There are three ways that you can get to the library's databases,
from off-campus as well as from on-campus:
If you are off campus, when you click the name of a database, you will be asked for your Campus ID and password. After that, you'll have full access to the database*. But in order to get that access, the database has to identify you as GSU faculty/student/staff.
*There are a very few databases that you can't access this way (looking at you, Ancestry Library Edition) and are only usable in the actual library building). These are clearly marked in the database listings as ON CAMPUS USE ONLY.
This video includes:
How to complete a search in Academic Search Complete:
This video includes:
How to complete a search in Academic Search Complete:
This video includes:
Note: there was a recording glitch that resulted in a bit of extra video at the end and another glitch when Kaltura refused to edit out the last bit; captions will tell you when the instructional part has ended.
Most databases have an Advanced Search option, which will let you search using multiple terms at once. For example:
An asterisk (*) is a truncation symbol that will bring up results using all the letters leading up to (or following) the * -- so, Islam* will bring up both "Islam" and "Islamic" etc.
The search string in the third box got cut off in the image: it should be lgbt or gay or homosexual or lesbian or bisexual or transgender or queer -- the "ors" mean that you're asking for articles that use any of the terms linked by the "ors"
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A database's Advanced Search option will also let you limit your search in a number of ways, including:
For example, here are some options that often appear in Advanced Search:
Different subject databases may have other options as well, but most of our databases have these as Advanced Search options.
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One box that you SHOULD NOT CHECK is the "Full Text" box. Sounds backwards, I know, but here's why:
Many databases will give you only the citation for a particular article and not the full text.
But! We have lots of databases, and the article that you need may be in a different database.
If you find an article that you want, and it looks like we don't have full text, click the blue "Find It @ GSU" button. That button will point you to the article if it's held in another database, or will help you set up an Interlibrary Loan for the article. (If you have a citation for an article, you can also place an Interlibrary Loan request by starting here and following the prompts).
If you check the "Full Text" box in a database, you're actually saying that you only want articles which that particular database has available in "full text." You're shutting off that "Find It @ GSU" option.
These are broad, interdisciplinary databases that will include articles from many different subject areas.
Two databases most commonly used by Communication researchers are Communication and Mass Media Complete, which is useful for researching media-related topics, and PsycInfo, a psychology database useful for researching interpersonal communication.
The search box above searches both databases simultaneously.
Communication research often branches out into other subject areas. The library has hundreds of other databases you can use!
Many databases give you only a citation telling you where to find the article, not the article itself.
Click the Find It @ GSU button to open a window with links to the article you need.
Lost? Stuck? Too many options? Ask a Librarian for help!
