This page will provide you with some tips and tricks to make your research a breeze! If you still can't find what you need, please don't hesitate to contact the library! You can find our contact information and more on the Get Help page.
To get you started, here are some general search strategies:
Keyword Strategies
Use these strategies in a general search in any one of our recommended databases or inside DragonQuest:
- A work written about an author will require that you search for their name in first name last name order (example: Mark Twain). If you want to find a work about an author, enter their name in first and last name order in the search box.
- To ensure that your search returns results about the correct person, put their name in quotation marks (example: "Mark Twain"). This will return only results where the words Mark and Twain appear together in the book or article.
- A written work by an author will require that you search for their name in last name first name order (Example: Twain, Mark). You can use this search in a key word or author search. Change your search type by using the dropdown arrow next to your DragonQuest search box.
- To search for any resource containing the title of the work, use a keyword search, and type in the title using quotation marks to ensure that your search returns the correct title (example: "Young Goodman Brown"). If you are looking for the work itself, adjust your search to a title search instead.
Research Starters
Need some extra guidance? Try a Research Starter:
What is a Research Starter?
Research Starters are encyclopedia entries, so they are more of an "idea gathering" mechanism than a scholarly source to support your stance on an issue. They provide you with background information on a broad topic and highlight keywords you can use and/or links to source material to get you started on your research.
Narrowing DragonQuest Search Results
If you'd like to know how to narrow down your DragonQuest list to only full text, peer reviewed, or specific types of resources, we recommend the following tutorial:
DragonQuest Advanced SearchingAdvanced search tab of the DragonQuest tutorial which discusses methods for focusing a search to a more specific type of item.
