Find research sources with a library search
This page offers ideas for how and where to search for research sources in the Milne Library.
Need help with the research process?
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.
Reference Sources
Reference books provide an overview or summary of your topic and are ideal to be used when starting a research. Reference sources include encyclopedias and dictionaries. Some useful titles are listed below. You can find more on the library website or by visiting the reference shelves throughout the first floor of Milne Library.
Online Reference Books
- Britannica Academic This link opens in a new windowProvides reference sources in almost all disciplines. Also includes historical timelines, multimedia, selected magazine articles, notable quotations, and a dictionary and thesaurus.
- Britannica Escolar This link opens in a new windowProvides elementary and middle school level resources in Spanish.
- Dictionary of Literary Biography This link opens in a new windowEmbedded in Literature Resource Center. Most volumes also available in print in the Milne Library reference collection. Online access begins with volume 369.
- Gale eBooks (formerly Gale Virtual Reference Library) This link opens in a new windowBroad cross-curricular collection of non-fiction titles, supporting science, geography, history, language arts, business and other subjects. Optimized for search and discovery, the Gale eBooks platform enables you to search through multiple nonfiction eBooks within a single search.
- Literary Reference Center (EBSCO)Contains full text for more than 35,000 plot summaries, synopses and work overviews, nearly 100,000 articles/essays of literary criticisms, and about 250,000 author biographies. Covers about 460 literary journals. Also includes book reviews, poems, short stories, more than and more than 8,000 classic texts.
- Oxford English Dictionary (OED) This link opens in a new windowA guide to the meaning, history, and pronunciation of 600,000 words past and present from across the English-speaking world.
Find Books
Find Print Books
To look for print books in the Milne Library catalog, navigate to the library homepage and click on 'Advanced Search.' Then enter your search terms.
- If you want print volumes, change the search scope to 'Library Catalog', limit to 'Books', enter your search terms and click 'Search'. Once in the results list, click 'Held by Library' to limit to print volumes only.
- If you wish to find online books, limit the search scope to 'Online Access' and change the 'Material Type' to 'Books'.
Find eBooks
Electronic books are available through the library's A-Z Database. Here are direct links to two of our main eBook collections:
- Ebook Central Academic Complete This link opens in a new windowProvides approximately 150,000 multidisciplinary ebooks.
Can be used for course content: eBooks from academic publishers in all subject disciplines. - Ebook Collection (EBSCO) This link opens in a new windowOver 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.
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. Try combining a few keywords about the topic, such as the name of a region or country AND a language-related term to find scholarly articles.
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.
Find Articles
Milne library subscribes to a number of databases where you can search for academic journal articles. The full list of databases are available on the library website under the 'Databases' tab as well.
Milne Library databases:
- Contemporary Authors This link opens in a new windowGuide to current writers in fiction, general nonfiction, poetry, drama, and other fields. Provides complete biographical and bibliographical references.
- Hispanic American Periodicals Index (HAPI) This link opens in a new windowContains about 300,000 journal article citations concerning Central America, South America, the Caribbean, Mexico, Brazil, and Hispanics/Latinos in the United States.
- Humanities SourceIncludes both Humanities Full Text and Humanities International. Contains over 1400 full text journals with citations to over 3,500,000 articles.
- Literary Reference Center (EBSCO)Contains full text for more than 35,000 plot summaries, synopses and work overviews, nearly 100,000 articles/essays of literary criticisms, and about 250,000 author biographies. Covers about 460 literary journals. Also includes book reviews, poems, short stories, more than and more than 8,000 classic texts.
- Gale Literature This link opens in a new windowCross-platform search for literature resources, including coverage of authors, literary works and movements, book reviews, and more. Includes Gale Literature Resource Center, Gale Literature: Contemporary Authors, and Gale Literature: LitFinder.
- MLA International Bibliography This link opens in a new windowContains over 2.3 million citations from more than 4,400 journals & series and 1,000 book publishers. Includes almost 60 titles from J-STOR's language and literature collection as well as links to full text. Coverage is from about 1920.
- Oxford English Dictionary (OED) This link opens in a new windowA guide to the meaning, history, and pronunciation of 600,000 words past and present from across the English-speaking world.
Online or Open Access Databases:
- CLACSO: Red de bibliotecas virtuales de ciencias sociales de América Latina y el CaribeA repository of more than 30,000 full-text articles, papers, books, photographs, audio recordings, and other multimedia materials published by the CLACSO network. Subject areas are focused on social sciences. (Primarily in Spanish)
- Europeana CollectionsDiscover and access millions of artworks, artifacts, books, films and music from European museums, galleries, libraries and archives.