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CMST101: Intro to Communication, Lyles: Find Academic Articles & Books

ARTICLES come from periodicals.  Periodical n. a publication such as a magazine, newspaper or journal, published at regular intervals offering: Current events, news, opinion |Focused, narrow topics | Multiple perspectives | Original research

Find articles in databases.  Database n. a specialized search engine for finding articles, typically provided by a library. Most allow keyword and subject searches to find full-text articles and citations to articles.

BOOKS are still useful for their in-depth analysis & discussion | broad view of a specific topic | the perspective of an expert | historical information 

Find books in the Library Catalog. Not just books on our library shelves, but also ebooks and streaming media!

Databases to try

Research databases: what are they and why are they useful?

This tutorial provides an excellent explanation of databases and why they're useful. It was created by the librarians at Yavapai College.

Timesaving Strategies

ONLINE SEARCH TIPS
  • Put phrases in quotes.
  • Use OR to combine synonyms:
  • Use AND to combine main ideas of your topic/question.
  • Truncate (with *) to get all variations of a search term
  • Change important search terms to Subjects for narrower and more relevant results
 
SEARCH RESULTS CLUES
  • Start with the Title and the Abstract (or summary) of the article.
  • Then scan the Subject Headings to learn what the article’s focus areas are.
  • Notice if the type of article matches what you need; don’t get fooled by a book review or editorial.
  • See if you have access to the full-text of your chosen article, possibly in another database

Searching is strategic

This tutorial will offer students some ways to make their searching more efficient and productive.