Freshman Experience: To Google or Not to Google? How to level up your search!

Google is easy for most people to use because it uses a 'natural language' search. That means you can just ask it a question like you would ask your friend. Databases, however, can not complete a 'natural language' search. Databases use Boolean Operators to search, and learning to use them will help your searches become more precise and yield more useful results. Here is a quick guide for three Boolean Operators.

If you would like to read more about how to use Boolean Operators, you can check out this guide.

You can access OneSearch from the Marx Library homepage. It is easy to do a search on OneSearch, and this guide will walk you through the basics. Once you get to the Marx Library homepage (link above), click on 'Advanced Search' underneath the OneSearch box.

This will take you to a new page where you can use more than one search term to find what you are looking for. For this demonstration, we will research the question, "How does Social Media Affect Mental Health?" To search this topic, I will not simply type this question into the search bar, but break it down.

We are going to use two phrases: "Social Media" AND "Mental Health" (if you need more guidance on this process, please see "Boolean Searching" above).

Once you have typed in your search, click on the 'Search' button.

This search will give you a LOT of results, too many to effectively go through. So what are some ways that we can make this search better?

Click on 'Filters' near the top left of the screen and a list of filters will open for you to choose.

Some commonly used filters are:

• Peer-reviewed - These are research articles, for more information go here.
• Full Text - These are articles that we have full access to; this filter is great when you need the information right away.
• Catalog Only - Will give you items that are in our catalog, which includes books, government documents, and physical journals in the library.
• Publication Date - You can choose to look only at very recent publications. This is used most commonly when a professor asks you to use materials that are no older than five years, for example.

Another way to narrow your search is by adding another search term. For example, you could add a group that you are interested in. Maybe you only want to look at "high school students" or "elderly people." Or maybe you only want to look at one form of social media, such as "Facebook" or "Snapchat."

Once you've narrowed your search and found an article that you want to use, you can save it. First, click on the article title to open it on a new page. In the upper right corner, you will notice some symbols. 

You can save the article or send it to yourself by clicking on the 'Share' arrow. You can save it to your Google Drive or email it to yourself this way.

You can also cite the article. If you click on the quotation marks, you will open a new menu. First, choose how you need to have your citation formatted. This is information you will receive from your professor. WARNING!! Always double-check that the citation format is correct! The citation can then be copied or exported.

As always, if you have any questions, please reach out to us through our online Chat!

SOUTHcat - SOUTHcat is the USA Libraries' online catalog. A search in SOUTHcat will provide results from all of the library's various collections/materials, including books, eBooks, CDs, etc. For tips on how to complete a catalog search, check out this access guide. 

Library Databases & Journals - Looking for scholarly journal articles? Searching with a library database is a great way to ensure that your results are academic in nature. While South has a number of multi-disciplinary databases, many are subject-specific as well. For tips on how to complete a basic database search, check out this guide. 

OneSearch - USA's OneSearch is a discovery tool that pulls results from the library catalog and library databases simultaneously. OneSearch is a great place to start your research because it helps you quickly search across many resources at once, rather than searching individual databases. For tips on how to narrow your OneSearch results, take a look at our Advanced Search tutorial to the left. 

LibGuides - LibGuides, or library guides, are wonderful pathfinding tools created by our library professionals to help you start your course research. There are several types of guides available at this site:

• Course Guides: Librarians have created many course specific guides that will help students focus on the resources needed for their particular classes.
• Library Guides: These have been created by librarians and staff and are meant to address an aspect of library services, such as printing and courtesy cards.
• Subject Guides: These guides are not tied to any particular class and were created by librarians and staff to help patrons find resources in a general subject area, such as art, music and women's studies.

Google Scholar provides an easy way to search for scholarly literature. You can search many disciplines and sources including academic publishers, professional societies, online repositories, universities, court opinions, and other websites all at once. 

Google Scholar does not index all scholarly material, so you will still need to use academic databases. However, Google Scholar does use Boolean Search terms as outlined to the left.

For more information about Google Scholar, please see our LibGuide