GAS/HISB74 Asian Foods & Global Cities

Searching in article databases

Search for articles in databases, because they search across a number of journals at once

Search Tips:

Search for keywords that describe your topic. You can combine them using AND, OR, NOT:

AND - narrows your search and makes it more specific by finding results with all of your keywords. Example search: apples AND oranges. Items that contain BOTH terms will be found.

OR - can be used to combine synonyms or different terms for the same concept. Example search: oranges OR tangerines OR clementines. Items that contain all of the words will be found.

NOT - used to narrow a search by exclusion. The NOT operator should be used with caution. Example search: apples NOT oranges. Items that contain the word "apples" will be found, but items that contain the word "oranges" will not be found.

* - The * (asterisk) is used to search for alternate endings of words, which will expand your search and look for more options. Example search: Canad*. This search will give you results for Canada, Canadian, Canadians, Canadiana, etc.

" " - The " " (quotation marks) are used to search for an exact phrase. Example search: "indentured servant". The results will contain that phrase, but not items with both words appearing separately.

Adapted from Cal Poly Pomona library

Choosing a database

To find more databases for your subject:

1. From the library homepage, click on Databases under the Library Search box.
2. Click on Databases by subject A-Z.
3. Scroll through the alphabetical list to find your subject area, e.g. History.
4. Select your subject area and choose from a list of databases (you can and should try searching in more than one).

Depending on what question you are researching, you may need to look under various subjects. For example, History or Indigenous Studies, or many others that might also be useful.

You could also click on Popular Databases to choose from that list.

Select the subject area that you need from the alphabetical list:

To find electronic access for a specific article, you have two options:

1. When you have the citation of a specific article you can search for it in Article Finder. Just enter the following citation information into the proper fields:

• Article title
• Journal title
• Name(s) of the author(s)
• Volume and issue number
• Date
• Pages

To access the full-text article, look for the Get It!, full-text, PDF, or SFX buttons.

2. Using the main search bar on the library home page, enter your article title in quotation marks, click search, then select the correct article from the results.

Finding Print Articles:

When full-text is not available online, you need to look up the title of the journal (not the title of the article or the author) in the catalogue to see if we have the journal and, if so, where it is located. You can then find the print journal in the stacks and pick out the issue that has the article you want.

Searching in Google Scholar:

• Search in Google Scholar using keywords and search tips you use with other databases ( ' ', AND, OR, etc.).
• Click on "Cited by" to find other articles or books that have cited the search results you are using.
• Click on "Related articles" to find other articles that are related to the search results you are using.
• To find specific articles, search for the article title in quotation marks; e.g. "Slave rebellion and the conundrum of cosmopolitanism"

If you are on campus, Google Scholar will automatically configure itself properly. You only need to follow the steps below if you are OFF-CAMPUS.

Configure Google Scholar to allow you free access to materials licensed by UofT when you are off-campus:

1. Go to Google Scholar
2. Click Settings (menu at top of page)
3. Click Library Links (menu at left of page)
4. Type in University of Toronto, then hit enter to search
5. Click the box University of Toronto Libraries - Get It! U of Toronto
6. Click Save
   

Now you will be able to access materials that UofT has licensed.