How to Find Information Using Library Resources
How to Find Information Using Library Resources
Hello everyone! If a professor asked you to do some research for a project, and said to use the library to find that information, how would you begin?
There are many ways to approach library searches, and we have many techniques and skills here on this page to help you with that. Please check out the videos below to learn more about finding books and articles here at the University of Iowa Libraries!
Also, if you ever have any questions about the techniques on this page and finding resources in general, please always feel free to ask librarians for help! My contact information is at the bottom of the page, but you can also always ask any other librarians you see as well.
Library Homepage: (https://www.lib.uiowa.edu/)
How to Create Your Searches
How to Create Your Searches
One of the first steps to find information in the library is understanding what to search for. What specific words that you type in will allow you to find the most relevant information possible?
Learn more about finding those specific words, and creating your own searches with various words, in the video below!
How to Create Your Searches
View in Panopto (upper-right pointing arrow) for full-screen.
Add this direct link to ICON or other webpages:
How to Find Academic Articles in a Database
How to Find Academic Articles in a Database (Academic Search Elite)
Some of the best places to find information in libraries are databases! Databases are basically huge collections of specialized resources such as articles, magazines, newspapers, and more that have been scanned and can be searched through a unified interface. They are especially good for finding specialized information such as academic journal articles.
There might be great information for your Iowa Edge presentation in databases, especially the database Academic Search Elite (link here, will have to login with your HawkID). To learn more about using Academic Search Elite, check out the video below!
You can also use the information in the video for various other databases! For some of the most relevant databases for this project, take a look at our newspaper databases here: (https://guides.lib.uiowa.edu/theperch/newspapers)!
How to Find Academic Articles in a Database (Academic Search Elite)
View in Panopto (upper-right pointing arrow) for full-screen.
Add this direct link to ICON or other webpages:
Updated 2018
Guide Credit
How to Find Books in the Library Catalog (InfoHawk+)
How to Find Books in the Library Catalog (InfoHawk+)
There are millions of items in the library's collections, and one of the best ways to look through most of them is by using the library catalog! The library catalog is a list of all the physical things you can walk in and access in the libraries, as well as some (BUT NOT ALL) of its electronic resources such as academic journal articles and e-books. Because it's so broad, it'll probably have something that will be useful for your Iowa Edge project!
Our library catalog at the University of Iowa is called InfoHawk+, and it is available on the library's homepage here: (https://www.lib.uiowa.edu/).
To learn more about using InfoHawk+, watch the video below!
How to Find Books in the Library Catalog (InfoHawk+)
View in Panopto (upper-right pointing arrow) for full-screen.
Add this link to ICON or other webpages:
How to Find Academic Articles in the Library Catalog
How to Find Academic Articles in the Library Catalog (InfoHawk+)
As mentioned above, our library catalog InfoHawk+ also has information about some, BUT NOT ALL, of our electronic resources like academic journal articles and newspaper articles. Searching for those materials is very similar to searching for books. The video below will give you a better idea of what the process is like!
How to Find Academic Articles in Library Catalog (InfoHawk+)
View in Panopto (upper-right pointing arrow) for full-screen.
Add this direct link to ICON or other webpages:
Dan the Librarian
877-807-9587 (toll-free)
lib-disted@uiowa.edu