FINDING SCHOLARLY ARTICLES
WHY CAN’T I JUST GOOGLE IT?
oogle i s a great p lace to start searching for inform ation , bu t if you ar e only using the open Web to
do acad emic-level res earch, you are missin g out . Mo st schola rly articles are not fr eely availabl e ;
th ey ar e beh ind paywalls . The library pur chases acc e ss t o scholarly in fo r mation . Even Go ogl e Scho lar wil l
not link to all scholarly arti cles in the librar y’ s database s.
TO FIND RELIABLE SCHOLARLY MATERIALS, USE THE LIBRARY’S OVER 100 DATABASES.
HERE’S HOW!
1. GO TO M VCC.ED U AND SELECT ACADEMICS.
2. CHOOSE LIBRARIES FROM THE DROPDOWN MENU
3. START YOUR RESEARCH BY SEARCHING THE LIBRARY COLLECTION.
Use th e s ear ch box at the t op o n the libra ry’s home page.
A search using this box will return catalog items such as b ooks and DV D s
as well as sources a vailable through databases such as scho larly journal,
new spap er, and maga zine a rticles .
Th e search b ox wil l NO T sea rch th e
entire lib r ary collectio n.
4. FOR THE MOST MEANINGFUL SEARCH, ENTER PHRASES IN QUOTATION MARKS [“”]
AND USE BOOLEAN OPERATORS
Uses qu otation mark s ar ound phrases to ensu re the sear ch engine
finds a s et o f word s in the exact ord e r you are looking for .
Use AND, OR, a nd NOT to nar row o r broaden your search .
Us ing A ND be twe e n se arc h
te rms will y iel d r e sult s th at
co nta i n bo t h te rms.
E.G. “c hild h ood
de p res sio n ” A ND
obe sit y
Us ing OR b etw ee n search
te rms will y iel d r e sult s th at
co nta i n ei t her of t he
te rms.
E.G. o b esi t y OR
overw e i ght
Us ing N O T be twe e n se arc h
te rms will eli mina te r esul t s
th a t c o nta i n th e te rm a fter
NO T.
E.G. d e pres s io n NOT
po s tpa r tum
5. PRESS ENTER OR CLICK THE SEARCH BUTTON TO RETRIEVE RESULTS.
6. REFINE YOUR RESULTS USING THE S EARCH FILT E RS ON TH E LEF T.
Choose ava ilab le on lin e to ob tain result s you can read immed iately.
For scho larly j ourn al articles, ch oose Pee r -revie wed Jo urnals .
To retr ieve resu lts f rom a speci f ic pe riod of t i m e, change the dates in
th e yea r boxes
Re sult s can b e fu rth er r e fin ed by subjec t, author, geo graphy , language,
et c.
DON’T STOP THERE! TURN THE PAGE.
Se e the L ibra ry’ s Se ar ch
Like a Pro gui de fo r
mo re se ar ch ti ps.
7. USE A DATABASE SEARCH TO IMPROVE YOUR RESULTS
A d atab ase s earc h pro vides a ccess to add itio nal re sources su ch as
journa ls, h igh qua lity i m ages, educ ation a l vid eos, or su b ject
sp ecifi c ref eren ce mat erials.
SEARCHING DATABASES
On the library homepage ( mvcc. edu/libra ry ), cli ck the
Da tabase s button.
IF yo u know the d ata b ase yo u want , find that
database using th e alph abet key.
IF you want resu lts fro m mul tip le disciplines o r
fie lds of st udy, sea rch multid isciplinary databa ses like Aca demic
On e File or Ac a demic Sea rch Comple t e . These are the first datab a ses
li sted on th e da tabase page.
IF yo u wan t r e sult s in one d isc iplin e or field o f stu d y , s earch for a
subject speci fic datab a se.
o Se lect the ALL S UBJEC TS dropdown menu to find a database In your field of interest .
o Use a d atab a se designated as a B EST B ET due to its l arge a moun t of subject sp ec i fic cont ent, OR
read database descrip ti ons to locate th e best database for your n eeds .
Ch oose limit ation s for y our search (see n u mber 6) .
In stru cto r s fr equently requir e sources that co m e from scholarly (p e er -r e viewed) jou rnals .
In stru cto r s so m eti m es request sources publish ed within the la st 5 or 10 years.
SEARCH TIPS
CONTROVERSIAL ISSU E? If you have to mak e an argu m ent or write a p ersuasive pap er on
a controver s ial topic , tr y th ese datab ases:
Op posin g Vie wpoint s in Con t ext; Issue s a n d Con t rove r sie s; CQ Re sea rc h er.
NO RESULTS!? Ch eck yo ur spelling, t ry dif f erent sea rch terms, or use a different
database.
CI TATIO N: M a n y d ataba ses p rovid e cit atio ns f o r jou rnal articles and o t her sources.
Th e cit ation t ool appears onc e a source is selected and can o ft en be found on a
TO O LS m enu to the right of th e sourc e tit le.
Cl ick on the citat ion icon, choose the r equir ed citation format , and copy or down load it .
To past e a citat ion into a Word docu ment, choose the ME R GE FORMATTING p a ste optio n.
NOT E: Th e se c itations may have error s. Alwa ys check your citatio n with a style guide.
HAVE A QUESTION? NEED ASSISTANCE?
Th e ASK A LIBRARIAN f eatur e on th e l ibrar y ’s m ain pa ge allo ws student s to c onnect with an MVCC
librar ian du rin g library hours.
Need a s sistance a fter h ours? Librari ans a cross the coun try p ro vide 24 hour online support . Acces s
th eir expertise through the ASK A LIBRARIAN bu tton
Si gn u p for tutorin g . Writing tutor s can he lp y o u l earn how to na viga te d ataba ses and c ite sources .
Go to th e Ut i ca Learnin g Common s in IT 12 9. Inst ructional D esign Libra rian , Jocelyn I reland is
often o n sit e an d pro vides exper t individual ized research assi stanc e.
WHAT IS A DATABASE?
A databa se i s a
collection of in format ion
used fo r research a n d
wr iting . Some datab a ses
pro vid e in formation
from many discipl ines
while others collect
information speci f ic to
one field of study . Many
database s a r e only
acc essible by
subscription . Th e college
subscribes, so you can
access h i storic a nd up -
to-dat e inf ormat ion.
COMMON
CITATION
ICONS
