This LibGuide is intended for "emergency use" when full library facilities are not available, such as when the academic calendar is interrupted by a semester intersession or other break, or when the social fabric is disrupted by a health or severe weather crisis. This page addresses getting background information on a topic and performing database searches once a topic has been refined down to a subject.
A complementary LibGuide which should be used in conjunction with this one is Ms. Jodi Poe's Continuity of Library Services http://libguides.jsu.edu/continuity/welcome
If you still have not selected or focused your research subject and need background information to help you choose, certain databases include overview essays as part of their content. These essays include section heading and paragraph discussions which might provide keywords for more in-depth database searches.
For science and the social sciences:
For literature:
General internet sources:
Once you have chosen your search terms/keywords to find information on your topic, you are ready to search the library's online databases. The quickest way to know which databases to select is to go here and select the subject you are writing about.
http://www.jsu.edu/library/resources/databases_subject.html
All EBSCOhost databases together. From Academic Search Premier click on Choose Databases, then Select all/OK. This should increase the number of search results for your subject.
This searches across databases by multiple vendors. Some books are included.
Some books are included.
If you cannot find full text of an article in the database
1. Open Google Scholar.
2. Copy the title of your article from the database results page.
3. Paste the title into Scholar.
Sometimes full text of an article is included in a university's Open Access institutional repository and is available there even if no full text is available in any databse.