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 sources about my research topic?
- Identify the keywords of your topic and use those as your search words.
- Each book and article has tags assigned to it, words or shorts phrases that make each book or article searchable
- You want your search words to match those tags.
- Words like impact, effect, or factors are not used as tags
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 my search hits to articles from peer-reviewed journals?
In the Refine Your Search sidebar:
- Click on Peer Review
- Click on Journal Article under Content Type
5. I have too many search results. How do I focus my search hits so that they're more relevant?
- Use the options under Refine Your Search to focus your search hits
- Check Law and Sociology and Social History under Discipline to focus search hits to sources relevant to law and sociology
- Under Subject Terms, check the boxes beside the subjects that interest you to focus your search results to your specific research areas of interest
- Click on Quick Look under the article title when you find an article that looks interesting
- Look at its assigned Subjects (tags)
- Add any relevant subjects to your search
- This will also help you develop your research topics and search for books and articles about them
6. 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 populations or issues in your research area
7. How do I preview the abstract/summary of articles in the list of search hits?
- Click on Preview below the article description
8. 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
9. How do I find articles that have cited an article I find in Mardigian Search?
- Web of Science
- Look for the Web of Science: [number] box to the right of your search hits - click on the number to get a list of articles that have cited your article
- If you don't see the Times Cited number, you need to connect to UM-Dearborn VPN. Follow the ITS VPN Setup Instructions to install VPN and go to the ITS VPN Troubleshooting page if you have any trouble installing or using VPN.
- To read the articles you identified as relevant in Web of Science:
- Enter the target article title in the above Mardigian Search box
- Click on the Full Text Online link or or the article title to access the full text of the article from the list of search hits
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
- 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 Criminology & Criminal Justice Librarian, Nadine Anderson, for help
