More research guides
Or use these related research guides:
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Self Help VideosLearn how to navigate and use library resources, including searching, citing, saving, and requesting materials.
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Research ToolkitResearch Toolkit workshops are designed to address the most common challenges students face in doing college-level research, including navigating databases, locating relevant sources, and making sense of information once it is found.
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Ask a LibrarianAsk questions via chat, email, or schedule an appointment with your subject librarian.
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Subject LibrariansLearn which librarian specializes in your area of research.
Developing your topic
Finding the right level of research is an important first step. Consider whether your topic is too broad (you're getting too many results or they're not relevant enough to your topic) or too narrow (you're finding too few results).
Use these handouts to help you narrow or broaden your topic and identify keywords:
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Developing a Search Strategy - HandoutUse this handout to help you develop a research question, identify potential keywords and synonyms, and determine which boolean operators to use in order to narrow or broaden your search.
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Tips for Narrowing a Topic - HandoutUse this handout if you are getting too many results when searching.
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Tips for Broadening a Topic - HandoutUse this handout if you are getting too few results when searching.
Background Information & Getting Started
Encyclopedias can be a great place to start this research. Use these resources to get topic ideas or for background information.
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Sage ReferenceSearch and read entries from over one hundred social science and science specialized reference encyclopedias published by Sage.
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Gale Virtual Reference LibrarySearch hundreds of scholarly, subject-specific reference titles in many topic areas, including the arts, business, education, history, the sciences, technology, literature, and the social sciences. Excellent for in-depth overviews of terms or concepts. Search individual e-books or whole collections.
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Points of View Reference CenterOrganized by topic this resource provides an issue overview, background facts, point and counterpoint representing different points of view. Includes a critical analysis to assist the reader to evaluate controversial topics. Also includes essays, leading political magazine articles from all sides of the political spectrum, newspapers, radio & TV news transcripts, primary source documents and reference books.
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QuickSearchSearch many library resources at once.
Find news stories and editorials
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Newspaper SourceSearch the full-text for regional U.S. newspapers and national and international newspapers, newswires, and TV and radio news transcripts. The Christian Science Monitor, The Los Angeles Times, and USA Today are included full-text. Abstracts of articles from The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal - Eastern Edition are also available.
Search for Books
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WSU Library CatalogClick the drop-down arrow next to View Entire Collection and choose Dunbar Library - Books to search print resources. Most of these titles can be found on the third floor of the library.
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Search OhioLINK CatalogOther libraries will generally loan material that they circulate to their own patrons. Often excluded are: Textbooks, reference books, course reserve books, rare books, microfilm, dissertations, technical reports or audiovisual material. Individual issues or bound volumes of periodicals are rarely loaned.
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SearchOhioBorrow from Ohio public libraries through SearchOhio.
Search for Articles
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EBSCOhost Database A-Z ListAccess the master list of EBSCOhost databases available to the Wright State University faculty, staff, and students. EBSCOhost consists of a suite of databases that can be searched individually or in combination. Use this option to create unique combinations of literature search groups.
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APA PsycINFOIndexes psychology literature and related disciplines including psychiatry, medicine, nursing, pharmacology, cognitive science, and linguistics. Includes journals and book chapters. Use Historic PsycINFO to identify literature published as early as the 1920s. Links occur to full-text when available.
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SocINDEXSearch extensively indexed books, monographs, and conference papers. This index features citations with subject headings from a sociology-specific thesaurus designed by expert lexicographers. SocINDEX covers all subdisciplines of sociology such as anthropology, criminology, demography, ethnic, racial, and gender studies, marriage, family, and social structures, and social work.
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MEDLINE (PubMed)MEDLINE PubMed provides free access to the National Library of Medicine’s (NLM) premier database – MEDLINE. Content is citations and abstracts from national and international journals covering all aspects of biomedicine including allied health and other fields as they relate to medicine or healthcare.
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Communication & Mass Media CompleteCommunications and Mass Media Complete offers full-text and cover-to-cover indexing and abstracts for journals in the fields of communications, mass media and related fields. Some major journals begins from 1915 forward.
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Gender Studies DatabaseGSD covers the full spectrum of gender-engaged scholarship inside and outside academia. Links to free and subscription based full-text articles. Includes professional journals, conference papers, books, government reports, discussion papers, theses and dissertations.
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MLA International BibliographyComprehensive index of critical, scholarly material in literature, criticism, drama, language, linguistics, humanities, and folklore. Worldwide coverage includes articles chosen from over 3,500 journals, monographs, dissertations, bibliographies, and proceedings. Also known as the Modern Language Association International Bibliography. Links to full-text when available.
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JSTORJSTOR contains the complete digitized backfile of core scholarly journals from a broad range of academic disciplines.
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Business Source CompleteSearch full-text journal literature in all areas of business, economics, finance, management, management information systems, and marketing. Includes company SWOT analyses, industry and country reports.
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