How to effectively conduct your online library research
Formulating an efficient search strategy for your research is instrumental in having a successful research experience. As students, you have access to MANY resources at the UHS Library. This tutorial will help you navigate those resources.
In addition to various print sources we have available in the UHS Library, we also subscribe to various electronic databases. To access these databases, you need to first visit the UHS Library’s website at http://uxbridgehighschoollibrary.blogspot.com/.
Notice that this page has three sections:
- General Research: The resources listed under General Research include articles on many topics, and are good for research on a wide variety of topics.
- Subject Databases: The resources listed under Subject Databases are focused on a single topic or field. These are good choices if you are doing research in a specific field or have already narrowed your research down to a subject.
- Newspapers and Magazines: These resources are good for news articles, current events articles, and pop culture content.
For the purposes of this tutorial, we are going to search for information on the Great Depression. There is likely information on this topic in many databases, including those listed under General Databases.
However, based on background knowledge, we know that this is a topic in U.S. history, so let's look for a database on that subject under Subject Databases. Scrolling down, notice the U.S. History database, and click on the link.
Notice that we can do a keyword search from the homepage! Let's try searching for "great depression" there.
Check out the results - we have an overview of that topic, as well as 182 reference articles and many other resources.
From here, you have some options. You can check out the overview article, start looking through the articles and other resources listed at the bottom of that screenshot, or start searching within these results for a more narrow topic.
Another option is start at with an Advanced Search. You can change where in an article the database will look for your search terms, search for only peer reviewed results, and limit your results to full-text articles.
Now, we have only 33 results - already narrowed down very quickly. Now, it's up to you to look at the article summaries and start reading some to see if any are helpful for your research. Notice that there are suggested topics on the right hand side of the page, and there are similar "Related Topics" lists on the side once you click on an article as well. Use these to help you find other subjects to search that will help you in your research,
So, once you have an article that looks helpful, what now?
Check out your options at the top of the page. "Cite" brings up the citation, ready to be copied and pasted into your Works Cited list. "Send to" gives you some options, but I recommend sending it to your Google Drive. This makes a folder in your Drive for this database, and creates a document in it containing the text, images, and citation from this article. Any other articles you decide to send to Drive will go into the same folder. You can also download the article or print it. If you want to save a bookmark, use "Get Link" as the link to bookmark.
If you have questions about any part of this tutorial, please do not hesitate to come see Ms. Charpentier at the library for more help!