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SOC 350: Poverty & Inequality (Forsythe-Brown)

Research Guide for Dr. Forsythe-Brown's section of the SOC 350 course

Access Library Resources Online

Trying to access library resources online? Follow the instructions on the Online Access to Library Resources page to:

  • access library databases, articles, and ebooks, both on-campus and off-campus
  • troubleshoot error messages or other issues with accessing online sources from the library

Mardigian Search

Advanced Search

Search FAQs

Check out the library's self-paced tutorial How do I search library databases? to learn the basics of database searches.

1. What is Mardigian Search and why should I use it?

  • Mardigian Search is the library's Discovery search box, which looks through all of the library's databases at once.
  • Mardigian Search is great for:
    • finding out what's been studied in your research area
    • finding sources about interdisciplinary topics

2. How do I search for my topic?

  • Identify the main ideas of your topic and use those as your search words
  • Each article has tags assigned to it, words or shorts phrases that make them searchable - you want your search words to match those tags
  • Words like factors, effects, challenges, issues are not usually used as tags - don't include them as search words
  • Example: The topic for your research project is: What are the sources of stress that first-generation college students face?
    • A search about this topic could be: stress first generation college student*
    • student* searches for student and students

3. I'm looking for a specific article or book. How do I find out if the library has it?

  • Enter the title into the search box, removing all punctuation

4. How do I focus the search results to books, book chapters, ebooks, or books?

  • Use the options under Refine Your Search to focus your search hits
  • Newspaper articles:
    • Check Newspaper Article under Content Type
  • Books/ebooks
    • ​​​​​​​Check Book/ebook under Content Type
  • ​​​​​​​Book Chapters
    • ​​​​​​​Check Book Chapter under Content Type

5. How do I focus the search results to relevant articles that meet my assignment requirements?

  • Use Refine Your Search options to focus your search hits
  • Peer-reviewed articles:
    • Check Peer Reviewed 
    • Check Journal article under Content Type
  • Current/Recent articles:
    • Under Publication Date, move the scroll bar over to 2010 to present 

6. I have too many irrelevant search results. How do I focus them?

  • Use the options under Refine Your Search to focus your search hits
  • Under Discipline, check relevant disciplines to focus your search results to those disciplines
  • Under Subject Terms, check subjects that interest you to focus your search results to your specific research areas of interest
  • When you find an article that looks interesting, look at its assigned tags (subjects) 
    • Click on Quick Look below the article title
    • Look at its assigned Subjects/tags 
    • Add any relevant tags (words) to your search
    • This will also help you develop your research topics and search for books and articles for them

7. How do I know my search words match the tags assigned to articles about my research question?

  • As you scroll through the search hits, look at the Subjects (tags) assigned to the relevant articles you find, and see if they match your search words 
  • Subjects (tags) also help you identify the specific issues around your topic so you can give it direction and develop it into a focused research question

8. How do I preview the abstract/summary of articles in the list of search hits?

  • Click on Quick Look below the article title

9. How do I access the article so I can read the whole thing?

  • Click on Full Text Online
  • Look for pdf Full Text or HTML Full Text links

10. I can't find anything on my topic. What do I do?

  • The search words you're using to describe your topic may not match the tags that have been assigned to books and articles on that topic
    • Look through the Subject terms in the Refine Your Search sidebar and check the boxes beside the topic areas that interest you
  • When you find an article that looks interesting, look at its assigned tags/subjects
    • Add any relevant tags to your search
    • This will also help you develop your research questions and search for articles about your specific research questions 
  • There may not be research tying your main ideas together yet
    • Try searching for your main ideas separately and linking their findings together
  • If you've found one article that's relevant for your topic, look through the sources in its References list to see if any of them are also relevant to your research
  • Ask your course professor or the Sociology Librarian, Nadine Anderson, for help
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