If you find a book through SuperSearch that is only available in print, see if you can find it in the Internet Archive. You can borrow digitized copies of books for up to 14 days with a free account. Access is limited to one user at a time per book, so be sure to return the book as soon as you're done to make it available for others. Change "Metadata" to "Text Contents" to search for keywords in the full content of all of the Internet Archive's digitized books.
I hope this guide will provide some useful starting places for your research, as you work on your sourced papers. I'm available and happy to consult with you about any part of the research process, from finding and evaluating sources to understanding how to cite them. You can email me or make a a calendar appointment.
Karen​ Storz, Research & Instruction Librarian
SuperSearch can be a great place to get a panoramic view of a topic from a wide variety of sources. Some tips:
These search tips work in SuperSearch and most library databases.
Use quotation marks " " to search words as a phrase. This will narrow your results.
"self esteem"
Use AND to combine multiple concepts in your search. This will narrow your results.
selfie AND "self esteem"
Use OR to find different ways your topic could be expressed. This will expand your results. Group these related terms in parentheses, so the database interprets them first. The following search will find results that have either one of the phrases in parentheses along with selfie.
selfie AND ("self esteem" OR "body image")
Use an asterisk * to find variant endings (e.g., gender, gendered, feminine, femininity, etc.). This will expand your results, because again, you're providing more options.
selfie AND (gender* OR "sex role" OR feminin* OR ​masculin*)
Specialized encyclopedias, handbooks, companions, and other reference sources can be great places to explore a topic. They can summarize knowledge around a topic, synthesize scholarly discussions, define key concepts, and help you find keywords for further searches. They often include bibliographies as well, making them a good resource for identifying key books and articles on a topic. Try searching for a topic in one of the following databases to search multiple reference sources at once.
Hundreds of full-text academic encyclopedias, dictionaries, and other sources for introductions to topics, definitions, or factual information. Includes subject-specific titles from art, literature, education, science, religion, history and more.
Search across full-text encyclopedias, dictionaries, and other reference books in a variety of subject areas.
Annotated bibliographies for a variety of subject areas.
Over 400 full-text academic encyclopedias, language dictionaries, books of quotations, and other sources. Includes subject-specific titles from art, classics, history, law, linguistics, literature, media studies, medicine, performing arts, philosophy, religion, science and technology, politics, and more.
Search across more than 100 full text encyclopedias, dictionaries, and other reference works in the social and behavioral sciences.