Search Tips
Search by keywords/phrases and use Boolean searching. What's Boolean?
AND: "adult education" AND program*
OR: "adult education*" OR "adult learning"
Using "Quotation Marks" searches words as a phrase.
Limit search results by Date and Peer-Reviewed journals.
Truncation searches variations of a word. The symbol used is asterisk *.
"ADULT LEARN*" will retrieve: adult learning, adult learner, adult learners, etc.
Check Subject terms to see if there are any synonym terms to consider.
Searching for Full Text
If you come across a citation to an article and you'd like to track down its full text, follow the steps below:
- Start Your Research (SYR)1. When searching for the full text of an article, start by searching the "title of an article" (enclosed in "quotation marks") in SYR.
- Periodical List (PL)2. If you're unable to locate the fulltext by searching the article title in SYR, next try searching the "journal title" in PL, which is a searchable list of print/online journals accessible through the University Libraries.
- Interlibrary Loan (ILL)3. If the Library does not have print/online access to a journal you need an article from, request a copy of the article via ILL.
The example below shows that The Journal of Continuing Higher Education is accessible in print/microform as well as online. The entry also shows coverage dates to indicate which years are accessible.
Google Scholar
Google Scholar can be a useful tool when collecting research information. Settings can be updated to display:
Library Links - FindIt@TxState
Bibliography Manager - EndNote
For EndNote Web, Under Downloads, use Capture Reference
Alerts are also an option in Google Scholar. Once you run a search, click on the "Create Alert" link in the search results on the bottom left column.Enter your email address Finish by clicking the Create Alert button. If you've never used this feature, it will require you verify the email you enter for alerts. This feature works best if you're signed into Google Scholar, otherwise, you have to enter your email each time you set a search alert.
- Ulrich'sTo find out if a journal is considered Refereed/Peer-Reviewed, check the Ulrich's database by doing a search for the title of the journal. Many library research databases accessible allow searches to be limited to articles published in Peer-Reviewed journals.
Citation Management
Have a lot of citations you want to enter in your works cited/references list? Try a citation manager.
Do you need the Web or Desktop version?
- EndNoteA citation management tool that enables you to:
- Organize your research Include citations while you write your paper
- Build a bibliography in a variety of formats
- Import references from library databases and Google Scholar.