Video: Search basics for finding sources efficiently from UMN Libraries (9 mins)
Get an overview for using UMN Libraries databases to find sources including picking good databases, building your search, getting to full text and getting help.
Video: Tips for advanced searching including starting a literature review from UMN Libraries (10 mins)
Learn about advanced search tips from the UMN Libraries including using sources to find other sources otherwise known as tracing citations. These strategies are using for beginning a literature review.
Business article databases (use to find articles)
- Business Source PremierFind business articles from journals and magazines in marketing, management, information technology, operations, human resources, accounting, finance and economics dating back to 1965.
Health science & nutrition article databases
- PubMedSearches MEDLINE, which is the primary source of journal articles for the health sciences (fields of medicine, nursing, dentistry, veterinary medicine, public health, health care systems, and basic sciences). Coverage is from the 1940s to the present. View this tutorial to learn how to go from a general idea to a very precise set of results of journal articles and scholarly materials.
- CINAHL Ultimate (Nursing & Allied Health)Covers nursing and allied health journal articles, book chapters, and dissertations, as well as providing summarized evidence-based resources such as care sheets and quick lessons.
Science/engineering & animal science article databases
- ScopusSearch for information from scientific journals, books and conference proceedings. Covers the fields of science, technology, medicine, social sciences, and arts and humanities.
- CAB Abstracts Plus Full Text SelectCAB Abstracts covers agriculture in its broadest sense, including crop production, forestry, environment, animal health and nutrition, veterinary science, agricultural engineering, biotechnology, soil and water, agricultural economics, recreation and tourism, rural sociology, and human nutrition and health.
- ACM (Association For Computing Machinery) Digital LibraryFull text of most Association for Computing Machinery journals and proceedings since 1950. It also includes publications of affiliated organizations.
- Engineering VillageSearch journal articles from 1884-1968 on engineering. Searches both Inspec (1898-1968) and Compendex (1884-1968) Archives for articles and conference papers related to engineering, computer science, and physics.
Education article databases
- Education SourceSearch full-text education journals covering all levels of education--from early childhood to higher education--as well as all educational specialties, such as multilingual education, health education and testing.
- JSTORFind full text articles in academic journals or books on the arts, humanities, social sciences, and sciences. JSTOR provides articles from the journal's first issue. In some cases the most recent 2-5 years may not be available. View this tutorial to learn how to go from a general idea to a very precise set of results of journal articles and scholarly materials.
Video: Using tools to create your bibliography from UMN Libraries (7 mins)
Learn about tools to help with citing, organizing your PDFs, creating in-text citations and more from UMN Libraries.
Citing your sources (e.g. MLA, APA, etc.)
- Citation Managers (e.g. Zotero, EndNote Online, etc.)Citation managers are software packages used to create personalized databases of citation information and notes. They allow you to: import and organize citation information from article indexes and other sources; save links to pdfs and other documents; format citations for your papers and bibliographies using APA and many other styles; and include your own notes.
Many article databases (e.g. Academic Search Premier, Google Scholar) will create a citation for you. After you found the item, look for "cite" or "quotes." Here are examples:
In Google Scholar:
In Academic Search Premier:
- Chicago Manual of Style OnlineThis resource provides online access to the latest edition of The Chicago Manual of Style, which covers a variety of topics from manuscript preparation and publication to grammar, usage, and citation formating. The citation quick guide covers both the author-date and the notes and bibliography systems.
- Citation and research help (from Purdue OWL)Examples and instructions for how to cite many types of materials in MLA, APA, Chicago, and AMA styles.
Learn more about on annotated bibliographies
Annotated Bibliography from UW-Madison
An annotated bibliography is an organized list of sources, each of which is followed by a brief note or “annotation.”
- How to write an annotated bibliographyLearn more about annotated bibliographies.
- Writing Evaluative Annotated BibliographiesThis chapter includes useful questions to guide you in writing annotations for an annotated bibliography.
Finding background on specific populations
- Ethnic NewsWatchEthnic NewsWatch is a current resource of full-text newspapers, magazines, and journals of the ethnic and minority press from 1990, providing researchers access to essential, often overlooked perspectives.