Citation and proper attribution of sources rest at the core of academic research. Musselman Library provides a Citation Guide to the major citation styles with links to helpful resources online.
Scopus will be a great database to use when finding articles, but feel free to use whatever resources connect you to the kinds of primary research articles you'll need.
This image summarizes some of the Scopus search interface's basic features. Hover over or click on an icon to learn more about the associated feature.
After you've done a keyword search, you'll see a few menus on the left side of your screen. You can use these menus to limit and refine your result set.
You'll find information about some of the most useful menus below. Click on them to learn more about what they do.
It's important to bring yourself up to speed on a new topic by establishing a baseline understanding. This step usually involves finding definitions for various terms and concepts, getting a general sense of the history of the issue, learning about notable researchers associated with the topic, and identifying further readings. Here are two good starting places for background information:
Google is going to be a useful tool for settling on a topic and finding some basic background information to support your research. The best thing about Google is also its biggest drawback: it searches so much information at once that it risks overwhelming you with results.
If you want to become a Google expert, try using a site search to eliminate useless noise and leave yourself with just the kinds of results you want to see. A site search tells Google to only give you results that match a specific URL or top-level domain that you specify. The syntax looks like this:
site:domain/url_whatever keywords you would normally enter
Test your understanding of Google site searches by typing the syntax you would use to find the information described in each prompt.
We individually selected each of the encyclopedias and reference sources you'll find in this online database. Just use the search box to locate short encyclopedia entries on your topic. You can even use the references at the bottom of any encyclopedia entry to learn about other books or articles worth reading.
If you're just searching for books, music scores, DVDs, or CDs in our collection, then MUSCAT Plus will be your best option. The catalog also contains all of the e-books we subscribe to, and you're able to read those anywhere at any time.
