Course Readings
Assignment Resources
APA Citation
Academic Software
Need Help?
Tips for Success
Here you'll find information about searching for information by topic. Use this information when you don't know a specific article or book, but instead want information to answer a research question (so that you can write your DQ or assignment).
Examples:
Of course, you'll have your own topic! Scroll down for tips on what to do with
Did you guess that's what we meant by "Assignment Resources"? If you can think of a better short phrase which would evoke the idea of "searching for articles by topic", let us know by email!
The Search Library search bar on the library homepage is called Discovery (or sometimes EBSCO Discovery). It searches all of the library's resources at once.
Here is what Discovery looks like:
Use Discovery when:
An alternative to searching Discovery is searching in individual databases.
Searching individual databases can be particularly useful if:
A list of databases recommended for each program may be found in the Quick Study Guides under Which databases support my program of study?
If you want to search for specific types of documents, such as eBooks, images, videos, go to the Databases A-Z list.
If you have been searching in another source, such as a free online database, or if you've found a list of articles, and want to see if they are available through the library, you can search by author and title using the instructions for finding course readings. The instructions work the same way regardless of where you found the information about the article(s). Once you've found the article(s), look above the title to see if it has been flagged as "peer reviewed".
| Google Scholar | Discovery/Databases |
|---|---|
|
|
If you have found a really interesting article, but it's not available in Google Scholar nor Discovery, don't forget to try the Document Delivery Request Form.
Note: If you ask a generative AI to find articles for you, sometimes it will create citations which look like real articles, but don't exist. These are called "hallucinations". If you use a generative AI to find articles, be sure to verify any citation information in another source before citing it in an assignment. (For instance, if you copy-and-paste the article title into Discovery and/or Google Scholar, can you find it? Are you able to find the article by searching with the journal title, volume, issue, and pages?)
If at all possible, you always want to read the full text of an article before citing it. In some cases, the title, abstract/summary, or extract may give a false impression of the article contents. It is always recommended to read the full text to ensure that you've understood the material correctly and can paraphrase accurately.
Which of the above has worked for you? Can you imagine a situation where each of the above options would be the best choice?
Why would you use the library to search for sources to cite?
Easily limit to peer reviewed resources by clicking on the Scholarly (Peer Reviewed) Journals button in EBSCO, or the Peer Reviewed checkbox in ProQuest.
The library subscribes to many eJournals, eBooks, and even streaming video sources. Links within the library's databases and other resources can connect you to subscribed journal articles and other sources, many of which are not available for free online. On the right is a picture of one of the full text access buttons.
Use database features which help with refining your search strategy, saving your searches, organizing and citing your sources. To the right is a picture of an option allowing you to save your search results to bibliographic software, apps which help organize and cite articles (and other documents).
Library databases do not create hallucinations (the way that generative AIs often do). Save time by only looking at articles that really exist.
If it seems a bit daunting, don't forget that you can ask the library staff for help! We can answer questions through AskYU, by email, or do a search together in an online meeting. There are also guides and videos to help (see below).
Here are a few definitions.
A collection is a group of publications, where all of the publications are available to read. Many collections contain publications all from the same publisher; some contain publications all on a particular topic. Some collections have only one type of publication (e.g. only eJournals, or only eBooks), and some have a mixture of publication types. The searching options for a Collection may be more limited than a database, though not always. The defining feature of a collection is that everything inside may be read in its entirety. Sage is an example of an eJournal collection available through YU library.
The concept is very similar to streaming services, where you can subscribe to one service, and get access to certain TV shows and movies, often grouped by studio, which is the equivalent of a publisher. Some streaming services provide content by more than one studio, so there may be some overlap, just as with collections.
A database contains searchable information about a group of publications, usually on similar topics. Databases often follow a particular set of journals over time, adding new articles every time the journal publishes a new issue. The searchable information would include the title, author(s), year of publication, and source (for a journal article, this would be the journal in which it was published, the volume, issue, and page numbers). Usually the abstract (summary) is included as well. Often, tags are added to each item in the index to show what the item is about. These tags are known as subject headings or descriptors. A database may contain some full text articles and/or links out to eJournal collections. Databases often have advanced searching features to help with the searching process.
A non-academic database which you may know is the Internet Movie Database (IMDB). IMDB includes searchable information about movies and TV shows such as the title, director, actors, and year it was released. It also sometimes has trailers (similar to article abstracts), which give you an idea of what the movie is about, but don't show you the whole thing. IMDB often provides links to websites where you can watch a full movie or TV show, but it doesn't include any full-length movies or TV shows on the site itself - technically, this makes it an index rather than a database, but these days the two terms are mostly used interchangeably.
A journal is a publication which is published on a regular basis, and intended to be read by scholars. For example, journal issues may be published quarterly/seasonally, monthly (see screenshot to the right), every two weeks, weekly, etc... There are some exceptions, for instance, some journals are published monthly except August and December. Some journals have a volume and issue number, in which case the volume number usually indicates how many years the journal has been published, and the issue number indicates how many times this year the journal has been published. However, some journals are now creating a new volume number every time the journal is published, and don't have issue numbers at all.
No matter how numbering is done, each issue of a journal includes various articles, written by researchers and scholars. Most journals have a topic focus of some kind. Some journals publish only primary research articles (articles where the people who did the study wrote the article), or only secondary research articles (articles where someone has read some other articles and made a summary), but most journals publish some of each. Journal articles are usually considered to be good sources because they are the first place where new research is published, and articles often go through rigorous editing and peer-review processes before publication.
The difference between a journal and a textbook is similar to the difference between a magazine and a novel or popular book. Magazines and journals are published on a regular schedule, and mostly contain new articles not published anywhere else. Novels/popular books and textbooks, however, are usually published once, and usually provide information which is well-established.
Also, note that some open-access (free) journals claim to be peer reviewed but aren't - they just pretend to be so that they can scam money from researchers who pay to have their articles published in an open-access journal. Such journals are known as predatory journals. Some researchers accidentally publish good research in predatory journals, not realizing that they are predatory - such articles could be considered scholarly but not peer reviewed.
A search engine is software which searches in many places at the same time. Academic search engines such as EBSCO Discovery or ProQuest Central search many academic databases at the same time. This can be efficient, because you only have to do one search and receive results from many databases. However, an academic search engine usually only allows searching by information which is common to all of the databases, such as title, author, abstract, year, but not any unique features of particular databases, for instance, some business databases allow a search by Company Entity, but Discovery does not have this option because it is not available in the other databases.
Standard web search engines search websites rather than databases.
The Search Library search bar on the library's homepage is a Basic Search - you can use it the same way as Google.
Using Advanced Search Options can help if the Basic Search results aren't quite what you were hoping for.
You can find even more information about AND and OR in the "Where to add Keywords" tab above.
If you have any questions about searching, you can ask the Student Success Librarians for help! We can answer questions by email, or do a live online demo and search together.
Questions which we often help with:
Note: if you haven't read the above guides, and/or haven't tried any searching yet, that's OK, you can still ask questions. Library staff work Monday-Friday, so it's best to ask questions early.
Likewise, if you've read some of the above, but still have questions, feel free to ask! Searching is a skill that takes time and practice to develop. Librarians can help you along that journey.
Often, the success of a search depends on the words you use.
Generally speaking, using more words will make your search better, because different people express themselves in different ways.
There are some nuances to remember:
You can find advice on brainstorming and selecting keywords at the following links:
A common question is whether to add a new keyword using AND or OR.
This will depend on two things:
Search topic: mental health of high school students.
| Original Search | Adding as a Synonym with OR | Adding as a new Concept with AND | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Entering the search strategy |  |
 |
 |
| Search results |  |
 |
 |
The screenshots above show that adding the word "wellness" as a synonym of "mental health", such that the first search bar reads ("mental health OR wellness), found about 2,500 extra results for this topic. However, adding the word wellness to the third search bar instead, invoking the use of AND, produced only 1,266 results - significantly fewer results.
Note: this is a simple example to illustrate the difference between AND and OR - most real examples would have more synonyms and more concepts, and would produce fewer results.
If you're trying something similar, be sure to look at the first few results of each search as well as the numbers - the relevance of the results (how well they fit the topic), is just as important as the number of results found.
Remember that you can ask library staff for advice if you're not sure about whether to use AND or OR. If it's the weekend and no one's available to answer, try each one and see which works best!
Many of your assignments will require peer-reviewed sources. Here's how to find them.
In the EBSCO interface, you can limit to peer reviewed articles in two ways.
Most searchers like to enter their search terms first, then, after the search results have loaded, use the Scholarly (Peer Reviewed) Journals button to limit to Peer Reviewed results.
It is also possible to select Peer Reviewed on the Advanced Search page. Look beneath the three search bars for the Filters tab - it should be selected by default. Check the checkbox next to Scholarly (Peer Reviewed) Journals, indicated by the red arrow in the screenshot to the right (in the Filters tab, under "Limit your results"). Again, you should only have to do this once per session.
Note: usually, you only have to click this button once per session - the interface remembers that you have clicked it for subsequent searches. I said "usually" because there are two rare circumstance where the interface may forget this setting: if you are not in Discovery and you switch databases, or if there is a technical glitch.
Note: this filter searches for articles in peer reviewed journals. Any studies, literature reviews, or substantial articles from these journals would be peer reviewed. However, ephemera such as editorials, comments, and research letters would not be peer reviewed even if they come from a peer-reviewed journal.
EBSCO Discovery also searches some free databases which are not as stringent in their criteria for peer reviewed journals. Occasionally, articles from predatory journals have been spotted amongst the peer reviewed results. Predatory journals are open access journals which claim to be peer reviewed but are not. If you suspect that an article was published in a predatory journal, consult Beall's list to check the publisher name.
Limiting to peer reviewed is available in three locations.
On the Basic search page, the Peer Reviewed checkbox is located just below the search bar. Enter your search terms into the Basic search, then click the Peer Reviewed checkbox to limit to only peer reviewed sources.
Similarly, the Peer Reviewed checkbox appears just below the search bars on the Advanced Search screen.
Lastly, you can find the Peer Reviewed checkbox on the left-hand side of the search results.
Once you have clicked on any of these three checkboxes, they should remain checked for the whole session (unless you uncheck them).
As with EBSCO, note that this checkbox limits to peer reviewed journals. You may still find a few non-peer-reviewed articles which are published in peer reviewed journals, such as editorials, comments, and research letters.
Some searches are particularly tricky - but don't worry, you can do it! To help, we've made guides for searches which students often ask about.
Do you have a different challenging search? You can ask a librarian for help! We can answer by email or have an online meeting.
Email the Student Success Librarians
For best results, let us know what you're trying to find and what the challenge is, e.g. did you get too many results? Too few? Were too many of the results off-topic?
Remember, the librarians work Monday-Friday, so be sure to ask for help during the week if at all possible. On weekends, be sure to check out the guides listed in the How to Search tab (above), as well as the Research 101 guide (link below).
Keep a record of all of your searches. You never know when you may want to search on a similar topic, and can reuse some of those keywords you've already found. Also, if anyone asks, how did you find these articles, you can show them your search strategy.
Also keep a record of any articles, eBooks, or other sources which you looked at. There may be some information which you read and don't think will be very useful, but a few hours later, or next week, you may remember and want to cite after all. If you keep a record of everything you've read, you won't have to re-run all of your searches and look through the results a second time.
Use the link below to access the Database Features section of the Research 101 guide, which has tips for saving searches and exporting search results, both of which can help with keeping a record of your searches.
