7 Steps for Using Library Databases
- Library website
- Select Library Resources and Databases from the Research tab
- Choose a database
- If you know the name of the database, select Library Resources A to Z.
- If you are not sure of what database to use, select Library Resources
by Subject.
- Set search limits
- Check the box next to Scholarly or Peer Reviewed to only search for journal articles.
- Limit to recently published information (3-5 years).
- Use keywords
- Only use the main points of the topic as your keywords.
- Keywords work better in databases than phrases or questions to give you more control over your search.
- Search tips
- Use AND to combine your main keywords together
- Use OR when similar terms are used interchangeably
- Use NOT to eliminate a keyword in your results
- Abstract or full text
- An abstract is only a summary of a journal article.
- Full-text is the entire article. You can print, cite email or save a full-text article in a database.
- Interlibrary Loan
- Articles not in full-text can be requested through an Interlibrary Loan from the 360 Link.
- Articles will be delivered in 2-72 hours to your Trocaire email.