Start your research
OneSearch is a great place to start with if you aren't sure exactly what you are looking for and want to see what is out there for information!
In OneSearch you can find print and eBooks, journal articles, news, streaming video, images, primary sources and more.
Remember! Library databases do not function the same way as Google or other search engines. If you put an entire question into the search box, you will get results, but often they may not be relevant to your topic. Follow the steps below to break your question into keywords for better searches!
1. Take your topic or research question and break it into keywords or phrases.
Example) How do the distinct challenges and societal perceptions faced by climate refugees in the United States impact immigration policies?
2. Think of synonyms or related terms to come up with additional keywords you could use.
Example)
| Keyword 1: climate refugees | Keyword 2: United States | Keyword 3: immigration policies |
|---|---|---|
| environmental refugees | United States of America | migration policies |
| forced migration | America | emigration |
| environmental migration | U.S. | government policies |
| climate migration | U.S.A. | public policy |
Hint! Use a thesaurus and the Internet to help you come up with additional keywords.
Search Strings
Combine keywords and phrases to form a "search string."
Example) "climate refugees" AND immigration policies AND "United States"
or... ("climate refugees" OR "climate change") AND immigration AND "United States" AND policies
AND tells the database you are looking for ALL of the listed terms and will narrow your results
OR tells the database you want EITHER of the listed terms and will help expand your results if you're not finding what you're looking for
You can also use NOT to tell the database you do NOT want to see sources with the specified term(s).
Quotes
Notice how key phrases are grouped together with quotation marks.
Ex.) "climate refugees" / "United States"
Using quotes tells the database to search for the words together as a phrase instead of searching for each word independently. Note that while this can be a very helpful tool, especially when you are looking for a very specific phrase, sometimes you might want to try searching for the terms without quotes. It's a good idea to try searches using quotes around key phrases and without to see which results in better results.
Filters
Filters are a useful tool in narrowing your search results to the specific type of source you are looking for. The most common filters you will likely use are:
- Publication Date - typically you will look for sources published within the past 5-10 years, but depending on your research question or topic that range could change.
- Material Type - this filter is helpful when you are looking specifically for books, articles, or another type of resource. Be sure to consider which resource type will best fit your needs before applying this filter.
- Peer Reviewed - if you are looking for academic articles, you will most likely want to use the "Peer Reviewed" filter as these articles are often considered the "gold standard" of scholarly articles.
Although these are the most common types of filters people use when searching for resources, do not limit yourself to these and feel free to explore and use other available filters as you feel are useful and appropriate for your research.
Expand your Research
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JSTOR This link opens in a new window
Archive of past issues of scholarly journals from all areas of study. Includes full runs of covered journals, excluding content from the past 2-5 years. Also includes eBooks and book chapters.
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GenderWatch This link opens in a new windowFocuses on the evolution of the women's movement, LGBTQIA community, and changes in gender roles over time. More broadly, resources encompass the impact of gender across disciplines and subject areas. Publications include academic and scholarly journals, magazines, newspapers, newsletters, regional publications, books, booklets and more. Includes coverage from 1970.
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Taylor & Francis Social Science & Humanities Journals This link opens in a new window
Over 1,400 online journals from ca. 1997 - present.
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Sage Journals This link opens in a new window
Contains more than 1,000 journals in Business, Humanities, Social Sciences, and Science, Technology and Medicine.
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JSTOR This link opens in a new window
Archive of past issues of scholarly journals from all areas of study. Includes full runs of covered journals, excluding content from the past 2-5 years. Also includes eBooks and book chapters.
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Archives of Sexuality & Gender This link opens in a new windowA robust and significant collection of primary sources for the historical study of sex, sexuality, and gender. With material dating back to the sixteenth century, researchers and scholars can examine how sexual norms have changed over time, health and hygiene, the development of sex education, the rise of sexology, changing gender roles, social movements and activism, erotica, with a primary focus on LGBTQ History since the 1940s.
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Women & Social Movements: Development in the Global South 1919-2019 This link opens in a new window
Women and Social Movements: Development in the Global South combines social science-oriented attention to Development Studies—primarily through the lens of economics, international relations, sociology, anthropology, or foreign aid—with organizational and personal activism. The material gives a voice to the many who have been involved in transnational feminist/women’s movements in the name of communities in the Global South over the course of a century.
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British Library Newspapers: Nineteenth Century This link opens in a new windowThe British Library Newspapers collection contains 71 newspapers specially selected by the British Library to best represent nineteenth century Britain. This collection includes national and regional newspapers, as well as those from both established country or university towns and the new industrial powerhouses of the manufacturing Midlands, as well as Scotland, Ireland and Wales. Trinity subscribes to Part I and Part II which covers 1800-1900.
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Economist Digital Archive This link opens in a new windowComplete coverage of every issue of this important weekly publication from the U.K., 1843-2020.
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EuropeanaEurope's cultural collections
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Films on Demand This link opens in a new window
Web-based digital video delivery platform that allows viewing of thousands of streaming videos from Films Media Group anytime. Available for in-class use and remote viewing.
Notes: Works best with Firefox. Use the 'email this video' feature to send a film link, not the browser link.
Searching Tips: Register on campus in order to take advantage of all features. Once registered, you may log in from anywhere. -
Kanopy This link opens in a new windowEducational and feature films from major producers including California Newsreel, Criterion Collection, Green Planet Films, Kino Lorber, and others. For academic use only.
Films may need to be ordered in advance before viewing. See https://commons.trincoll.edu/library/2019/08/12/changes-to-kanopy-film-streaming-library/ for more details. -
Docuseek2 Complete Collection (Second Edition) This link opens in a new windowThe Docuseek2 Complete Collection™: Second Edition will contain 1800 exclusive documentaries, upon completion in 2020. This collection of issues-based documentary films comes from leading producers and distributors, including Bullfrog Films, Icarus Films, the National Film Board of Canada, MediaStorm, Terra Nova Films, KimStim, and Scorpion TV, and other independent filmmakers from around the world. This collection focuses on environmental studies and sciences, sociology, anthropology, global studies, area studies, women’s studies, history, political science, criminal justice, health, psychology, the arts, and more.
Get Help with Your Research
Meet Your Librarian!
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Schedule an appointment with a Student Technology Assistant (STA)
- STAs will assist you with a wide range of project support.
- STAs help with technologies like: 3-D printing, digital video and audio production, Power Point, Keynote, poster designs, Oculus Rift VR, image editing using Photoshop and more.
- Located on Level 1 of the Library in the Center for Digital Scholarship.
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Trinity College's Peer Tutoring Cooperative
- Connect to a range of peer tutoring opportunities across campus.
- Covers different disciplines and research and academic support and assistance.
- The Peer Tutoring Cooperative includes: The Writing Center, Aetna Quantitative Center, Blume Language Culture & Learning Center, Peer Research Assistants in the Library, Academic Advising and Trinity's Subject-Based Tutoring Center.
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Research Handout - Getting StartedA worksheet guiding you through the topic development process of your research and getting you started searching for sources through library databases using keywords.
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Source Evaluation WorksheetThis worksheet guides you through some of the considerations to take into account when evaluating sources. It includes red flags to pay attention to within a source (vertical reading), as well as strategies for looking at other sources (lateral reading) to determine reliability.