This interactive tutorial will take you through finding articles in the MLA International Bibliography, which is the major database for English language and literature.
Search Tips
An asterisk * at the end of a word tells the database to search for multiple endings
Educat* will look for educate, educators, education, etc.
Quotation marks around a phrase will tell the database to keep those words together in that order
"New Mexico" -- otherwise you'll end up with hits about New York, New Jersey, and Mexico
Use Boolean operators: AND (narrows search, joins different concepts) OR (broadens search, use for synonyms)
"New Mexico" AND population; "New Mexico" OR Southwest
To search synonyms in a single Boolean search, put parentheses around them
(university OR college OR "higher education")
Use the built in limiters - select language or date published (or a range). You can even limit to peer-reviewed articles or other formats like dvds or ebooks
