EGS 215 (O'Hara): Finding Sources
Important Note
Please be sure to review the information on the Before You Search! tab on the left menu before you begin searching in the tools listed on this tab. The Before You Search! tab explains what a "peer reviewed" article is and how to tell when you have found one. It also gives tips for building more effective searches. There are brief videos and tutorials that explain how to choose the best keywords, refine your searches, and evaluate the information you find.
Miami University Libraries Search
The search box on the library's home page allows users to search for articles, books, videos, and more with a single search. To search for articles only, select Articles from the first drop down menu, then enter your keywords in the text box and click Go.
On the results page, click the Sign in link in the yellow bar or at the top right of the screen. This will ensure that you are able to access all of the full text articles that are available in your search results.
Now you can start limiting your search results to get the type of articles you need, with the publication date range that is appropriate for your topic, by language, and more. Note that for most limits, you'll place a check in the box next to what you want and then click APPLY FILTERS at the bottom of the limit options. To change the publication date range, however, you must enter the new dates you want and then click Update to the right of the dates.
To see additional information about a specific article from the results list, click on the title. This often includes an abstract, or summary, of the article in the section labeled Description. Click Details on the left column menu to jump to that section.
Next, click Top on the left column menu to scroll back to the top of the page where you'll find a link to the article full text when available and a toolbar of actions to take. Options include adding the article to a reading list, getting a permanent link to the article, citing the article in a variety of formats, and emailing the article to yourself or others.
To cite the article, click the citation icon on the toolbar, select the citation style you want, and then click "copy citation to clipboard." You can then paste the citation into your paper or presentation.
Finding Books
The search box on the library's home page allows users to search for articles, books, videos, and more with a single search. To search for books only, select Books from the first drop down menu, then enter your keywords in the text box. Before clicking Go, you have the option to specify where you want to search for books in the second drop down menu:
- Choose MU Libraries Search to look for books at the Miami University Libraries. This can be useful if you need something quickly.
- Choose OhioLINK Search to look for books owned by other Ohio colleges and universities. Books requested from other OhioLINK libraries will take 3-5 days to arrive for pickup at a Miami Library.
- Choose Beyond MU and OhioLINK to look for books outside of MU and OhioLINK member libraries. This option gives you the largest number of books to choose from, but some of them will have to be physically mailed to a Miami Library for pick up. This can take 1-2 weeks.
On the results list, you can also choose Available online to see a list of e-books that you can read immediately.
Click on a title to see:
- More information about a book
- List of actions to take including adding it to a reading list, citing it, and more
- For e-books, a link to read online
