How to Search OneSearch
What is OneSearch?
OneSearch is a search engine that allows you to search simultaneously for books, articles, and more available at SCU Library within many of our databases, library catalog, and digital library collections in a single search interface. It can be a good starting point for interdisciplinary research, which you then might augment with some discipline-specific databases. Access OneSearch directly on the Library homepage.
Why should I use OneSearch? It can:
- save you time
- be a good starting point for interdisciplinary research
- help you to discover which specialized databases to use for further research
- display most relevant results first, whether they are books, scholarly articles, media, or digital content
- help you to discover content that you won’t find if you only search a single database like Academic Search Complete
How to Specific Databases
While OneSearch may be good for getting started in interdisciplinary or lower division courses, selecting and using databases specific to a particular discipline can be a more effective and efficient strategy for upper division or discipline-specific courses.
Example: For a psychology major or topic, using APA PsycInfo is likely to be a better strategy
Example: For a business major or topic, using Business Source Complete may make more sense
To locate databases specific to a discipline, select "Databases" off the Library homepage and then "Browse by Subject". Your subject librarian has listed recommended databases; reach out for help selecting or using those tools.
When starting your initial search in a database, use keywords that best describes your topic. Use the connector "AND" between your keywords or enter keywords in different search boxes. For example if you are interested in racial identity development in teenagers, you could do a search like this:
You can use synonyms or related terms to describe your topics. For example, "adolescent" is a synonym for "youth" in the search above.
You can also use an asterisk at the end of a word to retrieve various endings. For example, adolescent* would retrieve adolescent and adolescents.
When you look at your list of results in the database, If the full-text of an article is not readily available, click on the FIND IT @ SCU LIBRARIES icon to see if it's available in another database or in print in the library. If it's not you will have the option of using the Interlibrary Loan Service. It's free and very fast!
Recommended Databases
Humanities Databases:
- America: History and Life with Full Text This link opens in a new windowThis database covers the history and culture of the United States and Canada from prehistory to the present. With selective indexing for 1,700 journals from 1964 to the present, this database also provides full-text coverage of more than 196 journals and more than 92 books.
- Historical Abstracts with Full Text This link opens in a new windowThis database covers the history of the world (except the United States and Canada) from 1450 forward. It provides selective indexing of historical articles from more than 1,800 journals in over 40 languages back to 1955, as well as access to the full text of more than 316 journals and more than 138 books.
- MLA International Bibliography with Full Text This link opens in a new windowIndexes scholarly research published in journal articles, books, articles in books, and dissertations in the fields of modern languages and their literatures, linguistics, rhetoric and composition, folklore, and film. Includes the full text of more than 1,000 journals in these fields. Also includes the MLA Directory of Periodicals. 1926 - present.
Social Sciences Databases:
- GenderWatch This link opens in a new windowGenderWatch enhances gender and women's studies, and gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (GLBT) research by providing authoritative perspectives from 1970 to present. GenderWatch provides access to over 300 titles, with more than 250 in full-text, from an array of academic, radical, community and independent presses.
- LGBTQ+ Source This link opens in a new windowContains all of the content available in LGBT Life as well as full text for more than 140 of the most important and historically significant LGBTQ+ journals, magazines and regional newspapers, plus full text for 150 monographs/books. The database includes comprehensive indexing and abstract coverage as well as a specialized LGBTQ+ Thesaurus containing over 10,000 terms.
- Sociological Abstracts This link opens in a new windowThis database is a primary resource for accessing the latest research in sociology and related disciplines in the social and behavioral sciences. The database draws information from an international selection of over 2,600 journals and other serials publications, plus conference papers, books, and dissertations. Records added after 1974 contain in-depth and nonevaluative abstracts of journal articles. 1963-present. Updated monthly.
- Women's Studies International This link opens in a new windowThe ultimate women's studies resource! Includes over 540,000 records drawn from a variety of essential women's studies databases. 1972-present.
- Communication Source This link opens in a new windowThe most comprehensive resource for scholars studying mass media, communication theory, linguistics, organizational communication, rhetoric & discourse, phonetics, and speech pathology. It includes the full text of more than 600 publications (academic journals, conference papers, magazines, and periodicals). Coverage goes back to 1915.
- Ethnic NewsWatch This link opens in a new windowEthnic NewsWatch™ is really two databases, a current one, beginning in 1990 and including newspapers, magazines, and journals of the American ethnic and minority press, including scholarly ethnic studies journals.This is updated daily with new content. The other database is a historical file covering the years 1959-1989, incuding a rare collection of over 30 full-text titles, focusing on African American, Hispanic American, and Native American presses from 1959-1989.
- Criminal Justice Database This link opens in a new windowA comprehensive database supporting research on crime, its causes and impacts, legal and social implications, as well as litigation and crime trends. The database covers criminology, corrections & law enforcement, criminal law, criminal justice, criminal rehabilitation, industrial crime, addictions (e.g., gambling), and child abuse. 1981-present.
- Political Science Complete This link opens in a new windowPolitical Science Complete contains full-text for more than 520 journals and indexing & abstracts for over 2,900 titles, including top-ranked scholarly journals. The database has a worldwide focus, reflecting the globalization of contemporary political discourse. The database also features over 340 full-text reference books and monographs and over 36,000 full-text conference papers. The subject specific thesaurus contains over 17,500 terms to aid researchers.
Multidisciplinary Databases:
- Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new windowA multidisciplinary database providing access to more than 8,500 full-text periodicals, including more than 7,300 peer-reviewed journals. It also offers indexing and abstracts for more than 12,500 journals. Covers a wide range of academic topics including business, education, social sciences, humanities, science, & engineering. Coverage varies, with some publications going back to 1911.
- Humanities Full Text (H.W. Wilson) This link opens in a new windowIndexes and abstracts English-language articles in the most important journals in the humanities, from 1984-present. The full text of many of these articles is available online from 1995 forward. Updated daily. For indexing of articles appearing prior to 1984, use Humanities & Social Sciences Index Retrospective.
- JSTOR This link opens in a new windowProvides image and full-text online access to back issues of selected scholarly journals in history, economics, political science, demography, mathematics, biology, and other fields of the humanities, social sciences, and life sciences. Consult the online tables of contents for holdings, as coverage varies for each title. Updated monthly.
Education and Psychology Databases:
- APA PsycArticles This link opens in a new windowProvides access to more than 100 important journals in all subject areas relevant to psychology. Journals published by the American Psychological Association, the Canadian Psychological Association, and English language journals from Hogrefe Publishing are included. Most titles are covered from volume one to the present. Citations in PsycINFO have links to the full-text in PsycARTICLES.
- Education Full Text (H.W. Wilson) This link opens in a new windowIndexes and abstracts over 500 professional and scholarly education journals. Dates of coverage vary by title, but some go back to 1983. For 250 of the journals, full-text of the articles is provided, some back to 1994, but most for only the most recent 5 years.
Business Databases:
- Business Source Complete This link opens in a new window1,700 full-text, peer-reviewed journals. 1,600 business trade and general business publications. Additional full-text non-journal content includes financial data, books, monographs, major reference works, conference proceedings, case studies, investment research reports, industry reports, market research reports, country reports, company profiles, SWOT analyses, faculty seminars (video) and more