Annotated Bibliography
Academic Research Video
Additional Video Tutorials
Below are video tutorials to help you navigate some of the library resources.
Reference Databases
The following resource will provide you some resources for background information. Doing background research will not only help you narrow your focus, but will also help you identify keywords to use when searching the databases for scholarly articles.
- Credo Reference This link opens in a new windowIncludes materials from over 650 reference books on many topics in higher education, including art, business, history, languages, literature, science, criminal justice, and political science.
- CQ Researcher This link opens in a new windowFull-text, balanced, comprehensive journalistic reports and analysis of current and controversial issues of the day.
Boolean Operators
Using Boolean operators in a database is highly recommended, as this approach usually generates the most useful results. Databases are not "intuitive" like search engines (e.g., Google) - they must be "told" how to process a search query. Boolean operators let you "tell" the database what you want to see in your results.
| AND |
Use AND to connect KEYWORDS - Retrieves sources with both/all terms [refines search] Example: baseball AND America AND culture |
| OR |
Use OR to connect SYNONYMS & LIKE CONCEPTS - Retrieves sources with either/any term(s) [broadens search] Example: baseball AND (female OR women) AND managers |
| NOT |
Use NOT to EXCLUDE word(s) - Eliminates sources with the word(s) following NOT Example: bats NOT mammals |
Identifying Keywords
When you are conducting your background research on your topic, consider the who, what, when, where and why of what you are reading, and highlight or write the main points down. You can use those as keywords in the databases!
Research Databases
- Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new windowFull text of articles from journals, magazines and newspapers, plus image collections. Users can limit results to scholarly material.
- JSTOR This link opens in a new windowComplete historical full text of all issues of journals in a wide range of humanities and social science fields.
- Project MUSE This link opens in a new windowFull text of 285 journals in literature, history, international/cultural studies and other humanities and social science fields.
- MasterFILE Complete This link opens in a new windowFull-text articles from magazines & journals, and other sources including pamphlets, books, biographies, reports, etc.
- Gale Academic OneFile This link opens in a new windowQuickly access articles from a database of scholarly journals and other trusted periodicals. Best for academic research.
- Gale OneFile: U.S. History This link opens in a new windowSearch balanced coverage of events in U.S. history. Best for novice historians and academic researchers. Updated daily.
- Gale OneFile: Pop Culture Studies This link opens in a new windowAccess scholarly journals and magazines that both analyze and contribute to popular culture.
- Gale OneFile: News This link opens in a new windowAccess major U.S. and international newspapers online to search articles instantly by title, headline, date, or other fields. Includes New York Times(1985-Current) and Houston Chronicle (1996-2012).
- Gale OneFile: Diversity Studies This link opens in a new windowAccess a range of periodical content to explore cultural differences, contributions, and influences in the global community.
- Gale Literature Resource Center This link opens in a new windowFull-text journal articles, critical essays, work overviews & summaries, and author biographies from authoritative sources.
