Welcome!

This guide provides a starting point for work you’ll be doing in the Freshman Writing sequence — and throughout your academic career.

Research Skills for English 101/102 Students

Please review the New Researcher section of the Library Research Skills Video Tutorials (Flash™ and audio required) prior to your section’s scheduled Library class. They will introduce all of the main topics you will need to know.

1. Part One: Introduction
2. Part Two: Scholarly Information
3. Part Three: Database Searching
4. Part Four: Finding Full-Text
5. Extras: Article Finder
6. Extras: Using Summon to find articles at the Drexel University Libraries

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Getting Started

Here are four great electronic resources to help you get your research started:

• Encyclopedia Britannica — one of the world’s best encylopedias provides you with in-depth information on a wide variety of topics.
• Biography Resource Center — reliable information about the lives of hundreds of thousands of people — from Thomas Jefferson and Jane Austen to Madonna and Jay-Z.
• Oxford Reference Online — a great tool for looking up quick facts! If you need the date of the Battle of the Bulge, a quick definition of a quadratic equation, or a translation of foreign word or phrase, this is the place to go!
• CREDO Reference – hundreds of online reference books, covering everything from art and literature to science and technology.

TIP! Look at our E-reference list for additional fact and background information tools!

 

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Finding Books

Use the Library Catalog to find books on just about anything! Books can be great sources of in-depth, scholarly information. You can search the library catalog in several different ways –

• Keyword This is the default search in the library catalog– it lets you search on any topic you’re interested in. Use “and” or “or” to combine more than one keyword to refine your keyword search.
• Title Lets you quickly see if the Libraries have a particular book you want.
• Author Lets you find out what books the Libraries hold that are written by a particular person.
• LC Subject These are the “official” subject headings from the Library of Congress. The catalog will suggest options if you don’t have the wording exactly right — or ask a librarian for help.

TIP! If you want a book about a particular person, search for them as a subject. If you want a book by a particular person, search for them as an author. In either case, put their last name first: Washington, George.

 

TIP! If you need a book that Drexel doesn’t own, you can borrow it from another library through E-Z Borrow! It’s fast, easy, and free!

 

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Finding Scholarly Articles

• First Step Try using Summon to search for information on your topic.  Summon, by default, searches for books in our collections along with journal, magazine, and newspaper articles.  To limit results to scholarly journal articles, check the box labeled, “ Limit to articles from scholarly publications, including peer-review”
• Also Try These two databases are the largest multidisciplinary databases Drexel offers.  They will lead you to citations and full text articles on a multitude of topics.
• Academic Onefile
• ProQuest Research Library

• Students researching topics related to media literacy may also what to try this database:
• Communication & Mass Media Complete
• English 102 students researching contemporary social issues may want to look at this database:
• Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center
• The full list of databases is available here!

TIP! Check the limit box on the database search screen that allows you to search specifically for scholarly, peer-reviewed articles. Not sure what a “scholarly” article is? Check out the tutorial “Is this a Scholarly Publication?”

TIP! If the full text of an article you find is not in the database you’re searching, use the GET IT!  button to find out if it’s available in another database. You can also check the library catalog to see if we have the journal in print format. Use Interlibrary loan for articles not available either electronically or in print.

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More help…

1. Check out the New Students’ Guide to the Libraries. It will answer many of the questions you have.
2. Explore the Tutorials/Online Instruction page for additional useful information.
3. Need help citing sources/creating a bibliography or reference list? Check out the Citation Style Resources page.
4. Stop by the reference desk on the first floor of Hagerty Library and talk to a member of the library staff.
5. Call the Hagerty Library reference desk at 215.895.2755, IM us or send us a question online.
6. Stop by Humanities/Social Sciences Librarian Larry Milliken’s Virtual Office Hours on Mondays and Thursdays from 3pm to 4pm. We can meet online via your web browser. Just click here to join the meeting!

Please help us make these orientations better by taking our survey. Thank you!