In-Class Activity Sources
- Discover This link opens in a new window
Blume Library's primary search tool. This robust feature helps scholars find scholarly journals and articles, books, eBooks, music, videos, government information, and more. Input the keywords of your research to generate a results list full of articles and items covering the topic. Use boolean phrases (AND, OR, NOT) and other limiters to focus a search or modify a results list. This tool searches most of the Blume Library holdings including the Library Catalog of physical items and eResources.
Learn more about this powerful resource: DISCOVER
Reach out to a Blume Librarian for research assistance: RESEARCH ASSISTANCE - JSTOR This link opens in a new windowJSTOR journals, books, images, and primary sources are integrated into a single, robust platform that uses the latest digital technologies and best practices. JSTOR provides access to over 12 million journal articles, books, images, and primary sources in 75 disciplines.
Full runs of journals from more than 2,800 top scholarly journals in the humanities, social sciences, and sciences. More than 100,000 ebooks from 250+ renowned scholarly publishers, integrated with journals and primary sources on JSTOR. This source also includes open-access articles!
Evaluate Article Relevance & Quality
- Look at subject terms applied to relevant articles. Did you find additional articles by searching these subject headings?
- Which terms or search strategies yielded the best results?
- Look at the abstract. Are there additional keyword terms you might search?
- How long is the article?
- In which journal or periodical was this article published? What is the journal's or magazine's reputation? How do you know?
- When was the article published? What time period does the research or article cover?
- Who is the author of the article? What are the author's credentials? What qualifies the author as an expert?
- What sources are cited in this article?
- How will this source advance the research project?
- See Evaluate Information for more criteria.
Journals List
Looking for a specific journal, magazine, or newspaper?
Use Journals List to search for the title of a journal, magazines, or newspaper and determine if the library offers online access or print access to that publication.
- Journals List VideoWatch this short video if you want to see an example search with remote access.
Database Search Tips
- Consider what type of information you need and where you might find it.
- Break your topic into key concepts and identify terms for each concept. Start with fewer words. Less yields more.
- Don't be too narrow in your search, especially initially.
- While it is possible to find sources on international or local topics, the strength of many of our academic databases is coverage of US national topics.
- Use Boolean connectors like AND, OR, and NOT to connect keywords. Many databases search the words as a phrase otherwise.
- In general, avoid using prepositions like "in," "of," and "on."
- Truncation characters such as an * (asterisk) can expand your search by retrieving various forms of a word, e.g., comput* retrieves computer, computers, computing, computation, etc.
- Look at the subject terms or descriptors that are used for articles that appear relevant. Try other searches using those terms.
- In the sciences and social sciences, when starting a journal article search on a topic, consider adding systematic review or meta-analysis, or literature review in your search.
- Consult a librarian or your faculty member for additional related terms.
- Think about which individuals or groups of people or organizations are associated with your topic. These might be additional terms to search.