Make an Appointment
Book a research consultation with one of your MSMU librarians!
Email Us - library@msmu.edu
Your question will be answered by a librarian within 24 hours.
Call Us
Coe - Chalon: 310.954.4370
McCarthy - Doheny: 213.477.2750
Drop In
Stop by the Circulation Desk at either library and ask in person.
Enter your search terms in the Find field on the Basic Search screen.
Click the Search Options link, if you would like to use any of the optional Limiters or Expanders. To close the Search Options, click the link again.
Select a specific search mode, such as "Find all of my search terms," or "SmartText Searching."
Apply Limiters such as Full Text or Publication type; or use search options that expand your search, such as "Apply related words."
Click the Search button. The Result List displays.
The search field is displayed above the Result List. Your search terms, limiters and expanders are retained.
To revise your search, you can apply the limiters under Limit To on the left or click the Show More link to view all available limiters.
Using the Basic Search
Place words within quotation marks to search for exact phrases (“to be or not to be”).
Use Boolean operators to construct a better search (“tea trade” AND china).
Full-Text
Checking the Full-text limit will restrict your search to only search and retrieve records containing full-text.
Peer-Reviewed
Checking the Peer-reviewed limit will restrict your search to only search and retrieve records that are indexed in peer-reviewed journals. Peer-reviewed journals are a subset of scholarly journals and are defined as journals that undergo a review process where other experts (peers) in the field review the work before it is published in the journal. Peer-reviewed journals are also commonly known as refereed journals.
With Google Scholar you can search across many disciplines and sources: articles, theses, books, abstracts, and court opinions, from academic publishers, professional societies, online repositories, universities, and other web sites.
Search Google Scholar from here:
To do this from the Google Scholar homepage:
Search these databases to find scholarly peer-reviewed journal articles, magazine articles, and news on a broad range of subjects.
PRO TIP
If you are looking for scholarly or peer-reviewed articles, most databases have a search limiter you can select to narrow to only scholarly/peer-reviewed. Look for this option to narrow your search, there will most likely be a box for you to check.
Database spanning a broad stretch of academic subjects with thousands of full-text journals, as well as abstracted and indexed journals.
Search across all of EBSCO's databases in a wide range of academic disciplines.
Collection of databases in the following academic disciplines: News & Newspapers, The Arts, Business, Health & Medicine, History, Literature & Language, Science & Technology, and Social Sciences.
Search across all of Gale's databases in areas such as literature, current events, religion, history, philosophy, and health.
Broad multidisciplinary collection of online resources covering life, health and physical sciences, social science, and the humanities. It includes journal articles, online books, reference works, laboratory protocols, and databases.
Virtually all journals that MSMU has full-text access to online are indexed in our E-Journal search. Simply type in the title, hit search, and you will find all the databases where you can access the journal.
If you don't have the full citation, try using Google Scholar to find the article. Check out Google Scholar Search Tips here.
If you cannot find the article using the first 2 steps, we probably do not have immediate full-text access to the article, but that doesn't mean that we cannot get it for you! Try requesting it through Document Delivery.
Articles are usually delivered within 2-3 business days.Library databases don't search using full sentences. Instead, they use keywords and boolean logic.
Your best bet is to use keywords to search to get the results you are looking for.
Keywords are the essential words in your research question that focus on the main concepts you are interested in.
Other filler words are non-essential to the search process.
The keywords are highlighted and bracketed in the research question below:
Research question: What is the connection between [race] and [police brutality]?
Keywords: your keywords and key phrases are then "race" and "police brutality"
Boolean logic is a system that shows relationships between sets of keywords, terms, or subjects by using the words AND, OR, and NOT. In library databases, we use these terms to specify exactly what we are looking for when we perform a search.
The term Boolean comes from the name of the man who invented this system, George Boole.
Using connecting words like AND, OR, & NOT can help you find what you are looking for.
Learn more about keywords and other search techniques with this guide from UCLA: Search Techniques
Sometimes called scholarly, peer-reviewed, academic, or even "refereed', these terms all refer to journals that require review by a group of experts in the field before an article can be published. These experts are looking for things like appropriate methodology, proper research, and citations, advancements to the field, etc.
When searching for articles, look for the option to narrow your search by peer-reviewed, scholarly, or ‘refereed’ materials. There will most likely be a box you can check to limit your search.
Learn more about the peer-review process in this video from the University of Kansas: Peer Review In Three Minutes
These resources are great for fact-checking, quick and basic information, and topic overviews. They can also be a great place to start when researching a new topic that you are not familiar with. Finding basic information on a topic can help you understand what to look for in more advanced searches.
Academic encyclopedia and dictionary entries defining and introducing topics in all disciplines. Entries include images, topics, titles, and mind maps.
This database provides over 25,000 encyclopedic entries covering a variety of subject areas.
OED is widely regarded as the accepted authority on the English language. A guide to the meaning, history, and pronunciation of 600,000 words past and present from across the English-speaking world.
Online reference materials spanning 25 diverse subject areas. Includes entries from the Oxford University Press Dictionaries, Companions, and Encyclopedias, and Oxford Reference series.
This link opens in a new window