Skip to Main Content

ENG 111: College Composition I (DiAngelo-Alexandria)

Please direct and questions about this guide to abricker@nvcc.edu

Database Search Tips

Example question:

How could artificial intelligence affect employment?

 

First, identify the concepts that are essential to your question. Those are your keywords:

How could artificial intelligence affect employment?

 

Use your keywords and the tips in the table below to start searching.

The databases linked in the Top Databases for ENG 111 section on this page.

Simple Search Tips: Advanced Search Tips:
  • Type AND between each keyword to ensure results address all key concepts:

artificial intelligence AND employment

  • Use quotation marks to ensure phrases or connected words stay together:

"artificial intelligence" AND employment

  • Use synonyms and related terms to broaden your search and see new results:

"artificial intelligence" AND jobs

"artificial intelligence" AND unemployment

"artificial intelligence" AND underemployment
  • Use OR to search for synonyms or related terms all at once:

employment OR jobs OR unemployment OR underemployment

  • Use NOT to indicate terms you want to exclude from your results:

"artificial intelligence" NOT ChatGPT

  • Use an asterisk to truncate terms

tech* (the database will search for all words that start with tech, like technology, technologies, technical, etc.)

  • Use parentheses to group keywords together:

("artificial intelligence" OR AI) AND (employment OR jobs OR unemployment OR underemployment)
 

Try it step by step:

  1. What is your research question?
    • Does social media promote anxiety among teenagers?
  2. Identify the key concepts. These are the parts of your question that are essential to your research.
    • Does social media promote anxiety among teenagers?
  3. Brainstorm synonyms and related terms for each key concept
    • Social media: social networks, Instagram, TikTok
    • Anxiety: stress, fear, worry
    • Teenagers: teens, adolescents, young adults
  4. Use the search tips to put it all together
    • Simple search: "social media" AND anxiety AND teenagers
    • Advanced search: ("social media" OR "social network" OR Instagram OR TikTok) AND (anxiety OR stress OR fear OR worry) AND (teenagers OR teens OR adolescents OR "young adults")
  5. Use the database filters to narrow down your result list to the most relevant sources.
  6. Don't forget: research is an iterative process. That means that what you learn from one search can impact your next search. Refining or tweaking your search - or even your topic - based on what you find in your search results is a normal part of the research process.

Top Databases for ENG111

Search the Library Catalog

When Searching the Library Catalog

The Library Catalog Books & eBooks search will look for books available at NOVA campus libraries and online.

Tip: In your list of results, use the filters to limit your results to a specific campus or to online books.

The Library Catalog Everything search looks for:

  • books
  • videos
  • articles from newspapers, magazines, scholarly journals, and encyclopedias

Tip:  Because Everything searches most of the library's databases simultaneously, including Proquest and EBSCO (on the Home page of this guide), you will usually get a lot of results. Use filters, such as Peer-reviewed Journals, Source Type, and Publication Date, to reduce your number of results.