Here are standard search tools. You may find variations between databases in terms of the symbols to use and how they behave when executing a search. Check a database's documentation for details about searching and search examples.
Scroll through the tabs in this box to see various resources related to finding background information. For additional other ideas, for subjects not related to earth sciences, see the subject library guides for ideas about background information sources, or check with the science librarian. Just as one example, the biology library guide has a resource called "eLS", and encyclopedia of the life sciences.
Books and Ebooks can be a great source of background information. To search for them, go to Library Single Search. From the drag down menu, select books. Put in a search statement. Run your search. When the results come up, you can limit to eBook; to do so, see "Refine Results" on the upper right. Also, select "date descending" so that you see more recent items.
TIPS:
Formerly Encyclopedia of Life Sciences, this resource from Wiley contains over 5000 peer-reviewed articles. Access through 2024.
Tips for finding government resources: do a google search on advanced google search. In the interface, you can indicate that you want to search the .gov domain, that is web addresses containing .gov, to find government resources.
See the distinction between scholarly vs. popular, under the Evaluating Sources page.
ACADEMIC SEARCH ULTIMATE
Put in your search statement (for search tips, see help), run your search, and then on the left select the filters for newspapers and magazines. You can bring up journal articles in this database as well but won't need to do so for the exercise at this point.
Sort results by "Date Newest".
Indexes, abstracts and provides selective full-text for a broad spectrum of magazines, journals and newspapers.
Upgraded from Academic Search Premier in 2019.
RESEARCH LIBRARY
You can search for popular articles, specifically magazines and newspaper articles, in this database by putting in your search terms, running search, and then scrolling down to "Source Type" and clicking "Magazines" and "Newspapers". (You can also search for scholarly articles in this database, but for the exercise just use it for popular articles at this point.)
After running search, sort by "Most Recent First".
Covers 1987 - present.
NEWSPAPER SOURCES
1. Browse the list of newspaper databases here to find one's appropriate for your work in the class.
2. See the news link near the top in Advanced Google search results.
3. Elsevier: News category
Click here. Click on the magnifying glass at the top to the right of the text "journals and books". A box will open where you can search by your topic. Run your search. On the left, at "Article type", click "show more" and scroll down to select news.
ARTICLE SEARCH FROM LIBRARY AND TECHNOLOGY SVCS HOMEPAGE
You can also search for magazines and newspapers by going here. Put in your search and select articles from the dragdown menu. After clicking "search", on the right, under refine results, you can select magazines and news items.
Below are some databases that help you locate scholarly articles. Some of the databases listed overlap with the ones listed in the other tab, which focuses on popular articles. So some databases are multi-purpose! Figure out how to limit to *scholarly journal articles* in the first two databases below, which also have popular articles. For help, ask Brian Simboli.
If you don't find what you need, you can search for other relevant databases. For example, look at the library guides for economics or political science, which you can find here.
With any database, sort by most recent articles.
Remember that a special type of scholarly article consists of "review articles". In Web of Science, you can run a search and then restrict to review articles on the left of the search results. Annual Reviews consists of just review articles. (Don't mix up "peer review" with "review article": different concepts! The first describes how scholarly articles are usually evaluated, namely by "peers" a.k.a. experts. The second is a special *type* of scholarly article that gives a high level view of the literature.)
To search for scholarly articles, scroll down on the search interface. Under Publication Type, select Academic Journal.
Helps find current articles that cite earlier work. Covers STEM, social sciences, & arts and humanities. Has an emerging sources citation index. Useful for identifying review articles Note: Web of Science generally does not include conference proceedings in search results.
Google Scholar provides a simple way to broadly search for scholarly literature across many disciplines and sources. (Note: To maximize access to Lehigh resources, when in Google Scholar, go to Settings, then Library links. Type in Lehigh University and select the check box next to “Lehigh University - Lehigh Links.” If we do not subscribe to an article, this setting will enable a Lehigh Link to obtain the article via other access or interlibrary loan.)
Links to PDFs when available; excellent for finding specific articles or books.
You can also search for peer reviewed articles by going here. Put in your search and select articles from the dragdown menu. After clicking "search", on the right you can limit by academic journals.
See class exercise for examples of how to find review articles.
"Review articles" are a special type of scholarly article that provides a high-level overview of recent developments in a field. They can contain valuable bibliography. Often you can tell that an article is a review article because the title is somewhat more “generic” sounding than other articles that are much more narrowly focused and that report very specific research findings. Think of review articles as providing a sort of high-level background information before you start doing research.
If you are in a database and find an article citation without a link to full text, look for the Lehigh links, as below. Clicking on it brings up a screen (scroll down) from which you can access it or you will be prompted to look it up via ASA to see if it is in print, or you can order it via ILLiad. The information necessary to order it will be appear in the ILLiad screen. You can then order a copy of it. You will receive an email with a link to the article. Lehigh will order a copy of the article from another school, or it will scan a copy of it if Lehigh has a copy. Illiad requires a one time set-up.
Use ILLiad on Interlibrary Loan to request a PDF of an article that isn't available at Lehigh or a scanned PDF of a print article that Lehigh owns. You will get an email when the article is ready for download. Interlibrary loan has two flavors, ILLiad but also Palci. Palci is just for books that Lehigh does not have.
You can find books that Lehigh does not own by going to WorldCat, which comes in two flavors.
If you are reading an article or book and come across a citation for an article and want to find its full text, see this video: