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Oklahoma City Community College Keith Leftwich Memorial Library

Library Research Help

Learn how to use Library resources during the research process.

Reasons for Using Articles

  1. For very recent, current information
  2. Easy to find credible information 
  3. Cover very specific subjects
  4. Popular topics
  5. Alternative viewpoints
  6. Reports on scholarly research

Definitions

Journal:  Academic or Scholarly Magazine, Peer Reviewed Articles

eJournal: Electronic version of paper journals

Database: Collection of eJournals that the Library subscribes to. Students have the ability to search with their keyword(s) in several databases at once to find articles on their topic

Scholarly vs Popular Resources

Instructions: To make this Prezi work, select the "Start Prezi" in the middle of the screen. Use the arrows to move to the next screen or go back a screen. You may make the Prezi full screen, or zoom in and out with the arrows on the right, or using the scroll button on your mouse. 

Interlibrary Loan

If the OCCC Library does not have the book or article that you need, you may be able to use Interlibrary Loan (ILL).

What is ILL?

  • ILL is a free service available to OCCC students, faculty, and staff.
  • It allows the OCCC Library to borrow books and articles we do not own from libraries across the U.S. 

ILL links libraries across the nation for sharing resources, based on the principles that no single library can acquire everything and that furthering knowledge is in the public interest.

Getting Started in your Article Search

EBSCOhost Databases:

Explore additional EBSCOhost databases to choose a relevant database based on their descriptions.

Controversial / Current Issues Database

EBSCOhost Article Tutorial [Video]

Using an EBSCO database

Step 1: To find articles, visit an EBSCOhost database, then perform a keyword search on your topic.

EBSCOhost screen shot of how to do a proper search using keywords

 

Step 2: Once in your article results, you can narrow your results by using the left-side limiter bar. You can limit by date, publication, suggested subjects, etc.

Step 3: When you want more information on an article title, select the blue hyperlinked article title in the middle of your page. Here you find the abstract (or summary), subject terms, and the information to cite your article plus the full-text links to read the entire article, if available.

Screenshot of EBSCOhost's citation generator and how to read the full text

Note: If you come across a page that does not have the full text links available, check the bottom "Notes" field to see if the Library has the article in paper in the Library. If the "Notes" field says the Library does not own the journal then you should consider doing an Interlibrary Loan (ILL) request for the article. 

Screenshot in EBSCOhost for ILL

Searching in EBSCOhost

Not sure how to use EBSCOhost? Use the following tutorials to help you get you started.

Consider the following tutorials for additional tips and tricks on using EBSCOhost databases.