Tips for Locating Resources in General

• search the ND Libraries Catalog
  http://libcat.nd.edu
• search ND Kresge Law Library Catalog
  http://innopac.law.nd.edu/
• search the IUSB Library Catalog
  http://www.iucat.iu.edu/authenticate.cgi?status=nologin
  Select South Bend | South Bend Schurz Library Catalog

• search WorldCat
  -- http://lib-proxy.nd.edu/login?url=http://newfirstsearch.oclc.org/fsip?dbname=worldcat;done=http://lib.nd.edu/
  -- WorldCat has an automatic link to Interlibary Loan
• select specific library "Other Library Catalogs" list
  -- http://lib.nd.edu/eresources/otherlibs.shtml
  -- Scroll down to Regional Research Libraries, etc. and select.

• search in the databases listed below

• search the Center for Research Libraries (CRL) Catalog
  -- http://crlcatalog.uchicago.edu
• consult the Center for Research Libraries (CRL) Handbook available at the Hesburgh Library Reference Desk.
• Turn around time is short,
• loan time is long, and
• they will send many issues (weeks or months) at one time.

• Synonyms
• Be creative
• Boolean or Logical Operators
• AND narrows searches
• OR broadens searches
• Nesting of terms
• Parenthesies allow grouping (ORing) of synonymns into concepts
• Parenthesies allow narrowing by (ANDing) concepts
• Truncation/Wildcards
• Retrieves any term which begins with the specified character string
• Common symbols are the asterix or star (*) and the question mark (?)
• Example:
  (arab* or islam* or muslim*) and charit* and terroris*
  retrieves records with the terms(arab or arabs or arabian or islam or islamic or muslim or muslims)
  and
  (charities or charity or charitable)
  and
  (terror or terrorism or terrorist or terrorists) present in them.
• If too many irrelevant terms appear, you may have to move the truncation sysbol further to the right or drop it entirely.
• Example:
  terr* and char* retrieves not only charities or charity or charitable)
  and
  (terror or terrorism or terrorist or terrorists)
  but also
  character or characters or characteristics or characteristics or charcoal or charles or charleston...
  and
  terrier or terriers or territory or territories or territorial or terrific...

• Look for indexing terms/descriptors.
  • Scholarly Periodical Indexes and Library Catalogs have them.
  • Use buzz words or jargon to identify a few relevant articles then use subject headings.
    
  -- For instance a search for reaganomics leads to United States -- Economic conditions -- 1981-2001, a heading one is unlikely to guess.
  • New sources tend to search the full text or portion of the text (e.g. title or first paragraph).
  • In news sources uses proximity or phrase searching.
• Be ready to broaden (OR) or narrow (AND) and repeat with revised search statement.
• Be persistent.

• Reduce the number of search cycles.
• Sharpen retrieval from scratch.

Subscription Databases via the Web

• Selected highly relevant databases are listed below by type.
• Hundreds of others are available from the Electronic Resources Gateway.
  -- http://lib.nd.edu/eresources/gateway/
• The most helpful will be listed under:
• Peace Studies
  -- http://lib.nd.edu/eresources/gateway/subjects/peace_studies-Alldb.html
-- most of the specific databases listed below are listed on the E-Resources Peace Studies page.

• Current News
  -- http://lib.nd.edu/eresources/gateway/subjects/current_news-Alldb.html
• General and Multidisciplinary
  -- http://lib.nd.edu/eresources/gateway/subjects/general_and_multidisciplinary-Alldb.html
• Economics
  -- http://lib.nd.edu/eresources/gateway/subjects/economics-Alldb.html
• Political Science
  -- http://lib.nd.edu/eresources/gateway/subjects/political_science-Alldb.html
• The best databases FOR your topic will depend ON your topic.
• After using the relevant indexes below, browse the most relevant subject lists.
• Those that provide links to online full text articles in other databases are marked with a FindText icon.
• FindText is very convenient.
• Non-electronic articles and non-FindText databases can be just as relevent or more relevant than FindText sources.
• Make use of FindText but don't be tempted to limit yourselves to FindText databases

• International Political Science Abstracts
  -- http://lib-proxy.nd.edu/login?url=http://web5.silverplatter.com/webspirs/start.ws?customer=c128020&databases=S(IPSA)

-- coverage complements Worldwide Political Science Abstracts
• Worldwide Political Science Abstracts
  -- http://lib-proxy.nd.edu/login?url=http://www.csa2.com/htbin/dbrng.cgi?username=ndam&access=ndam572&cat=polisci
  -- coverage complements International Political Science Abstracts
• EconLit
  -- http://lib-proxy.nd.edu/login?url=http://web5.silverplatter.com/webspirs/start.ws?customer=c128020&databases=S(ECON)
• Web of Science (AKA Web of Knowledge)
  -- http://lib-proxy.nd.edu/login?url=http://isiknowledge.com/wos
  -- In spite of title covers all subjects.
  -- Started as and is still primarily a citation database.
  -- It is THE place to go to discover who is citing whom, i.e. track research trends.

• Academic Search FullTEXT Elite (a subset of EBSCOhost)
  -- http://lib-proxy.nd.edu/login?url=http://search.epnet.com/login.asp?site=ehost&profile=ase
  -- slightly easier to use than Expanded Academic Index
  -- EBSCOhost has a few other potentially relevant databases
• Expanded Academic Index (Infortrac)
  -- http://lib-proxy.nd.edu/login?url=http://infotrac.galegroup.com/itweb/nd_ref?db=EAIM
  -- better indexing than Academic Search FullTEXT Elite.

• PAIS (Public Affairs Information Service) International
  -- http://lib-proxy.nd.edu/login?url=http://web5.silverplatter.com/webspirs/start.ws?customer=c128020&databases=S(PAIS,PP)

• LexisNexis Academic
  -- http://lib-proxy.nd.edu/login?url=http://web.lexis-nexis.com/universe
  -- select "Guided Search" and then select categories and sources.
• Factiva
  -- http://www3.nd.edu/~electres/cgi-bin/factiva/factest.html
  -- a joint Dow Jones/Reuters venture
  -- Internet Explorer 5.01 or above on a PC or Internet Explorer 5.1 or above on a Mac is required.
• World News Connection
  -- http://lib-proxy.nd.edu/login?url=http://wnc.dialog.com
  -- translations into English by the U.S. State Department and American University
  -- covers print and boardcast media
  -- worldwide coverage
  

• CIAO: Columbia International Affairs Online
  -- http://lib-proxy.nd.edu/login?url=http://www.ciaonet.org/
  -- includes Kroc Institute publications

Free Web Resources

• The ratio of junk to high quality resources is high.
  
• The free web is good place to find publications of NGOs such as Amnestry International or Human Rights Watch.
  -- "Google" (i.e. search Google) the name of the NGO.
  -- Browse their webpage looking for a link to publication, try out their search box (if they have one), or, if all else fails, explore their site map again looking for a publications link.
• Beware of the "Billy Bob's Guide to Nuclear Physics" syndrome!
• Anyone or anygroup can claim to be experts.

• ten term limit (including "operators)
• parenthesies
• assumes "and"
• order of terms does make a difference
• quotation marks for phrases

• Norwegian origin
• Often better than Google for non-American sources
• Claims to index as many web pages as Google

• Many search engines have both a general search and a news search.
• Many search engines update (reindex) their news search much more regularly and frequently than their general search
  

• Directories provide categorized listing web pages by topic or subject.