanted to research the legality of downloading music from the internet? Her next step would be to create a list of industries or groups of people who may have an interest in the subject:
Who Cares
|
Who Doesn't Care
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Based upon this list, she can look for information published by or for the groups listed on the "who cares" side, such as government documents, legal documents, music industry web sites and college newspapers.
Where Do I start?
Now that you have a good idea of what sources you are looking for—you’ve got to find 'em.
You can connect to ALL of our electronic resources (i.e. databases, journals, etc.) from any computer on campus, off campus or from home using your Campus ID number and your Library Password. If you do not have a Library Password, create one now. Next, let's learn more about library databases.
Databases are similar to search engines, but instead of giving you web sites, databases give you citations (references) to journal, magazine and newspaper articles. Unlike search engines, articles in databases are selected and interpreted by people.
Five Database Fundamentals
The library's research databases are sort of like those premium TV channels because the library pays money ($1,000,000+ per year!) to get the "premium" scholarly information versus the free information you can get on the Internet.
Providing libraries with these databases is a billion-dollar-a-year business. Database companies want to continue receiving this revenue--that is one reason why scholarly articles are not "free" on the Internet.
Dissecting a Database
Databases can look different from one another because the library buys access to them from different companies. That's why it helps to spend a moment to dissect a database.
Before you enter the database, click on the "about" link next to the database name to learn what subject is covered and the types of materials it contains (i.e. journals, newspapers). Next, go into the database and figure out where to put your search statement, where the help is, and how you print or email results. This is guaranteed to save you time and frustration!
Each database covers different sources so always look at two databases or more. Keep in mind that functionally databases are very similar, so learning to use one database will teach you skills to use all databases--sort of like riding a bike!
Troubleshooting
In many databases, the results are listed by date (most current articles first) unlike search engines such as Google that list results by relevance . So the best citation may not be listed first!
Use these steps to search for articles:
1. Enter your search statement using “AND” and “OR.”
2. Click the Search button.
3. Look at your results. Look at the article titles and read the abstracts. ALWAYS look at more than the first page of results.
What if I got 0 results?
Did you type in common words (such as if, the, a, of, in, is, it)?
Did you spell all the words correctly? Check Dictionary.com
Did you use “AND” and “OR” to connect your keywords?
What if I got 5000+ results?
Did you use enough keywords?
Did you use limits (i.e. year) to narrow your search?
Find the Full Text with SFX
The next step is to find the complete article or full text. If there is a link to PDF Full Text, HTML Full Text or Linked Full Text, just click the link to get the complete article.
If there is not a full text link, click the button. When you click the SFX button, you will find out if the article
It is very convenient when journal articles are available in full text--but BEWARE they are not necessarily the "best" articles for your research.
Beyond the Database (other sources for finding articles)
Bibliographies/references: Why do research twice? If you find a great article on your topic, use the references and citations in that article! Look for citations in other articles, books, encyclopedia entries, or on the Internet. Then use the citations to find the full text at the library.
Print Indexes: Databases are simply computerized versions of print indexes. Print indexes are still useful for disciplines that do not have an electronic database or for doing historical research (most databases only have citations back to the mid-1980’s). Print indexes are listed on the “Database by Topics” pages.
Librarians: Librarians have an arsenal of resources to help you with your research. Librarians help thousands of students and faculty each year and they can help you, too. They can answer any question you have about developing keywords, finding more sources, finding the full text and more. Librarians are available in person at the Reference desk, by Research Appointment, by e-mail, by phone and by chat 24/7.
Finding Books
To find books use COAST, the library catalog. Start with a Keyword search.
Use COAST to find government documents, DVDs, CDs, maps, e-books, and other materials owned, subscribed to or made available by the CSULB Library. Also use COAST to search the library's Special Collections.
What if We Don’t Have it?
Our library may not have every single book or article you need. But you do have other options for finding additional resource materials. These services are all efficient and easy to use:
When do you need it? |
Formats |
Option |
Today |
Books & Journal Articles |
Other Local Libraries |
2-5 days |
Books |
LINK+ |
5-10 days |
Journal Articles, Books, Book Chapters, Conference Proceedings, Dissertations, etc. |
Interlibrary Loan (ILLiad) |
Finding Web Sites
Use Specialized web resources
Use Search Engines