The starting place for your library search is through your research question. A well-articulated, focused question is required for an effective search of article databases and library catalogs. Without a good question it is difficult to determine the terminology for your search. If you don't have a well-defined research problem, don't panic! At least not yet. Use the library to come up with your research problem. Search Skyline for subject encyclopedias and browse the current periodicals area to see what other researchers are doing. With every thing you read ask, "Why?" or "How would results be different if...?"

Tip: in the discussion section of many research articles the author proposes further areas of inquiry. This means they are giving you ideas!

Encyclopedias, dictionaries: Tools for learning the vocabulary of a discipline.

Tip: A word search in Skyline using your term and the word "encyclopedias" will pull up specialized encyclopedias on the topic (example: vietnam and encyclopedias ). Subject encyclopedias are excellent tools for providing an overview of a topic or research area in a field.  A few sample reference sources covering time periods are:

Day by Day: the Sixties REF D840.P27 1983

Day by Day: the Seventies REF D848.L4 1988

Books on the sixties are found in a variety of locations but a good Library of Congress Subject classification heading would be United States-History-1961-1969. Try to pin down what you are looking for and do a word search on that topic. For example: music and the sixties, Black Panthers, or Woodstock. You may need to narrow your topic when you get too much information and also watch for false hits that are not really what you are looking for. Serendipity is often a great way to find books on your topic. When you find one good book on your topic, look at those around it and you may find even more.

Most databases are not 100% full text however, so there are two or three steps to get any article.

1. Identify the title of the journal. Be sure not to confuse this with the title of the article.
2. Search Skyline by Periodical Title, typing in the name of the journal title. If Auraria Library has the journal, a record will appear that shows complete information (status, location, call number, format). If we don't have it, go to the next step.
3. Search Gold Rush by Periodical Title. If Auraria Library owns a database that has full text from the journal, a record will appear that shows complete information (database name and a link to the database). If we don't have it, go to the next step.
4. ILL (Interlibrary Loan)- getting copies of journal articles that are not full text online. Some of the databases listed above contain full text articles online. Request the article through Interlibrary Loan/Document Delivery (ILL) via ILLIAD . This works really well, they mail you the article for free to your home. The downside is that it might take a week or two. So, give yourself time. If you don't have the time, go to Prospector and determine which library, if any, owns the journal locally. You can go to that library and make a copy of that article.

Doing effective searches online/Boolean Searching

You can save time and get better information by learning how to apply Boolean logic and other search strategies to your online searches.  All online keyword searches use some form of Boolean logic.

Boolean Logic allows you to combine keywords to make a search more precise.  The three combinations are:  AND, OR, NOT

AND - Narrows a search
example: protests and demonstrations   -- will retrieve all articles with both protests and demonstrations in the article.

OR - Expands a search
example: protests or demonstrations - will retrieve all articles with just protests, all articles with just demonstrations, and all articles with both protests and demonstrations.

NOT - Removes a term from a search
example: protests not demonstrations -- will retrieve all articles about protests but remove all articles with any mention of demonstrations.  Use NOT sparingly because you often lose many useful pieces of information.

• You can combine and, or, or not in your searches by using parentheses. 
  
  Example:  vietnam war and (protests or demonstrations)  -- will retrieve articles on "vietnam war and protests" and "vietnam war and demonstrations."
• Most systems also let you limit your search by looking for exact phrases, limiting by date, company name, images, etc.  Read the help screens to see what each system let's you do.
• CAUTION: How you use Boolean logic varies in different databases and different search engines E.G.  SOME SYSTEMS USE "+" INSTEAD OF and.   Find this information in the help screens.

For more about effective searching, ask a reference librarian or checkout this site on Boolean Searching.

Internet Sources

Lii.org (Librarians' Index to the Internet) is a well maintained source of quality web sites in many subject areas.

Google - This is a good way to find information but make sure you use the Advanced Search and limit your domain to gov or edu.

Tip: If you are searching on the Internet, remember the Library search tips and think about the reliability and accuracy of the information.