The libraries homepage will be your starting point for access to resources. From here you can find books, articles, multi-media, instructional guides, and information.

To find research materials, go to “Research” on the top menu bar. You can also use the Quick Links sidebar.

Today we will look at the Databases option in order to find scholarly articles that are located within databases

On the Databases page you can: 1) Navigate using the A-Z buttons to find a known database. 2) Use the drop-down filter to find databases by subject.

Queens College Libraries has over 250 databases for you to use. These databases contain e-books, journals, streaming videos, images, and more. If you’re stuck on what to use, a good multi-disciplinary database is Academic Search Complete. In the next slides you will learn some key skills for Academic Search Complete. These skills can be transferred to other databases for future research.

NOTE: If you are using databases or other electronic resources from off-campus, you will need to enter your Qcard library barcode when prompted. A new window requesting this information will appear after you select any electronic resource from off-campus. You MUST activate your Qcard library barcode in-person in order to access.

Take a moment to familiarize yourself with the homepage. See: 1)  Search Boxes 2)  Field options

With the search boxes you can input keywords from your research or thesis statement. Pro-tip:

Early in your research, do not select a specific field. As you progress you may decide you want to search ONLY specific areas.

SEARCH USING OPERATORS BOOLEAN OPERATORS!

Decide what words best describe your topic, and connect them with either AND, OR, or NOT."Examples: corpses AND insects retrieves records containing BOTH words"beetles OR flies retrieves records containing EITHER word"(corpses OR cadavers) AND insects retrieves records containing the word insects AS WELL AS either "

"the word corpses OR the word cadavers"insects NOT beetles when you want insects BUT NOT beetles"TRUNCATION !In most databases, the truncation symbol is an asterisk (*)."Example: technolog* will retrieve technology, technologies, and technological."PHRASE SEARCH!Search words as a phrase, using quotation marks. "Example: “global warming” will retrieve the phrase, instead of the separate words “global” and “warming”!

TRY IT Now, try a search! You can do one search or 100 searches, but what is most important is keeping track (ie: writing down) of the terms that worked AND those that didn’t.

Pro-tip: Select “Limit to, Scholarly” to retrieve ONLY scholarly results.