EGL 101 - David Jakalski - Summer 2024

Oakton Community College Library offers access to a variety of databases through its website, which you can access here. These include Academic Search Complete EBSCOoa, which provides access to magazines, research journals, and newspaper articles on a wide array of subjects, as well as databases organized by subject.

When using Google to find articles, here are some steps for making your search more effective:

• Use the correct database for the kind of search you are conducting. 
  • For general searches of popular sources, use regular Google.
  • For academic or scholarly articles, use Google Scholar.
  • To browse Google's database of digitized book sections, use Google Books.
  • Google's Advanced Search page enables you to limit your search by date range, language, and file type (.pdf, .doc, .jpeg, etc.) while also giving you the ability to bring up similar entries or websites from a particular locale. 
• To use boolean search terms (AND, OR, NOT).
  • Google implies "and" when you search. So, if you type Tom Jerry, it assumes Tom and Jerry.
  • Google only recognizes "OR" when it is capitalized. 
  • Instead of NOT, Google uses a minus sign. So, Chicago NOT New York would be Chicago - New York.
• Use quotation marks to indicate words that should be grouped together, like "Wyatt Earp."
• To direct Google to search for specific domain types, type "site:".For instance: global warming site:.gov