Search Tips
WestSearch may be good place to start to find a few full-text articles to start you off.
- Limit your results to peer-reviewed.
- This source prioritizes content we have in full-text. You will need to go deeper than that.
Google Scholar can be used for discovery and targeted research.
- Google Scholar has some huge advantages like links to bibliographies for articles and links to related articles.
- Set up your Library Links in Google Scholar to get the most out of it (if you are working off-campus.)
- The links to WCSU full-text will usually take you right to the article, but you can drill down if they don't.
- Use Journal Finder to double-check those with no links or citations from bibliographies.
Direct search in databases
- Many of the databases are pre-limited to full-text. Be sure to uncheck that box to get abstracts and citations.
- If you see a certain database title come up repeatedly in WestSearch and/or Google Scholar, try a direct search in that resource.
Direct search within a journal
Mine bibliographies for resources.
- When you find a good article, examine the bibliography and track down the articles by finding the journal in Journal Finder.
Interlibrary Loan (ILL) Requests
- Keep ILL open in another tab to make it easy to copy and paste citation info for requests.
- Be sure to check Journal Finder before making requests!
Stay Organized
- Consider creating a spreadsheet with the citation info for articles you find with added notes.
- Try a reference manager to manage your reasearch. I like Mendeley and can help get you started.
