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, issues, relationships, links are usually not used as tags - don't include them as search words
3. How do I find articles from Bibliographies in my textbook or References in journal articles?
- Enter the article title in the above Mardigian Search box (which searches through all of the library's databases at once)
- Click on the Full Text Online link or the article title to access the full text of the article from the list of search hits
4. How do I focus my search results to current, peer-reviewed journal articles?
- Use options in the Refine Results sidebar of your list of search hits to focus them to current, peer-reviewed journal articles:
- Peer-reviewed articles:
- Click on Peer Review
- Under Content Type, click on Journal article
- Current/Recent articles:
- Under Publication Date, move the scroll bar over to 2023 to present
- Click on See more... under Subjects to identify more specific subjects of research for your topic
5. How do I preview the abstract/summary of articles in the list of search hits?
- Click on Preview below the article description
6. 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
7. 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
