Check out our Library FAQ or sign up for a research skills workshop.

Examples

Each article database works a little differently. Below I show you how to use refinements in the most common literary databases.

Summon

Literature Resource Centre

Project Muse

When you put quotation marks around two or more words, you force the search algorithm to only find results where those words appear together and in that order.

This works in almost every database, and is handy for looking up song lyrics, too.

When you find one article that is perfect for your topic, look at the references list to find more relevant articles.  

When you find an article that is perfect for your topic, look it up in Google Scholar to see who else has cited it.  This should give you a few leads on other relevant articles.

Set your Google Scholar preferences to find full-text articles from University of Toronto Libraries.

You can search all of the University of Toronto Library web pages through the Library web search box on the library home page.

Try the Library FAQ database for specific information.

If you would like specialized help for your research topic, ask at the reference desk at the most appropriate library. You can also request an in-depth, one-on-one research consultation through each library.