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JOUR J475 Race, Gender, and the Media

Scholarly and Trade Publication Articles

To search specifically for trade journals, under the advanced search features of many article databases you can specify the type of publication you wish to search. Trade journals are sometimes listed as professional journals or trade publications.

Newspaper Articles

Books

IUCAT Button

IUCAT is Indiana University's online library catalog. Search it to find items held by the IU Libraries statewide, including books, recordings, US government publications, periodicals, and other types of material. You can access IUCAT from any computer connected to the Internet or at walk-up terminals located throughout the IU Library system.

IUCAT Quick Search:
Library: IU Indy University Library
  Herron Art Library
 

Search Strategies for Databases

Before you start entering any search terms,  think of as many relevant terms and combinations of terms as you can. This will help you to avoid getting stuck in a rut with the first terms that come to mind.

  • Truncation = To use truncation, enter the root of a search term and replace the ending with an * (asterisk). For example, type comput* to find the words computes, computer, computing or computational.
  • Searching a phrase = Typically, when a phrase is enclosed by double quotations marks, the exact phrase is searched. For example, "employee retention" searches for the two words as a phrase.
  • Boolean terms (AND, OR, NOT) = Use these terms to connect your keywords. They work best in all capital letters:
    • AND combines search terms so that each search result contains all of the terms. For example, travel AND Europe finds articles that contain both travel and Europe.
    • OR combines search terms so that each search result contains at least one of the terms. For example, college OR university finds results that contain either college or university.
    • NOT excludes terms so that each search result does not contain any of the terms that follow it. For example, television NOT cable finds results that contain television but not cable.
  • Putting it all together: You can combine these Boolean terms with truncation and phrase searching to create powerful search statements. For example, if you are interested in what motivates students in higher education, you might try a search that looks like: (college* OR universit* OR "higher education") AND (student* OR undergraduate* OR "graduate student*") AND motivat*

Try the databases' Advanced Search feature, which usually gives you the ability to search multiple fields (author, title, keyword, subject, etc) with one search and may offer additional ways to expand or limit your search.

If your first search strategy does not work, try another approach. Check out the "Help" or "Search Tips" to learn some of the search features specific to that database. Most databases provide similar features, but the methods may vary. Some common tricks:

Remember that you can also get help from the librarian.

Using AI in the Research Process

Here's where generative AI can be helpful in the research process and some of the products currently available.

3: Find Materials