Before you start searching for books and articles:

• Subject encyclopedias help you explore possible research topics or find background information on a specific topic. This is also a great method to find keywords to use in searching for books and articles on a topic.
• Bibliographies and guides to the literature provide listings of books, articles, and other material that have been written on a specific topic.

2. How to create a successful search strategy

• Write down your search topic in the form of a question or statement.  Underline the key terms or phrases.

• List any synonyms, singular/plural forms, spelling variations, and different word endings that might be used.

• Choose which Boolean operators if any you are going to use.

1. AND - connects key terms together and will narrow your search topic by requiring that each term be present in the results. 

2. OR - broadens your search by gathering results in which one or more of your key terms appear.

3. NOT  - will produce a list of results that contain your first key term, but only if the second key term is not present.

• Use truncation for words that have different endings.  For example: child when truncated (child?) will search for child, children, child's, children's, and childish.  The symbol is usually either a ? or * Use the help feature for the database you are using, to determine which symbol should be used.

What does the Cofrin library own on your topic?

• The Cofrin Library Catalog catalog identifies what the Cofrin library owns and where the journals, books, videos, magazines, newspapers, encyclopedias, cd-roms, etc. are located.
• The Cofrin Library Catalog does NOT list journal articles.

How can I search for books outside of the Cofrin library?

• Our Universal Borrowing service allows you to search other UW colleges and universities and request items to be sent here.
• Consider using WorldCat, a catalog that searches the collections of over 15,000 libraries. This is a good way to determine what books have been published on a topic.

• You can request the article or book via Interlibrary Loan. All requested items are held for you at the Circulation Desk on Level 3 or emailed to your account; you will receive an email message when a requested item is available.

Where do I search for journal articles?

• Remember - searching by subject for journal articles is NOT possible in the Cofrin Library Catalog! The databases listed below provide either full text or bibliographic references to journal articles.
• There are many other databases that may prove useful depending on your research topic. Make sure to read the database description to determine other, possibly more suitable databases to search in for resources on your topic.

Academic Search Complete from EbscoHost(from EBSCOhost (1887 to present)
A "general" database that indexes a mix of scholarly and popular journal titles in many subject areas. Full-text for many articles is available from 1887. Search tips: You can limit your search to peer-reviewed (scholarly) journals. Use the "Advanced Search" method for expanded search options.

Biological and Agricultural Index Plus

Environment Complete

Environmental Sciences and Pollution Management

Lexis Nexis Academic (Coverage dates vary)
Provides full-text access to over 13,000 news, business and legal sources. The sources include international, national and regional newspapers; magazines; trade journals; newsletters; wire service reports; transcripts of television and radio news programs; law reviews; company reports and much more.

JSTOR (Coverage dates vary)
The Journal Storage Project provides full text access to the back files of key scholarly journals in many subjects. However, JSTOR does not provide the most recent years of a journal title.

Sociological Abstracts (1963 to present)
Indexes scholarly journal articles and books.

Web of Science (1975 to present)
A "general" database that indexes scholarly journal titles in many subject areas. Because the information stored about each journal article includes the article's cited reference list (i.e., its bibliography), you can also search for articles that cite a known author or work. No full text; check the Cofrin Library Catalog for cited journal titles.

For a detailed examination of citation styles and formats based on academic descipline see Sonoma State University Library's Guide at http://libguides.sonoma.edu/content.php?pid=9403

Preparing an Annotated Bibliography

Cofrin Library Guide to Preparing an Annotated Bibliography

http://www.library.cornell.edu/olinuris/ref/research/skill28.htm for a Cornell University Library Guide on preparing and annotated bibliography.

Most of you are probably familiar with Google at http://www.google.com Google has a couple of other components that you may not know about but should prove useful as you go about your research. Connect to http://www.google.com/unclesam to search only government generated information. You can search http://scholar.google.com to search only materials that are considered to be "professional."

Related Course Guides

SOC CD 251 Assignment ! Guide SOC CD 251 Book Review Guide