Humanities International Complete

JSTOR

Literature Criticism Online (Contemporary Literary Criticism)

Literature Resource Center

Project Muse

Tips to Keep in mind while Searching

Databases

§  Use the Advanced Search options as ways to narrow or limit your search results

§  Explore the subject terms or thesaurus terms you can use instead of a normal keyword search. (They are standardized so you don’t have to worry about synonyms or homographs)

§  After finding a useful article check the subjects or keywords attached to it. This can lead you to more efficient search terms.

§  Remember that Periodical Locator can find the full text of articles in varying databases.

§  When you come across materials you need but we don’t have full text access, fill out an Interlibrary Loan request 

Search Tips that Span the Information Universe

§  Remember to use Boolean Operators

o    AND will produce results containing BOTH terms (e.g. birds AND bees)

o    OR generates results that  contain EITHER term (e.g. dogs OR canines)

o    NOT results will include the first term, but not the second (cats NOT musical)

§  Quotation marks will isolate that phrase: “natural selection” lists results containing only that specific phrase, but results for natural selection would contain natural AND selection somewhere, not necessarily side by side.

Additional Information

Library’s website- http://www.bridgewater.edu/library

Library’s blog- http://www.theunclassifiedlibrary.blogspot.com

Library’s wiki- http://www.alexmacklibrary.pbwiki.com

*check out the library’s wiki for “how tos” outlining the use of a number of our library resources, and subject guides for the major disciplines.

Contacting a Librarian

Reference Desk: 828-5642 or reference@bridgewater.edu

My contact information: 828-5415 or cbiddle@bridgewater.edu