The Sheridan Libraries

University Writing Program (UWP)

(Formerly Expository Writing.) An introduction to research skills for UWP courses.

Google

Want to make your Google search more effective?

1. Use the OR operator. Ex: piracy OR mash-up.

3. Exclude specific terms with the - operator. Ex: copyright -music

4. Search for specific document types, like powerpoint slides or videos, using the "filetype:" operator. Ex: copyright filetype:jpg

5. Limit your search to a particular site with the "site:" operator. Ex: copyright site:nytimes.com

Google Book

Search inside books made available on the Internet; view or preview them online, then check to see if our library owns or has access to them.

Google Scholar

This feature of Google searches across many scholarly Internet sources: peer-reviewed papers, theses, books, abstracts and articles, from academic publishers, professional societies, preprint repositories, universities and other scholarly organizations.

Google Scholar is especially useful for tracking down or verifying difficult or partial citations.

Search the JHU Libraries Catalog

Find books, films, and more research material in the libraries by searching below:

Evaluating Sources

Who is the intended audience?
Is the piece intended for specialists, practitioners, the general public, or another targeted group?
What is the scope or coverage?
Is the resource meant to give a general overview, a foundational introduction, detailed investigation, cutting-edge update, or some other level of detail?
Why was it written or published?
Is it meant to inform, explain, entertain, or persuade? It it intended to be objective and neutral or controversial?

For more information on evaluating sources, see also our special guide on this topic.

Online Resources for Researching Literature

Search the core English and American Literature databases below. Click a checkbox or database title to choose another database to search. Need help choosing? They're categorized by broad topic. Or, click the information button for a description of a database.