English Composition EN104: How do I conduct research?

The Discovery Search is the main search in the blue box on the Library's homepage. It searches all of our collections and databases. It works best for finding:

• Print and ebooks, especially for background information on a topic
• DVDs, Blurays, and streaming video
• Streaming music

If you're looking for scholarly articles for a specific academic field, we recommend you use one of our dedicated databases. See the Research Tools Tutorial or go to the A-Z Databases page, click the All Subject drop-down box, and select your research area.

For more information on using Google Scholar, see our Introduction to Library Research guide.

Searching databases is easy to do!

1. A keyword search is similar to that which you would use in Google.  Keep it short, don't use sentences, and feel free to use boolean operators for more specific searches.  Boolean operators include  AND, OR,  NOT.  
   1. For more information check out this document by Alliant Libraries.
2. Most databases also allow you to do a subject search.  Generally, along the left hand side there is an option to select subjects that are relevant to your topic of interest.  You see these after you run a keyword search.  You know how a hashtag works?  The subjects specific are just like hashtags!  Select one or a few to specify what kinds of articles you need.
3. Specifying how recently you would like the retrieved articles to be published is another way to narrow down the retrieval results.
4. By selecting "Full Text" you will limit your search to articles you are able to read immediately.