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.
When choosing a topic to research it can be helpful to look through recent journals or encyclopedias in your field of study. This may help spark ideas or pique your interest!
For argumentative papers, or current controversial issues try one of the databases below:
Source for information on social issues. Includes access to viewpoint articles, topic overviews, statistics, primary documents, links to websites, interactive maps, videos, streaming audio, and full-text magazine and newspaper articles.
In-depth coverage of important issues of the day. Reports are written by professional journalists, footnoted and fact-checked. Full-length articles include an overview, historical background, chronology, pro/con feature, and resources for additional research, some graphics and photos are included.
Explore some of these sites for more ideas on choosing a topic.
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
For in-depth help, book a research consultation appointment with a librarian.
Schedule an appointment using the appointment calendar below, or email any librarian directly to make an appointment.
What kinds of things can a Librarian help you with?
We can help you:
