8.  oneSEARCH is the primary search tool to look for books and articles in the Library’s collections.

Go to the big search box on the Library’s website. This is oneSEARCH. It searches print books, e-books, e-book chapters and many (but not all) of our article databases at the same.

     

 

While oneSEARCH understands natural language searches, it is good to get into the habit of setting up your searches in terms of keywords, and linking them together using AND.

 

For example, if your research topic is something like “traumatic memory in people or children who have suffered a traumatic experience or event” then some possible searches would be: 

 

     trauma AND children

     traumatic memory AND children

     trauma AND children AND memory

 

Additional sample keyword searches for topics related to "memory":
 

     commemorative monuments

     "public memory" AND monuments

     "collective memory" AND monuments

     memorials AND trauma

     9/11 memorial AND trauma

     "vietnam memorial"

     "iwo jima war memorial"

      sebald AND austerlitz

     confederate monuments AND (protest OR debate)

     "confederate monuments" AND "public memory"

It is important to brainstorm all the different keywords and phrases that might apply to your topic ("public memory," "collective memory," memory, memorials, monuments, public monuments, confederate statues, confederate monuments, trauma, identity, etc.). This will allow you to try a number of different searches until you get the most relevant results, and will help you be comprehensive in your searching. 

 

Tips for searches: Don’t use full sentences or questions

                             Break your topic down into keywords and phrases

                             Link keywords or key phrases together with AND

                             Use OR for synonyms or alternate terms

                             Use quotes to search for an exact phrase

 

Sample results from oneSEARCH:
 

 

 

The first result is an ebook chapter, the second result is an article in a scholarly (peer reviewed) journal. Note the PEER REVIEWED tag beneath the citation. Click on the “Available Online” link to access to the full-text of the source.

To limit your search to ONLY peer reviewed articles in OneSEARCH, click on the “Peer Reviewed Journals” filter on the left-hand side of your search results. To limit your search to ONLY online sources (not print), click on the “Full Text Online” filter.

 

 

Now that you’ve found some sources using oneSEARCH, let’s go into some article databases. The Brooklyn College Library subscribes to over 400 different article databases and although oneSEARCH searches a lot of them at the same time, it doesn’t search all of them.