Online indexes of journal articles and abstracts. Many contain full-text journal articles. Some databases also contain book chapters, newspaper/magazine articles, citations for books, and more.
In plain speech, this means that a database is the easiest way to search a number of journal articles to find what you need!
Library resources can help you quickly locate scholarly and peer reviewed articles. In an EBSCO database like Academic Search Complete, use the search limiters to select "peer reviewed" on the left hand side. (If you are on a phone, you may need to click the arrows in the upper left to expand the menu.)
A-Z list of all databases at Hiram College
Visit the A-Z list of databases for a complete list of all of Hiram College Library's database subscriptions listed alphabetically by name. Note that the name of the database might not match the subject. For example, CINAHL is a database about nursing, but it does not have nursing in its title. The search box at the top of the page allows you to search for subjects to narrow down your list of database choices.
Reading the bibliographies of a good article or book can be very helpful. But how do you find one of the sources listed? Look up the part written in italics.
If your citation looks something like the one below, then it's an article. (Hint: You know it's a journal article if you see volume/issue/page #s.)
Morrow, P. ‘‘Those Sick Challenger Jokes.’’ Journal of Popular Culture. 20.4 (1987): 175-84.
Finding it:
-look up the title of the journal in the OneSource Journal Finder (Note: Look up the journal title, which is in italics, not the "article title," which is in "quotation marks.")
-if the journal is available electronically, you can search within the journal itself or click on the "Full Text Access" link, and check if we have access to the year you need
-if the journal is available in print, read the rest of the journal's record to see if we have the volume/issue you need
If your citation looks something like the one below, then it's a book. (Hint: You know it's a book if you see a city and a publisher/press)
Framing Monsters: Fantasy Film and Social Alienation; Bellin, Joshua David; 2005, Carbondale : Southern Illinois University Press.
Finding it:
-look up the title of the book in the Hiram Library Catalog
-if we don't have it, click on the OhioLINK button to find it in another Ohio library
The words "AND," "OR," and "NOT" can help you make a search more precise. This is called Boolean searching, and it can seem really intimidating, but once you get the hang of them, Boolean searches can really help you!
For example, the search 'films AND psychology NOT children', will return a search with results that contain the keywords 'films' and 'pyschology' but not 'children' - important if you are only looking at adolescent psychology in films.
Learn more with this guide from the MIT libraries. It really helps explain Boolean searching, and you don’t have to be a computer scientist to understand!
Why should you begin your research with the library's homepage? How do I know which database to use? Library staff provide an overview to help you get started using online resources for your research.