This course guide is a starting point for research for students in Stacey Levine's ENGL102 at Seattle Central College. Find recommended resources and tutorials to help you on your research journey. And remember to bring curiosity, patience, and flexibility.
Encyclopedias are an excellent place to begin your research!
Search the Library Catalog to find Books.
In the library catalog's results page, look for the Refine My Results column on the left. Under Show Only, select the "Available Online" filter. This will narrow the results to only show the items in our collection that you can access any time, anywhere.
Change the dropdown from Library Catalog to Everything to search for books, videos, and articles from many of our databases.
Use Google's Advanced Search to focus your search and get better results when using Google.
Other tips:
Check out Google's support page on refining your search using symbols and words.
Additional Google Search techniques from the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
Google Scholar provides a search of scholarly literature.
Note that not all articles on Google Scholar are free, so if you find a good article, search the Library's databases (by searching for the journal's name using the Periodicals Search) to see if you can get it for FREE.
Fun Fact: Did you know that Google is not the only search engine you can utilize! Try out some of these other search engines to get different results.
Offers students comprehensive subject coverage without the information overload of a general search engine—increasing the visibility of academic information and compelling ideas that are often lost in a muddle of sponsored links and commercial results.
The mobile browser and desktop extension come with private search and protection from trackers as you browse.
The citation styles required on English assignments is usually MLA, so use the guide below for help with citing your sources.
These tutorials are helpful to watch at the beginning of your research process because they share strategies for choosing searchable topics, brainstorming keywords, and making connections among your searches.
If you can't find what you need in this guide, ask a librarian! Librarians are ready to help you at any stage of your research process, from brainstorming keywords to searching for articles and citing them.
Visit the Ask the Library page for options to call, email, chat, or schedule an appointment with a librarian.