MUS 400: Senior Seminar: Tips and Tricks

Various Databases may be helpful to you. To review, the steps in finding articles are:

• Choose appropriate abstract, index or full-text databases. (See list on Getting Started page.) Appropriateness is determined by several things: the subjects covered by the resource, the years covered, the types of periodicals indexed (e.g., popular or scholarly), etc.
• Look up subject terms. Choosing the best terms calls for flexibility, imagination, and alertness to clues. Look for a thesaurus or something that allows you to 'select from a list' for help in determining subject terms used by the resource.
• Identify and select promising articles. In some cases you will have access to only a citation or abstract. If so, look for the button or the words Connect@Hutchins to determine if Berea has online access to full-text through another resource. This link will automatically search Berea's Journals Available. If the title is included in one of these databases or in Hutchins Library (as a print or microform title), the listing will provide a link to the database(s) or BANC and indicate which years are covered. You may also search the Journals Available by ISSN or subject.
• Select and save, email or print citations, abstracts or full-text articles.
• If a print or microform periodical title is accessed via BANC, locate articles in current periodicals area, bound periodicals stacks, circulating collection stacks, reference area, Special Collections, on microform (film or fiche), or in limited access (pre 1940). If Hutchins does not have the journal but you deem it important to your research, you may be able to secure it through interlibrary loan.  Check with a member of the reference desk staff if you have any questions about the process.

Evaluation of Articles and Websites

In addition to selecting and learning to exploit the most appropriate databases for your topic (see list on Getting Started page), consider creating a personal folder within the EBSCO environment.  Get started by clicking the 'Sign In' link found in the upper right corner of the screen.  Then click on 'Create a new Account', located in the upper right corner of the next window.

You can store citations and links to articles in JSTOR by creating a free personal account, MyJSTOR.  Get started by clicking the 'Login' link found in the upper right corner of the screen.  Then fill in the registration information on the next page.  Unlike myEBSCO, this will provide only ONE storage area, but it's still great to be able to quickly save those citations for easy retrieval at a later time.

George Boole was a 19^th century mathematician and philosopher (1815-1864).  He invented what we refer to as Boolean logic, a method of combining factors to limit or increase results.  Boolean logic utilizes the operators AND, OR, and NOT to describe what will or will not be included in search results.

Check out the related Library Guide, Database Searching: Using Boolean to Empower Your Search to "Brush up on your Boolean."

After you've checked the library's online catalog, you may want to check to see what other nearby libraries have on your topic.  This also provides a way for you to identify books you may wish to request through InterLibrary Loan.