ENGL 26100: World Literature

Search tips for finding articles

Beginning your search: 

• Use terms found in your background reading on the subject
• Use the Thesaurus or Subject Terms listings, if available, in the databases you are searching
• When you find a record for an item that is useful to you, look at its subject headings or descriptors for more ideas
• Find appropriate Library of Congress Subject Headings if you are searching library catalogs and some databases

If you get too many results:

• Consider narrowing down the search terms in an Abstract or even in the Title field
• Try searching by Subject, rather than by Keyword (or by a combination of Subjects and Keywords or other fields)
• Try phrase searching (usually by using " " around the phrase)
• Use other limiters, if appropriate, such as a specific type of publication (Peer Reviewed, for example) or a specific time period

If your search does not yield enough results:

• Check your search to see if you entered it and spelled it as you intended
• Try other search terms and use OR between the terms to find items with any one of the terms
• Look at the bibliographies of items that are closely related to your topic
• Search in a different database or ask a reference librarian