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 keywords of your topic and use those as your search words.
- Each article has tags assigned to it, words or shorts phrases that make each article searchable
- You want your search words to match those tags
- Words like impact, factors, effects, or effective are not used as tags
- Example topic: What factors affect the identity development of LGBT teenagers?
- Search: identity development lgbt teenagers.
- teen* searches for teen, teens, teenager, and teenagers
- If you've chosen a comparison topic, you probably won't be able to find article that cover both of the topics you're comparing, for example comparing daycares to at-home parenting
- Do separate searches for each topic, i.e. a separate search for daycare and and a separate search for at-home parenting
- You will make the connections between articles in order to make pro and con comparisons, for example by finding an effect or impact that interests you in your articles about daycare and your articles about at-home parenting and comparing findings
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 hits to meet my assignment requirements?
- Use Refine Your Search options to focus your search results
- Peer-reviewed articles:
- Check Peer Reviewed
- Check Journal article under Content Type
- Under Publication Date, move the scroll bar over to your preferred oldest year of publication
5. I have too many irrelevant search hits. How do I focus them?
- Use the options under Refine Your Search to focus your search results
- Under Discipline, check relevant disciplines to focus your search results to those disciplines, i
- Under Subject Terms, check the 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
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 issues around your topic so you can give it direction and develop it into a focused research question
7. How do I preview the abstract/summary of articles in the list of search hits?
- Click on Quick Look below the article title
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 research question. 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
