English 100/105 Prof Jones

Plan Your Search Strategy

​Identify the main concepts of your topic. Make a list of synonyms/similar words and related terms for each concept. These are the keywords you will later type into OneSearch or another library database. Example:

Then decide which concepts or keywords you will search in what combination.

Think about your search limits. Do you want to limit your search to current materials or do you need a historical view? Are you looking for scholarly or popular resources? What are the requirements of the assignment?  What search tool will help you find the resources you need?

Combine Keywords/Concepts

Searching databases requires a little more search structure than our average  Google Search.

Always try more than one search!

You can combine your keywords using AND, OR & NOT 

For more about structuring your searches in databases using AND, OR, & NOT (what librarians call Boolean Logic), watch the following videos:

Search Tips

• When AND is between two words, your search results will be limited to sources that contain both words.
  • For example African American  AND intruder syndrome

•   OR expands your search since either word can appear in your search results.
  • For example Young women OR adolescent females

• Use quotations (know as "phrase searching") to limit the search results.  The words in quotation marks will be searched as an exact phrase
  • For examples: "African Diaspora"   "Undocumented Worker"   "Social Media"   "Social Anxiety" 

• Use an asterisk* for alternate word endings,
  • For example: teach* will pull results containing teaching, teach, teacher, etc. 

​Our library has access to more than 50 databases, many of them tailored for specific fields such as art, business, literature, medicine, and psychology.  We have a complete list of our databases listed alphabetically or by subject on our library website. 

Not sure what database to choose?

Start with Skyline College Library's   

OneSearch provides simple, one-stop searching for books and e-books, videos, articles, digital media, and more;  it combines the contents of many of our library database subscriptions

To Find books & articles in our library, use the search strategies illustrated in the previous section:
 Database Searching - Structure your search.

Watch the following OneSearch video about how to:

• Search
• Limit your search results
• Get the full text of an article or eBook
• Copy citation information

OneSearch Search Steps 

If you're looking for information about Media in relation to mental health or education for example, the psychological impact of Instagram on young African American women, this set of database might be helpful.

Quick Search  

1. To find Literary Criticism about a novel, story, poem, film, or writer, in the search box, ENTER  the name of the literary work AND/or the name of the author (last name, first). Then click the search icon.

   

2. Search results should appear.  You can limit your search results to literacy criticism by clicking "Literary Criticism", just below the search box.

   

3. To access information and (if available) the full text of the article, click on the title of an article.

   

4.   On the Article page, you'll find the article abstract/summary,  publication information about the article, and the article itself is available.   On the article page, you will also find options to save the article to google drive, email or save it, as well as cite information for MLA and other formats.

   

Link to Gale Literature Center 

(Note:  You'll have to log in; use the same username and password you use for canvas.)

Additional Information

More about Searching this database