OneSearch is an excellent starting point for your searches since it connects you directly with a significant number of resources, however, there is no single website or search box in the world that can help you discover every article or book ever published.
It is often best to conduct more specific searches in a selected database. Databases can be multidisciplinary or subject-specific. They can contain a variety of formats or just a particular type of format, such as articles or streaming videos only. Some searches are best completed in a specific journal.
This page helps you to focus your searches but please contact library staff if you need additional guidance.
Perhaps you are only searching for articles or videos or dissertations. OneSearch can be filtered for such a search, but there are also additional instructions on this page for searching by resource type.
There are several ways to find articles using library resources whether searching for articles on a particular topic or a specific article. Many of our databases provide access to eBooks, videos, images, etc., but most databases contain articles from academic journals, magazines and newspapers.
Search for articles on a particular topic:
Use OneSearch for a basic search and enter keywords related to your topic or research question. For example:
art therapy AND addiction
Once the results appear, filter them under Tweak your results. You can limit by Peer-reviewed Journals, articles, newspaper articles, newsletter articles, date range, etc. Setting these filters will eliminate all the other types of resources.
Alternatively, open a database from the A-Z Database List. Enter search terms and any desired filters to search.
Search for a specific article:
You may have a title, part of a title, author name, DOI (digital object identifier), journal title, or some other identifying information about a specific article. There are a few strategies to use to locate it.
1. Use basic search and enter the title or partial title in quotation marks in OneSearch. Quotation marks look for the words as a phrase.
2. Use Advanced Search and set the fields for author or whatever field code you want to search.
3. If you have a DOI, click the SEARCH DOI/PMID (ARTICLES) link on the OneSearch page. The LibKey.io page will open. Enter the DOI and click Find Article. Then click one of the options to open (PDF or link.)
For more detailed instructions, review the PDF document below.
Here are two methods for locating journals:
1) Click the Journals option under the OneSearch search bar then enter the title of the journal. Here is an example search for the journal, Advances in Cognitive Psychology:
In the next screen, click the journal title to open the full index record.
The index record will display databases that house the journal as well as links to the journal and an option to search within the journal for articles.
2) Go to the OneSearch homepage and click Journals A-Z in the top navigation bar.
BrowZine will open. BrowZine is a tool that lets you browse, read and monitor the latest scholarly journals. Enter a journal title, subject or ISSN or Browse Subjects and view journal titles within each subject and sub-category.
To learn more about BrowZine, view the video tutorial below.
The best strategy for finding eBooks is to use OneSearch since most (but not all) of our eBooks are cataloged there.
When using OneSearch, first limit the search to Books by clicking Books under the search bar and then enter the book title, author, chapter title, keywords, etc. Use quotation marks around a book title to search it as a phrase rather than individual words.
Alternatively, go to an eBook database in the A-Z Database List, filter the search to eBook & Text Collections, and click a title of a database to search for an eBook directly in that database. The following eBooks databases are best bets for Saybrook students:
Indexed in OneSearch
Researchers can explore methods concepts to help them design research projects, understand particular methods or identify a new method, conduct their research, and write up their findings. Since SAGE Research Methods focuses on methodology rather than disciplines, it can be used across the social sciences, health sciences, and more.
Indexed in OneSearch
https://tcsedsystem.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://link.springer.com/search?facet-content-type=%22Book%22&showAll=false
Indexed in OneSearch
The library subscribes to over 100,000 streaming videos but not all of them can be indexed in OneSearch, the library's online catalog.
The best way to find relevant streaming videos is to browse the streaming video databases.
Go to the A-Z Database List and limit the All Database Types filter to Streaming Videos:
The list will filter to all the databases containing streaming videos. Click a database title to open the collection.
You can search by keyword or video title in OneSearch and when the results load, limit the search to Videos under Tweak your results.
Top Streaming Video Databases:
The primary source for locating dissertations and theses is the ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Global database above and also found in the A-Z Database List. The library also provides a link to those awarded specifically to Saybrook University graduates.
To find dissertations and theses in other databases, filter the A-Z Database List by Dissertations and Theses. Click the database title to search in it. Enter your search terms and filter the search within the database to Dissertation/Thesis under the Document type or Format. Here is an example though different databases will vary as to the exact appearance and wording:
There are other repositories containing dissertations and theses potentially available for borrowing through other institutions so please contact library staff if you need assistance tracking one down. You may also find a dissertation published as an author's first book (often with a similar title) or selected chapters published as articles.
View Saybrook University Dissertations of Distinction by opening the document linked below.
Other Dissertation Sources:
KEYWORD SEARCHING
Use AND, NOT and OR between search terms to narrow or broaden a search.
Use quotation marks around one or more keywords or a phrase to define precisely how you want the words to appear in the results.
TRUNCATION AND WILDCARDS
Truncation allows for search of words that could have multiple endings and uses the asterisk (*) symbol.
Wildcards are symbols, such as a question mark (?), to replace letters in words where there are unknown or multiple possible characters.
NESTING
Similar to formulas in algebra, nesting is useful for concepts that are expressed in multiple ways.
Example: teenager = adolescent = young adult = teen
PROXIMITY SEARCHING
How close are two or more search terms in the results?
Example: curriculum theories = theories of curriculum = theories involving curriculum = theories about curriculum, etc.
FIELD CODES
A field is a specific part of a database record such as author, title, subject, year of publication, etc. Use the Advanced Search within OneSearch or individual databases to enter search terms and use the dropdown menus to search by a particular field.
SUBJECT TERMS AND DATABASE THESAURI
Most databases have a controlled vocabulary which are descriptive words assigned to an article. Articles with similar themes are classified together under a specific subject heading. Using the terms in the thesaurus is a more focused way to search.
KEYWORDS VS. SUBJECT TERMS