This page provides you with the best resources for your assignments.
For tips on how to make your research faster and easier visit the Searching Strategies page under the Guides page of this course guide.
Under the same section is a page that provides tips on how to Evaluate Resources.
You can search multiple databases at the same time for example a search on sustainab* AND agricultur* (occurring in titles, abstracts and subject headings) can be searched in the following databases concurrently : Academic Search, Green File, EBSCO eBooks and Science Reference Center.
To select databases for simultaneous searching, click on "Choose Databases" at the top of the EBSCOhost search box.
You can add other terms to the search to find more specific articles. For example, you might add other the search terms to the search limiting their occurrence to the Abstract.
Search for print books, eBooks, and other sources in ZL. Use Interlibrary Loan to access even more materials.
The WorldCat Research Station is the essential tool for finding books, eBooks, DVDs, etc. available in and through the Zondervan Library.
Field prefixes in WorldCat:
au: author
ti: title
su: subject
kw: keyword
yr: range of years -- e.g., 1980..2016
Here's a search on (ti:sustainab* AND agricultur*) OR (su:sustainab* AND agricultur*) ["'sustainable agriculture" or variant in a title or in a subject heading] and limited to resources available through the Zondervan Library.
Worldcat is also a very useful resource for generating interlibrary loan requests for books or articles:
Find citation/entry for item (e.g., book or article) --> Search by title (ti: prefix) in WorldCat --> Request Item through Interlibrary Loan. See Google Scholar to WorldCat to ILLiad video
It may not be easy to find reports or "gray literature" on some topics. Three key tools are WorldCat Research Station, Google Scholar and perhaps most effective a Google Web search.
In WorldCat Research Station search your topic, then LIMIT by FORMAT limiting to "Archival material" and "Internet Resource".
What you find will often have a direct link (e.g., View Now) to the online resource.
In Google Scholar and Google Web, identify "gray literature" by noting the absence of a journal title, publication source and the use of "report OR paper OR briefing" in your search strategy.
In a Google Web search, go to Advanced Search and try limiting your topic to .org in the Site or Domain: field. You may also want to use ".pdf" in the search box with your search terms.
Another resource of potential value for "white papers": the Congressional Research Service (URL is to a Google Search "Congressional Research Service" to which you can add search terms.)
Here is a search example on "sustainable agriculture".
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