LibGuides CMS: Capstone &amp; Thesis Resources: Finding Articles

Choosing Databases

The database you choose will likely depend on the subject matter of your research, but here are a few suggestions that work for most topics.

For suggestions specific to your topic, visit the research guides list and look for your subject, or email reference@annamaria.edu. You can also click here to visit the full list of databases.

Academic OneFile This link opens in a new window
Quickly access articles from a database of scholarly journals and other trusted periodicals. Includes some peer-reviewed material. Best for academic research.
Google Scholar This link opens in a new window
Provides a search of scholarly literature across many disciplines and sources, including theses, books, abstracts and articles. Includes some peer reviewed material (no search filter for peer-review).
JSTOR This link opens in a new window
JSTOR is part of ITHAKA, a not-for-profit organization that also includes Artstor, Ithaka S+R, and Portico. JSTOR provides access to 5,000+ journals in 50+ disciplines. Secondary content is peer-reviewed. See "Search Help" for more info.
SocINDEX with Full Text This link opens in a new window
Full-text research database covering sociology and related disciplines. It features hundreds of full-text journals and millions of records with subject headings from a sociological thesaurus. Includes some peer-reviewed material.

Broadening & Narrowing Your Topic

If you’re not finding enough articles on your topic, you might want to make your topic a little bit more broad. Similarly, if you see too many results (or results on too many subtopics), you may want to narrow your topic down. Here are some examples of how to do that:

Narrowing your topic:

Look at a specific facet. For example, if you’re looking at social media try choosing one specific site.
Identify a specific demographic to focus on in relation to your topic. For example, adults, children, women, trans men, etc.
Focus in on a subtopic within your topic. For example, if you’re looking at the death penalty, you could focus in on race or juveniles in the system.

Broadening your topic:

Expand the group of people you’re looking at. If you’re looking at people in their 40s, try expanding to all adults.
Look at a genre instead of a specific work. For example, horror films rather than The Ring, or children's literature rather than The Very Hungry Caterpillar.

Interlibrary Loan

Interlibrary Loan Form
If you find an article that isn't available through the library's databases, you can request a copy by filling out this interlibrary loan form. When the article is available (usually 1-5 days) we will email a PDF of the article to you.

Tips for Doing In-depth Research

The tips covered in this video include:

Find sources before you start writing your paper
Use different keywords for different aspects of your topic
Utilize the limiters available in the database, but also be flexible
Use your computers find function (with Ctrl + F, Command + F)
Look at the references list
Search in multiple databases
Make a research appointment with a librarian