MDS 389: Interdisciplinary Research Methods

Where do I find my book in the Library?

When you locate a book in Google Books, select:

• get this book in print
• find in a library
• you will enter the WVU Libraries Worldcat catalog

• Use the Refine options in the left-hand column to limit your results
  • Peer-Reviewed to limit your results to scholarly sources
  • Full Text
• Use Find it @WVU to request sources we do not own

Google Scholar

• Use Google Scholar to search scholarly literature across disciplines and formats including journal articles, material from institutional repositories and book chapters
• Used the Advanced Settings menu in Google Scholar to get links to the Library's subscribed journals

Google Scholar is linked to the WVU Library holdings with Find it@ WVU

• WVU computers automatically link to WVU Library holdings
• If you are not using a WVU computer (your own device or off-campus):
  • Use the settings (the gear) in Google Scholar
  • Edit Library links to include 
    • Open WorldCat - Library Search
    • West Virginia University Libraries - Find it @ WVU
• If Full Text is not available
  • Use the Request: ILLiad button under "Request a copy of this item"
  • Login to ILLiad with your WVUID credentials
    • First time using ILLiad? Complete a short one-time registration form to activate the service
  • Enter submit at the foot of the pre-populated form to forward your request to Interlibrary Loan
  • Articles are normally provided in 24-48 hours of workdays 
• Use the same technique using the Find It @ WVU link in any Library database

Find a suitable database 

• Go to Databases by Subject
• You can also navigate there from the gold databases tab on the Library homepage
• Select the subject that broadly matches your research area 
• Browse the list of databases and read the descriptions to choose a potential good match
• Pay special attention if there are “Start Here” databases at the top of the list
• If you don’t find anything promising, go back to Databases by Subject and look for distinctions in subjects
  • for example, there are individual listings for Social Sciences, Social Work, and Sociology
  • it can get confusing – experiment!
• If you get stuck, use library chat to ask for a database recommendation at Ask-a-Librarian

Explore and analyze database functionality

• Select the name of the database to connect to it 
• Look at the options on the page
• Run a few searches related to your research to test out the database
• Use at least three different search terms and combinations to practice searching
• Read the results to identify more terms to add to your search term list 
• Look up words that are new to you
• Identify database attributes, scope, and functionality 
  • Explore the advanced search options
  • Explore search refinement options available after the initial search 
  • Can you sort the results by date? Relevancy? Number of times the work is cited?
• Note search term combinations that get the best results

Online bibliography search methods

• your topic with the word bibliography
• add
  • site:edu
  • file:ppt (or pdf, etc.)
• use Tools to change Any time to past month or year etc.
• example: football concussions bibliography site:edu file:ppt
• use Google Advanced Search for further options 

Author searching

• identify important authors
• search for them to identify additional works that may be significant
• you may also find criticism of their work