GOVT 2305 & 2306 - Davis: Find Books and Articles

If you are using an off-campus computer, use your MyLC login and password to access electronic resources.

Please note that the Lee College Library is currently providing curbside check-outs of print materials.  Please contact us at library@lee.edu to set up a time for pick-up.

Keep these tips in mind:

• Unlike searching on an internet browser, the library's catalog and article databases do not use natural language.  You can't ask a question or use a sentence.
  • For instance, instead of, "Is the electoral college biased against urban areas?" identify the main elements of your question and search those terms. 
    • Example:  "Electoral college" AND "Urban areas"
• Identify some other terms or phrases you can use to state your research topic.  When you are searching scholarly journals, authors almost always use terminology that is specific to their field.  Use your textbook or a dictionary of philosophy to find these terms.
  • Example:  Instead of, "Prejudice" try "Bias"
  • Instead of "Politicians," try "Political Leaders" or "Elected officials"
• If you are getting too many irrelevant articles, try narrowing your search by making it more specific.  Examples:
  • Term limits AND Supreme Court
  • Judicial reform AND Texas
• If you aren't getting any articles on your topic, you might have to use broader search terms and try to find your topic within those broader articles.  Example:
  • Instead of "Originalism AND Constitution AND Supreme Court Justices" try "Originalism AND Supreme Court Justices"

Articles

Books & E-books

Don't be afraid to start with books or e-books -- you don't HAVE to read the entire book!  Use the index in the back of the book to locate where the book addresses your paper topic!

Find books & e-books using the Lee College Library Catalog:

This is where your background research comes in.  Unless your topic is very specific, you will most likely need to search using the multiple terms, such as:

Republic of Texas AND Slavery

[Topic] + [Time period, geographic location] --> Firearms AND 19th century AND Texas

Alternatively, you can use the limiters on the OneSearch search page to narrow your search.  Example: 

[Your Topic] + [use E-books as a limiter] --> Republic of Texas + [now go down the search page until you find the fields to enter dates, then check the box by "ebooks"]