Library Research Orientation: Introduction

You've just been assigned a research paper and you need five sources for your bibliography.  Where do you start?

Answer: This tutorial!

In Google, you can usually type full sentences and get millions of results. While this is impressive, it isn't a very efficient way to conduct research, since we rarely click past the first page. It can also be difficult to distinguish between academic sites and junk. One way to cut through the junk is to use library resources, and use them well.

With library resources, you know that most of the results will be academic in nature. The tradeoff is that you have to know how to search like a librarian. To start with, simplify your topic by picking out the most useful words.

1. Avoid "phrase searching" - Don't write in full sentences!
2. Come up with 1-3 main keywords - These should be fairly unique so you don't get too many results.
3. Use Boolean Operators - Combine or omit words from your search using special connectors. AND, OR, and NOT are common Boolean Operators used by most databases.

You can't always avoid using the open web, but there are ways to search it efficiently. Many search engines automatically use AND if you include more than one keyword in your search term. However, they may use different terms for other features. Check out a search engine's Help section for more information.