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The links and tips on this page are intended to help you find useful scholarly sources for your culture group presentation. If you're still not sure how to get started or you're struggling to find what you need, email or schedule an appointment with Ximena.
General Search Strategy Tips
If you have not watched the Stop Searching, Start Finding videos yet, consider watching them before you start your search. Parts 4, 5, and 6 review particularly relevant skills for database searching.
Stop Searching and Start FindingSorting through different information sources can be stressful. You’ve heard that using the library databases give you better results, but they can be confusing and overwhelming. In this workshop, we demystify databases and offer suggestions that will help you to find better results faster and easier.
Culture Search tips
- Use the catalog to find books. Change collection to Dunbar Library to ensure that all ebooks listed will be available to you as a student.
- Shorter search lines work better in the catalog. Databases can support longer search lines (so you can OR more synonyms together).
- In QuickSearch and other databases, limit to English language.
- For articles about culture (including religions) or any topics that touch on a variety of disciplines, start in QuickSearch. This will search many different databases across disciplines. in QuickSearch, SU looks for the word or phrase in the subject descriptors, which may help you focus in your search if you are getting too much.
- Use specific keywords to address the aspect of the culture you need. Refer to your professor's rubric or instructions and choose keywords that relate to what you need to learn about the group.
- If you are having trouble finding what you are looking for, ask Ximena for help.
Wright State University Library Catalog Search
Databases: Find articles for your group culture presentation
- QuickSearch This link opens in a new windowQuickSearch combines results from many search tools for you to review in one list. Results come from the Wright State catalog and hundreds of library databases including all of our Ebscohost databases, JSTOR, the Web of Science, and others.
- JSTOR This link opens in a new windowJSTOR contains the complete digitized backfile of core scholarly journals from a broad range of academic disciplines.
- America: History & Life This link opens in a new windowA comprehensive bibliography of articles on the history and culture of the United States and Canada from prehistory to the present. Use with Historical Abstracts. Full-text may be available via Find-It.
- Historical Abstracts This link opens in a new windowIndexes journals, books and dissertations on world history (excluding the United States and Canada) from 1450 to the present. Use with America History and Life. Full-text may be available via Find-It.
- SocINDEX This link opens in a new windowSearch 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.
- Education Research Complete This link opens in a new windowCover all levels of education from early childhood to higher education and all educational specialties, such as multilingual, health education, and testing, curriculum instruction, administration, policy, funding, and related social issues. Some full-text is included. Other full-text may be available via Find-It.
- APA PsycINFO This link opens in a new windowIndexes 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.
- Social Sciences Citation Index This link opens in a new windowThis multidisciplinary resource indexes journal literature of the social sciences. Represented disciplines include anthropology, business, communication, criminology, demography, ethnic and racial studies, gender studies, history, law, political science, psychology, religion, social psychology, sociology, social work, and urban studies. Search by topic, keyword, or author. Identify articles that cited a previous work. Links to full-text occur when available. Also known as SSCI.
- Google Scholar This link opens in a new windowIndexes research literature across a wide range of disciplines and formats. Use the library connection to gScholar to get more attached full-text articles.
- Setting Up Your Google Scholar Library LinksVideo by Medical Librarian Joanna Anderson (used with permission). For the most access to full text, in addition to searching for Wright State, search for and add OhioLINK as another library link.
Background Information about Religious Traditions
- Worldmark Encyclopedia of Religious Practices byCall Number: onlinePublication Date: 2006Keep in mind, this encyclopedia is from 2006, but it gives a broad overview of various religious practices, including various sects within religions. It may be a useful way to get a good overview and give you ideas of concepts you can search to find other sources.
Search Strategy Examples - Scholarly Books and Articles about Religious Traditions
- A variety of books and ebooks address various religious traditions and healthcare considerations for people of those faiths. The catalog, limited to [collection] Dunbar Library will display what we have.
Example searches: religio* and cultur* and (health* or illness* or healing)
(islam* or muslim*) and cultur* and (health* or illness* or healing)
- You can also use the same or similar search strategies in QuickSearch and the databases.
- Try browsing some of the online reference sources on the Cultures & Countries page. Several of these sources contain information about the dominant and minority religious beliefs in particular countries.
Note: QuickSearch and most other databases are NOT case sensitive, so you do NOT need to capitalize the proper names of religions when searching the databases. However, you will still need to capitalize them when typing in a PowerPoint presentation or paper.
NUR 3200 - Example Searches on Religious Traditions
These searches are to give you possible ideas. This is not an exhaustive list of strategies; you can formulate your search in many different ways and still find useful results.
(anabaptist* or amish or mennonite*) and (health* or healing or illness*)
(church of jesus christ of latter day saints or "lds church" or mormon*) and
(judaism or jewish) AND visit* AND ( ill* or sick* )
jehovah's witness* and (health* or medic* or illness* or healing or transfusion* or alternative therap* or hospital*)
hindu* and
(islam* or muslim*) and
(roman catholic* or catholic*) and
Note: An * at the end of a part of the word means tells the database to search variations on the word ending that come after that symbol.
