Research Support
Find research sources with a library search
This page offers ideas for how and where to search for research sources in the Milne Library. Scroll down to find databases full of articles and search tips that are tailored to your subject.
Need help with your research on a specific subject?
Contact the library's Reference Desk to help find a source, or set up a consultation with a Reference & Instruction Librarian for an hour-long research session. For more information, visit the Get Library Help page.
Library Search Tips
Search Tips for Databases
Databases are searchable online catalogs for research materials like scholarly journals and articles, books, primary source materials (such as letters, maps, datasets, or photographs), and video and audio materials. Milne Library's databases are all listed at A-Z Databases.
Use "advanced" search functions in databases
For best results, use Advanced Search options. To find scholarly articles, try combining a few keywords about the topic such as fashion AND sustainable or nutrition AND cholesterol AND United States.
Filter your search results
Look for "filter" options in your search results that let you choose a publication date range, for example. If you are looking for a certain kind of research material -- like a full-text article, a book, or an audio file -- you can often filter for type, too.
Databases for Human Development and Family Studies
Specialized subject databases sometimes contain articles not found in Search Everything or General Databases.
- Ethnic NewsWatch This link opens in a new windowFeatures full-text newspapers, magazines, and journals of the ethnic and minority press with titles dating from 1990. Contains about 2 million articles from more than 300 publications with both national and regional coverage.
- Family Studies Abstracts This link opens in a new window
Abstracts related to family studies, including families, marriage, divorce, and family therapy. Contains over 50,000 records.
- GenderWatch This link opens in a new windowOffers authoritative historical and current perspectives on the evolution of gender roles as they affect both men and women. Coverage is from 1970 to the present.
- PsycARTICLES This link opens in a new windowProvides access to articles from the 100+ peer-reviewed journals published by the American Psychological Association (APA) from 1894 to the present. Links to full-text articles in other databases.
- Psychology & Behavioral Sciences CollectionA comprehensive database covering information concerning topics in emotional and behavioral characteristics, psychiatry & psychology, mental processes, anthropology, and observational & experimental methods. This is the world's largest full text psychology database offering full text coverage for nearly 400 journals.
- PsycINFO This link opens in a new windowProvides access to literature in fields of psychology, psychiatry, social work and related disciplines from 1887 to the present. Partial full-text / links to articles in other databases.
- SocINDEX with Full TextProvides full-text for over 850 journals as well as abstracts for about 1,300 "core" coverage journals dating as far back as 1895. In addition, this database provides indexing from more than 450 "priority" coverage journals and about 2,000 "selective" coverage journals. Contains extensive indexing for books/monographs (with about 850 available full-text), conference papers, and other non-periodical content sources. Also includes searchable cited references.
Databases for Fashion
Specialized subject databases sometimes contain articles not found in Search Everything or General Databases.
- American Antiquarian Society (AAS) Historical Periodicals Collection: Series 1 This link opens in a new windowConsists of over 850,000 pages including the full-text of almost every seventeenth- and eighteenth-century American title published before 1821. Areas covered include Afro-Americana, children's literature, education, eighteenth-century imprints, leisure and hobbies, medicine, religion, the trades, and women's literature.
- American Antiquarian Society (AAS) Historical Periodicals Collection: Series 2 This link opens in a new windowPresents over 1000 full-text titles dating from 1821 through 1837. Areas covered include agriculture, entertainment, history, literary criticism, and politics.
- American Antiquarian Society (AAS) Historical Periodicals Collection: Series 4 This link opens in a new windowProvides a diverse record of life leading up to and during the Civil War, from 1853-1865. News from the battlefront can be found in addition to science, literature, medicine, agriculture, women’s fashion, family life, and religion.
- Berg Fashion Library This link opens in a new windowNow as a part of Bloomsbury Fashion Central, this resource provides access to interdisciplinary and integrated text, image, and journal content on world dress and fashion. It covers all regions of the world, with in-depth content from pre-history to the present day.
Can be used for course content: Interdisciplinary and integrated text, image, and journal content on world dress and fashion. - Business of Fashion This link opens in a new windowBusiness of Fashion (BoF) is a trade periodical covering news and analysis from the global fashion industry. This resource includes BoF Professional (exclusive insight, analysis and opinion), BoF Careers (connecting the best talent with the best job opportunities), BoF Education (fashion’s platform for online learning), BoF China (a Chinese language edition), VOICES (an annual invitation-only event for leading thinkers and innovators), and the BoF 500 (an index of the people shaping the global fashion industry).
Databases for Nutrition and Dietetics
- Agricola This link opens in a new window
Search bibliographic records from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Agricultural Library, which includes millions of citations relating to the field of agriculture. Citations are comprised of journal articles, book chapters, theses, patents, software, audiovisual materials and technical reports to support agricultural research.
- CINAHL Plus with Full Text This link opens in a new windowIndexing for over 750 journals in the fields of nursing and allied health sciences with coverage back to 1937. Contains many dietetics journals. A useful feature is the ability to limit a search by age group. Some full text articles are included. Provided by SUNY-Connect.
- Gale OneFile: Culinary Arts This link opens in a new window
Search information from major cooking and nutrition magazines as well as key reference titles.
- Gale OneFile: Hospitality & Tourism This link opens in a new window
Search well-rounded coverage of both the historical and current state of affairs in the hospitality and tourism industries.
- Human Nutrition Abstracts and Reviews Series A: Human and ExperimentalContains abstracts for more than 6,000 academic journals, books, reports and conference proceedings relevant to human nutrition. Coverage includes analytical methods, foods, human health and nutrition, nutritional disorders, and therapeutic nutrition. Links to some full-text. Coverage is from 1991 to the present.
- Nutrition Care Manual (NCM) This link opens in a new windowManual of evidence and knowledge-based nutrition information for dietitians from the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.
Can be used for course content. - Pediatric Nutrition Care Manual This link opens in a new windowPNCM provides access to the largest client education library of evidence-based pediatric nutrition education materials and cutting-edge pediatric nutrition resources.
- PubMed This link opens in a new windowPubMed is a free search engine accessing primarily the MEDLINE database of references and abstracts on life sciences and biomedical topics. Citations may include links to full text content from PubMed Central and publisher web sites.
- ScienceDirect This link opens in a new windowProvides full-text access to journals in the fields of science, psychology, medicine, and technology.
Find eBooks
Open Access Online Books
There are many open access book collections available freely on the internet. Here are a few great collections:
- Directory of Open Access Books (DOAB)
A service of the OAPEN Foundation based at the National Library in The Hague, Netherlands. Database contains more than 5,000 academic, peer-reviewed books from 163 publishers.
- HathiTrust Digital Library
Partnership of academic and research institutions, offering a collection of millions of titles digitized from libraries around the world.
- Project Gutenberg
Offers over 53,000 free eBooks, most of which are primary source texts in the public domain.
- World Digital Library
Project of the U.S. Library of Congress and UNESCO. Makes available on the Internet, free of charge and in multilingual format, significant primary materials from all countries and cultures.
Milne Library eBook Collections
There are two ways to find eBooks from the library's collections. One method is to search in the Milne Library catalog. Navigate to the library homepage and click on 'Advanced Search.' Then enter your search terms.
- If you wish to find online books, limit the search scope to 'Online Access' and change the 'Material Type' to 'Books'.
The second method is to search each Milne Library's eBook databases (in case something in a database is not showing up in our catalog). All eBook databases are available in the A-Z Database list, and here are some best bets:
- Ebook Central Academic Complete This link opens in a new window
Provides approximately 150,000 multidisciplinary ebooks.
Can be used for course content: eBooks from academic publishers in all subject disciplines. - Academic Ebook Collection This link opens in a new window
Over 100,000 full-text ebooks in categories including adult fiction and non-fiction, art, biography, business, economics, computer science, education, medicine, history, literature, philosophy, political science, psychology, and reference. Downloadable to portable devices.
Can be used for course content: eBooks from academic publishers in all subject disciplines. - Springer Nature Ebook Collection This link opens in a new window
Scholarly e-books across science, medicine, technology, humanities, and social science disciplines, including over 20,000 full-text titles.
Can be used for course content: eBooks from academic publishers in STEM disciplines.