Why use scholarly sources? 

Scholarly sources are generally more reliable because they have gone through the process of peer-review. They provide a scholarly validated account of an event or in-depth statistics and interpretation of your topic. Scholarly sources will have detailed citations leading you to the primary sources consulted. 

How do I find scholarly sources? 

Scholarly sources can be found in the library databases. See the list of databases below to get started. When searching Ram search, use the "scholarly, peer-reviewed" limiter in the left-hand bar. 

Why use popular sources?

Popular sources found through library resources are reliable. Popular sources can provide context from and for the general public and current events. Scholarly sources can take months to years to publish, so for information on current events, popular sources like newspapers can be valuable resources for information on current events

How do I find popular sources?

Popular sources can be found in the library databases, or through google. Check out Ram Search below or the Newspapers research guide for finding popular sources!

Many of the library databases include a mix of scholarly and popular literature. You can use limiters to locate news sources in Ram Search and other library databases. Check out the video tutorials on the Finding Scholarly Sources page of the guide

Boolean Operators and Wildcards

Boolean operators tell the database how to put your words together in a search. Wildcards allow you to search for a a word, or part of a word with any ending. Here are some examples: 

• "fugitive slave act" AND massachusetts --> This search will combine the two search terms. The phrase "fugitive slave act" AND the word Massahcusetts
• "fugitive slave act" AND (resistance OR opposition) --> This search will search for the phrase "fugitive slave act" AND the word resistance OR search the phrase "fugitive slave act" AND the word opposition
• massachusetts AND slav* --> This search will search for the word massachusetts AND any word that begins with slav, like slave or slavery.

When you are starting to think of search terms think of synonyms! This will help you find everything on your topic. For example, if I'm interested in research on college campuses, I may want to include the words university OR higher education in my search. 

Keyword Searching vs. Subject Searching

Keyword searching is when you type a word or phrase into the database search bar and search the entire database record or a specific part of the database record for that keyword. 

Subject searching is limiting your search to the subject terms in the database record. 

Both are effective methods of searching, and can be used in combination.

The following tutorials show the basics of how to search Ram Search, Worldcat, and interlibrary loan.