Quick Guide to Clapp Library Locations
Call # / Location | |
Books & Videos A-DZ Knapp Multimedia Ctr Computer Classroom |
First Floor |
Computing Help Desk |
Second Floor |
Books & Videos E-PM PLTC |
Third Floor |
Books & Videos PN-Z Archives Special Collections Book Arts Lab |
Fourth Floor |
This guide provides some useful starting places and strategies for doing research for this course. I'm happy to consult with you on any aspect of your research, from developing a research question to finding, evaluating, and citing sources. Email me or make a calendar Zoom appointment!
- Karen Storz, Research & Instruction Librarian
These tips work in SuperSearch and most databases.
Use quotation marks " " to search words as a phrase. This will narrow your results.
"birth control"
Use AND to combine multiple concepts in your search. This will narrow your results.
"birth control" AND medieval
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 any one of the terms in the first set of parentheses along with any one of the terms in the second set.
("birth control" OR contraception) AND (medieval OR "middle ages")
Use an asterisk * to find variant endings. This will expand your results.
("birth control" OR contracept*) AND (medieval OR "middle ages")
Databases can contain a combination of full text articles (ready to read online) and citation information about articles, book chapters, or books. To find additional databases relevant to your research interests, go to the Library's Databases A-Z list and use the Subjects menu.
Search Tip: Some databases search a relatively small amount of information about each source by default, rather than the full text of the source itself. Trying a variety of keywords is often essential to getting good results in many databases. Make note of relevant keywords and subject terms that come up in your initial searches, and use those terms to find more.
Peer reviewed articles and book reviews of world history (excluding the US and Canada), 1450 CE to present and searchable by historical time period.
Try a keyword search. Once you find a book that is relevant to your topic, click on the title of that book, then look for Subjects to help you find "more like this."
Sample keyword search:
leads to linked subject terms and more books on this topic:
Not finding enough, or an item checked out? Search WorldCat and request a copy through Interlibrary Loan.
Five major collections of letters from 15th-century England, covering topics including family, business, relationships, trade, politics, and community. Supporting material is also included, such as wills, deeds, account books, family trees, an interactive map, chronology, and visual resources (images from historic manuscripts illustrating everyday life and political developments in the late medieval period).
Dates: 1400-1490 CE
Primary sources describing real and fictitious travel in the Middle Ages, with accompanying scholarly essays and brief biographies of travelers. The main geographic focus is the Holy Land, central Asia, India, and China. Most documents are in English, French, and Latin.
Dates: 1300-1600 CE