AAA Shared Instruction Boxes

Finding information requires a lot of skills that you may not be aware that you have or that you are developing. Use this page to learn strategies for HOW to find the most relevant information to meet your needs.

Use the sub-pages to learn WHERE to search for research on your topic or course theme.

Below are 4 top strategies to narrow your search:

1. Use AND between keywords to find articles where two or more keywords appear together

2. Use the filters / limiters in the search interface to narrow your search results to a specific date range or resource type (format: book, journal article, news article, etc.)

3. Add a Subject Term (found in a database's Index or Thesaurus) to your search to find results that are "tagged" with that term to indicate they are "about" that topic/idea. Tip: Use just 1 or 2 Subject Terms per search so you don't get too narrow too quickly and end up with too few results.

After adding a Subject Term to your search, click "Search" and then combine with additional keywords using AND. Note where the Subject Term shows up in your results:

4. Choose a database that is limited to your major, subject, or discipline. Use the link below to find a research guide with database recommendations for your discipline!

How can I be sure my journal article is scholarly?

Many databases offer the option to search for "peer-reviewed" journal articles - those are academic articles reviewed by the authors' peers for accuracy during the editing and publishing process.

If you are using a database that does not have this filter option, or if you find an article citation somewhere else, you can check if the article was published in a "peer-reviewed" journal or magazine by using Ulrichsweb.

1. Search for your journal or magazine by title
2. Look for a little black and white striped referee jersey icon next to its name  
3. The Content Type will say "Academic/Scholarly"

What are characteristics of scholarly sources?

In general, scholarly sources:

• Are written by an author with an advanced degree, i.e., a college professor
• Are written for an academic audience
• Contain a credible list of citations/references
• Include in-text citations
• Often contain an abstract, literature review, methodology, results, or discussion
• May or may not be "Peer Reviewed"

How can I tell if a source is scholarly?

• Articles published in scholarly journals which cover academic and scientific research. Scholarly journals are often referred to as "peer-reviewed" or "refereed" journals. Journals can also be scholarly or academic, but not have the extra level of quality control known as "peer review."

• Books are not "peer-reviewed," like articles. Instead, they are written by academic scholars, and edited and published (most often) by academic or university presses, e.g.: Routledge, IGI Global, or Oregon State University Press.

• A book review can also indicate if the book is scholarly. Use LibrarySearch to find reviews of books.

• When in doubt, ask a librarian!

​​​​What does it mean when scholarly journals are peer-reviewed?

• Some academic or scholarly journals go through an extra process called "Peer Review" before they are published. These are considered the highest quality of academic journal sources because other scholars in the same field as the author (the author's "peers") review their work.
• To check, you can look up the journal in our database called Ulrichsweb (link below). Look for the referee jersey icon to indicate that a journal (and the articles in it) is peer-reviewed.

How do I search for and find scholarly sources?

Articles in LibrarySearch 

Search in LibrarySearch* or library databases for articles and limit results by "academic sources" or "peer-reviewed sources." 

*LibrarySearch includes search results from many of the UO Libraries database subscriptions.

Articles in a Database

Databases often have a "Scholarly" or "Peer Review" filter option too. Here's an example from one of our EBSCO databases: 

Books

Search in LibrarySearch by title or keyword. Many of our books are "scholarly," but look for the name of the publisher to find an academic press, e.g., "Princeton University Press."

Get research articles at no cost to you!

Follow the steps shown in these screenshots to locate or request the full text of an article from a database like Academic Search Premier (EBSCO). Note: The process in ProQuest and other databases is the same.

You can use the limiter on the left sidebar to narrow to results that only include access to the full text, or just look for the results that include a PDF or HTML option.

This screen shot shows various options for getting the full text of this article through the UO Libraries' subscription to Academic Search Premier.

No PDF link?

If your article doesn't have a PDF or HTML full text, click the FindText button  to check LibrarySearch for other copies. Download the article directly from LibrarySearch or from the other options listed under View It.

Still no full text pdf? Ask us to Scan & Deliver it to you!

When the full text is not available as a PDF (or HTML format) in a database, you still have options to get it at no cost to you (up to certain limits. See About Borrowing for more).

Click the Find Text button below the search result you want, and then look for the Check availability link.

Scan & Deliver is for requesting an electronic copy of an article or book section that the University of Oregon Libraries owns in physical format. In the screen capture above, this journal is at our Math Library.

Choose Interlibrary Loan to request physical items (books, DVDs) that we don't own within 1-3 weeks or electronic items (PDFs of journal or magazine articles) in 24-48 hours at no cost to you.

Questions?

Contact the Resource Sharing office at 541-346-3055 or ill@uoregon.edu.

When you search Google Scholar on your personal computer, you can configure your settings so that UO Libraries resource links appear in your results. Then you can click the UO FindText to access a library item.

(TIP: If you're at a temporary computer and don't want to activate these settings, you can access Google Scholar via our Databases page (Library Home Page > Databases A-Z > G > Google Scholar). 

Long description of "Google Scholar search results screen shot" for web accessibility

To configure your Google Scholar Library Links, click on Settings. in the upper right of the search page.

Then select Library Links and search for "University of Oregon." Check the box in the search select and click "Save."

Natural Language Searching

You can search most library databases using natural language like you would in an internet search. For example, if you wanted information about college athletes making money from their image, you might do a natural language search like college athletes get football endorsements in a search engine. 

Not all databases work with natural language. Some databases require Boolean-style searching using the AND, OR, and NOT operators. Review the information below to learn how each operator affects your search results. And get in touch with a librarian if you have questions!

Boolean-Style Searching

Use AND between terms to narrow your search

A search for football AND college AND endorsements will get you search results (articles and other documents or pages) that have ALL THREE TERMS. These results will most likely be about college football players who are allowed to make money through endorsements.

Use OR between related terms to broaden your search

A search for College OR university or Endorsements OR Sponsorships will get you search results that have AT LEAST ONE OF THESE TERMS. In these two examples, using both terms with an OR will help you cast a wider net, broadening your results to include more.

Tip: Keep the related terms inside parenthesis or in their own search box for best results

Use NOT to exclude something from your search

A search for football NOT soccer will EXCLUDE A TERM from your search. In this example, the results will most likely be about American-style football only and not European football or soccer around the globe.

Put it all together in a database search

This screen capture shows a complex Boolean search that can also be shown as a phrase search uses the logical Boolean search operators, AND, OR, and NOT: (College OR university) AND (endorsement* OR sponsorship*) AND football NOT soccer NOT rugby [the last bit can also be NOT (Soccer OR rugby)].

Tips

• Using Google? A space is recognized as if it were an AND so no need to type it. Some databases do this too, but not all. Use AND when in doubt
• OR can be used between opposites too: athletes AND (amateur OR professional)
• Avoid using NOT unless you really need to declutter your results. In Google, use a dash: jaguars -cars
• Add an * (wildcard symbol) on the end of a word to search multiple variations: comput* searches for computer, computers, computing... etc.
• You can always reach a librarian for help using our 24 x 7 chat or by scheduling a consultation using the link below:

(Click to Enlarge)

Thanks to IUPUI University Library for allowing reuse of this graphic under a Creative Commons license.

What are LCSH?

Books, videos, and other materials in library catalogs are assigned official subject headings by the Library of Congress (LCSH) by cataloging librarians. These subject headings describe an item's content and what it is about, and are useful for focusing research on broader, narrower, or related topics. Look for subject heading links in the library catalog to find more items on the same topic. Some subject headings are dated or even problematic, and they can be changed through a petition process.

For example, the book Dance and the Hollywood Latina: Race, Sex, and Stardom has LC subject headings to describe it like "Hispanic Americans in motion pictures" and "Race in motion pictures," but (as of 2022), "Latina" is not an official LCSH and "Latinos" is listed as a variant.

Using LCSH in your LibrarySearch searches

If you know the subject headings that are likely to be tagged on the item you want to find, search by Subject. Eugene (Or.) -- History is an example of a Geographical Subject Heading.

About Subject Heading Subdivisions

Subdivisions, or subheadings, are words or phrases which may be added to a subject heading to create a more effective search. They are hyperlinked in LibrarySearch so that you can use them to see all records they are connected with. 

Some standard subheadings are:

Cataloging librarians follow specific rules for adding LC Subject Headings to an items record. 

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Long Description of "Finding Books & More at UO Libraries" for Web Accessibility

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Long Description of "What's in a Database?" for web accessibility

Check out the video from Kimbel Library to help you locate scholarly journal articles in library databases. 

The video is licensed under a Creative Commons (CC) BY-NC-ND 3.0 license: http://tinyurl.com/2t9all

To drill down into the LC Classification Outline, use the link below:

Library of Congress (LC) Call Numbers are like an item's address to help you find where it lives on the shelf. Each letter stands for an academic discipline. In the image below, L is for Education, LD is for Individual Institutions - United States. Can you guess which institution is at LD 4363 .U55 2006? 

To read a call number, read the number from left to right or top to bottom as follows:

1. Alphabetically (L before LC, LC before LD)
2. Numerically (4363 before 4364.6)
3. Alphabetically (.A before .B) 
4. Decimal order (.A2 before .A5 or .A55) 
5. (Sometimes there are more pieces in alphabetical and then numerical order here)
6. Finally, chronologically (1985 before 1986) This is year of publication and may or may not be included.

Lastly, the shelf is organized from top to bottom in sections, so you'll zig-zag down each section to look for your call number before moving to the next section. 

Bonus: You can also click the "Locate" option in LibrarySearch to see a floor map with the number of the shelf your item is on.

Watch this video from Carteret Community College Library to understand the differences between databases. 

Watch this video from WHMS Library to understand the difference between library databases and search engines.

Citation chaining (or chasing) is the name for a process in which you use an information source to find other work that is cited within the first source (backwards chaining) or cites to the first source (forward chaining). 

Below is a YouTube video on how citation chaining works in Google Scholar. Keep in mind that you should not have to pay for an article while you are a UO student. Contact your Subject Librarian for help locating materials. In this video, look for a "fluff word" that the researcher uses when searching.

Watch this video from Yavapai College Library to learn how to search library databases.

The keywords that you type into any search box makes a difference, especially when finding academic or scholarly work.

Why? For example:

• Researchers and those in the field may use a subject-specific word.
• Not everyone uses the same word to describe the same topic. Consider how many words there are for "job" and their slight meanings.

Tips:​

1. Make Sure you Get it All
2. Avoid Sensationalism
3. Be Skeptical - Write Down Your Questions As You Read
4. Choosing the Right Words for Academic Conversations
5. Check Google or Wikipedia to learn what Terms Researchers use

Pause to Reflect

Did you find the information you needed? Will it help you answer your research question? If not, it might be time to reach out to a Subject Librarian for an appointment.

As researchers, we should approach the evidence we find with an open mind. Research should broaden or inform our perspectives, and not confirm our own biases. If your research is just a collection of cherry-picked quotes, you may need to go back to the library catalog (LibrarySearch) or the article databases to gather more information and other perspectives to consider. 

"kirschenpflücken 2006-06" by Brigitte Rieser is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Library databases (sometimes called indexes) are like search engines but locate scholarly journals, magazines, newspapers, and other academic sources. Some databases contain unique materials such as dissertations, primary sources, images, music, videos, and government documents. Here are two places to find one that fits your needs: 

Many library databases provide the full text of articles. Look for a full-text link next to your article, or use the   icon in the database to connect to the complete article.

Multi-disciplinary databases: 

Subject or Discipline-Specific Databases: ​

Not sure where to start? Try using one of these...

Searching for a specific article?

• CitationLinker -- allows you to enter your citation and find out if the library has it in full text

• LibrarySearch -- search for the title of your journal, magazine, or newspaper in the UO Libraries catalog. LibrarySearch will tell you how to locate the article either in print, online, or through another library.