ENG102/CRE101 Learning Community

Use One Search to search for a topic that interests you.  Use the filters on the left column to answer the following questions:

1. How many results are there on your topic?
2. How many books and ebooks are available on your topic?
3. How many sources are available online?
4. How many sources were published within the last 3 years?

Google Scholar searches the same kind of articles, books, and other scholarly literature that you would find using the library's databases. It can be a great place to start your research and is useful for:

• finding hundreds of relevant scholarly articles fast
• discovering keywords that define your topic
• helping a beginning researcher identify journal titles and authors connected with subjects of interest
• finding "gray literature" like conference proceedings.

Keep in mind that while searching in Google Scholar is convenient and can be a great starting point, it's likely that you'll need to use One Search or individual databases to find more appropriate content for a community college student and better search features.

Sometimes it can be a challenge to locate the leading professional organizations in your field.  Try these tips to narrow your search:

• Consider your keywords and limit only to the MOST essential.  For example, just search "psychology association."  Adding additional words may eliminate relevant results.
• Most professional organizations utilize a ".org" url.  To limit a Google search results, add "site:.org" after your search terms (for example, search "psychology association site:.org").  This will eliminate .com's and other results that are unlikely to be what you're looking for.
• Finally, if you are aware of a leading journal in your field, search for the organization that publishes it.  Professional associations often publish scholarly journals that are widely used in the field.