1. Introduction

2. Why use the Library?

3. Library Password

4. Boolean Searching

5. Library Catalog
  • How to Find Books
  • How to Find Journals

6. Databases
  • Search for Articles
  • Find Articles

7. Organizations

8. How to Get Help

9. Library Exercise

10. PLS 101A Resources

We'll demonstrate an article search using the Academic Search Elite database –– a good place to start your search for political science articles.

When you connect to Academic Search Elite you'll get the Advanced Search screen where you can start entering your keywords. There are many ways to limit your search, but it's usually a good idea to first try your search without any limits to see what you get.

We're going to search for articles about voting patterns in the United States. Note the use of truncation (1). And note the use of Boolean Operators and the pulldowns that make it easy to change from AND to OR to NOT (2). You might want to review the use of Boolean Operators before you begin your own search.

Click SEARCH. Your search results will appear in a few seconds.

This search resulted in 230 articles (1). This screen also includes a list of options to narrow your results (2). Select one to search if relevant.

The articles are listed by date, with the most recent at the top of the list. The first display is the "Brief Display" which provides basic citation information: author, article title, journal title and publication information. Click on any blue article title to display an abstract (article summary) and subject terms (3,4).

A Full Display record:

Next: Databases: Finding the Article

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