While you might still want to search Google when you begin your research, you should quickly move into the academic databases you can access through the library homepage.
Unlike Google, these databases:
The downside is that the strategies you found successful in searching Google will not work so well in these databases. These are much more sophisticated tools! You will need to learn how to use them effectively. But, the little time it will take you to learn will pay off very quickly in time saved searching more efficiently.
We subscribe to dozens and dozens and dozens of databases. Each is unique, yet there is lots of overlap, too. Many lead you to the scholarly literature in a particular subject area, like psychology or art history. Some cover several related fields, like Proquest Social Science Premium or Humanities Fulltext. As part of your work in your major, hopefully, you will be introduced to the most useful databases in your field.
To see the databases in your field and find out who the librarian specialist is in that subject, visit the Databases List which you can access by clicking on the Databases tab on the library homepage.
And, you can always use the Chat Service (see the Chat box below!) to get advice about which database to use!
Image by Pete Linforth from Pixabay.
Yes! You can have a live chat with a real librarian by asking a question in the box below. It may not be an SCU librarian, but, it will be a librarian who will be able to direct you to our resources.
Image courtesy flickr user library_mistress