Finding Materials

This module explains how to find sources on your topic and to recognize the types of sources that are available. It also goes into library classification systems, how to read call numbers and find materials in the library, as well as explains Internet search engines and distinguishes them from library resources. 

Types of Sources that are Available

There are many types of resources that are available for your use at Divine Mercy University. These include books, book chapters, articles, and audiovisual materials, which include videos.

How to Find Sources on your Topic

There are several ways of finding sources on your topic. The first way is to break your topic sentence down into key words or phrases, and use Boolean connectors to include in the search. For example, suppose you are writing a paper on how children use religion as a coping strategy. You would then break the research question into three parts: “children” and “religion” and “coping”. As in the “Search Strategies” module, you could also truncate “religion” to “religio*” which would also seek out the terms “religious” and “religiosity”.

If you have a research article of interest, the most efficient way of finding related articles is through the citation network. Article citations in the reference list as well as other articles that cite the current article you are looking at are good ways to find other pertinent ones on your topic.

Subject-specific databases, catalog or general academic database searches, and other issues or volumes of the journal may also be useful.

Internet Sources

Internet sources can be useful but they are not necessarily curated or as quality as resources you would find through the library. Google.com, Ask.com, and Yahoo.com are all Internet search engines. They are not library resources.