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
- finding specific articles
2. 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
3. How do I find a peer-reviewed journal article about my case study?
- For your case study, you should do research about the traumatic injuries and pathology
- Enter your traumatic injury and its specific location in the search box and click Go
- Use the options in the Refine Your Search sidebar to focus your search hits to peer-reviewed articles
- Check the box beside Peer Reviewed
- Check the box beside Journal Article under the Content Type heading
Example Case Study: "The Bones of New York"
A jogger is out on a foggy Thursday morning and, while running through a forested path in Central Park, notices some oddly shaped white objects poking out from under a bush. The move closer and notice that they look like bones and that there are clothes nearby as well. They call the cops, the cops come and call the forensic anthropologist, and the case begins....the victim is a female of Caucasian origin in her thirties. Two of her ribs are broken (comminuted fractures) and her left leg (long bone) has a gunshot wound.
To find research articles about her traumatic injuries:
-
- Search: rib* comminuted fracture
- Search: "long bone*" gunshot wound*
- rib* searches for rib and ribs
- "long bone" searches for long bone as a phrase, not separate words
- Under Refine Your Search, check the box beside Peer Reviewed and check the box beside Journal Article under Content Type
4. I have too many irrelevant search hits. How do I focus them?
- Click on Quick Look 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
5. How do I know my search words match the tags assigned to articles about my research question?
- As you scroll through the search hits, click on Quick Look and look at the Subjects (tags) assigned to the relevant articles you find
- See if they match your search words - if they don't change your search words accordingly
- Subjects (tags) also help you identify the specific populations or issues in your research area
6. How do I preview the abstract/summary of articles in the list of search hits?
- Click on Quick Look below the article title to look at the abstract of the article
7. 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
8. 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 sources about that topic. Try different search words that mean the same thing.
- 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 Anthropology Librarian, Nadine Anderson, for help
