InfoHawk+
InfoHawk+
Our library catalog. Useful for finding physical things in the library like books. Also searches through SOME, BUT NOT ALL of our databases. Good place to start searching for resources at the beginning of a project.
- InfoHawk+
- Can use Boolean operators and filters here, like you can in databases
- Can also get you access to books and articles the library doesn't have access to through the InterLibrary Loan system, a link to which can be found in the Find Online section of a resource's InfoHawk+ page
- A great resource for this project might be scholarly books! Publishers of scholarly books are usually called something like "XYZ University Press" or "NAME OF SCHOOL Press"
Finding Scholarly Articles
Finding Scholarly Articles
Here is a rough outline of the steps to finding research using databases. If you have any questions about this process, please feel free to contact me or make an appointment. My contact information is in the box below.
To find academic articles, search a variety of databases
- Select a database
- Place your search term in the search box (EX: sopranos)
- Link concepts with boolean phrases (and, or, not) (EX: sopranos NOT music)
- Place phrases in quotations (EX: "The Sopranos")
- To limit results, try limiting the publication date range
- To expand results, find a source you like and then click a topic underneath the search result record for that article
- Repeat this process across different databases, making sure you use the same keywords
- Grab new keywords from the resources that come up in your searches to further refine future searches and research questions
Librarian
100 Main Library
Iowa City, IA 52242
Databases
Databases of Scholarly Articles
Search through many scholarly journals at once. Best place to start looking for scholarly articles. Save you a lot of time and energy. Have their own searching techniques.
- Film and Television Literature Index This link opens in a new windowCan find both academic sources and non-scholarly sources here, depending on what you want to look for and how you set up your filters. Because it is very focused on film and television, it might be very useful for this assignment and this class in general.
- Communication and Mass Media Complete This link opens in a new windowA database that might be useful for other Communication Studies classes you might take in the future. A bit broader than Film and Television Index, so might be good to check if you want to see a different set of potential resources.
- Academic Search Elite This link opens in a new windowOne of our broadest databases. If you feel like you aren't finding enough results with the more specific databases above, then try this one. Because it's so broad though, you might have to make your searches a lot more specific with your keywords, filters, Boolean operators, and other instructions to find the most relevant results for your questions.
- JSTOR (Journal Storage) This link opens in a new window
This link opens in a new window
Another very broad database. Might be good to search to see a different perspective than those in the above databases because it is from another database company.
Guides
Guides to Other Potentially Relevant Databases
Librarians have found some of the best places to find articles about every subject taught at the University of Iowa. Here are links to a few guides they've created for subjects that might be relevant to your particular projects. Good to look through after using the above databases, which are more specifically relevant to your assignment.
Google Scholar
Google Scholar
You can also use Google Scholar to search for scholarly material that the University of Iowa has access to! To learn how to do so, please follow the steps below.
- Step 1: Go to Google Scholar homepage
- Step 2: Click on the three lines on top left of page, and in resulting menu click Settings
- Step 3: Click on Library Links
- Step 4: In the search box near the middle of the page, under "Show library access links...", type in "University of Iowa" and press Enter or click the magnifying glass next to the search box
- Step 5: Click on the check mark box next to "University of Iowa - ViewIt@ULink!" so that a check mark appears
- Step 6: Click "Save" button
- After you do that, it should send you back to the Google Scholar homepage, and now whenever you search it will provide links to University of Iowa resources that you can access when available!