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HIST 090: Wild, Wild West

Search Techniques

1.  Once you know your research interest, formulate it into a question and use the most important parts to generate keywords. Here, "Star Wars" and "myth" are the key parts of the topic, so those will be the keywords. 

2. You can then use Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT) to better refine your search. 

 

 

Find Books

Watch the video below to learn more about searching in ASA: the online library catalog.

Search for Articles

Characteristics:

  • Cover numerous topics
  • May contain multiple types of sources (e.g. popular, trade, scholarly)
  • Audience = educated readership

Examples:

View the video below for tips on searching for articles.

Characteristics:

  • Pertain to a particular discipline
  • Often contain scholarly sources, known as peer-reviewed articles
  • Articles are written and reviewed by experts in the field
  • Academic audience
  • Showcase original research

Examples:

Characteristics:

  • Written by columnists
  • Audience = general public
  • Full of images

Examples:

  • Sports Illustrated
  • Vogue

Characteristics:

  • Written by columnists, journalists, and/or reporters
  • Coverage = current events
  • Articles written at 8th grade reading level

Examples: