Homeland Security

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 keywords in a general search in any one of our recommended databases or inside DragonQuest:

• Homeland Security AND Mission
• History of US Homeland Security
• Extremism in America
• National Disasters AND Homeland Security
• Civil Liberties AND Homeland Security
• Posse Comitatus Act
• Medical Pandemic AND Homeland Security
• Terrorist Attack AND Homeland Security
• Intelligence Community AND Homeland Security
• “Old Terrorism”
• “New Terrorism”
• Terrorism AND Warfare
• Counterintelligence
• Cyber Intelligence
• Nationwide Suspicious Activity Reporting

Subject Strategies

Searching for results by subject heading, rather than by keywords, can help you focus your search in new directions. Consider these subject search options:

• “National Security”
• Counterterrorism
• International Terrorism
• Extremism
• Right Wing Terrorism
• Left Wing Terrorism
• Biosurveillance
• Terrorism–Prevention
• Bioterrorism
• Cyberterrorism

The following image shows you how to change your search to a subject search by using the dropdown menu inside DragonQuest:

Research Starters

Need some extra guidance? Try a Research Starter:

• Terrorism

• “September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks”

• USA PATRIOT Act

• Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS)

• Timothy McVeigh

• Mathematical analysis and intelligence and counterintelligence

• Cryptography (military communications)

• National Security Agency (NSA)

• Hamas (Harakat al-Muqawamah al-Islamiyyah), AKA: Islamic Resistance Movement

• Electronic surveillance

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:

Searching Specific Databases

For a narrowed search experience, you may want to try searching through individual databases. Use our A to Z list and narrow by subject, as shown in the following image:

If you'd like additional guidance on using Academic Writer, we recommend the following tutorial: