McNair Scholars Program: Library Resources
Find the CSUDH Library Home Page at
http://library.csudh.edu/
 Finding Books by Using the Library OPAC (Online Public Access
Catalog, also called ToroFind):
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
If you already know the title and / or author of a book you need, click
the Find Books button on the Library home page, click beside Exact title /
Beginning of title or Author (last name, first name) and enter the title or
the author’s name, last name first.
OR
Do a subject search for books on your topic by searching the CSUDH
Online Library Catalog two different ways:
 with keywords:
 a keyword search will locate items with the keywords in the titles,
subject headings, and other parts of their catalog records.
 on the menu screen of the ToroFind Library Catalog, click beside
Any words in subject or Any words in title and type a word (or
words) that define your topic.
 searching by keyword will often find too many items; however, if you
type two or more words, the catalog will find only works that have all
of the words you entered.
 with standardized subject headings:
 a subject heading search will locate only items that have been
assigned the standardized subject headings you typed.
 identify appropriate subject headings by looking in the Library of
Congress Subject Headings (LCSH), four large red volumes available
at the Reference Desk.
 on the menu screen of the ToroFind Library Catalog, select Library
of Congress Subjects and type in a subject heading.

Searches using keywords and standardized subject headings find very
different lists of library materials. Use both kinds of searches to be certain
you locate all materials the Library owns on a topic.
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Whichever method you use, once the full catalog record of an item you like
appears on the screen, you can use its standardized subject headings to link to
similar items. Just select the appropriate subject heading from the full catalog
record and click on it to search for all other items in the Catalog with that
subject heading.
Each book has a unique call number that works like an address to tell you where
an item is located in the library.
Call numbers begin with anywhere from one to three letters that indicate the
broad subject area where the book belongs.
Examples:
H=Social Sciences
P = Language & Literature
Q=Science
Books from A-PQ are on the 3rd floor
PR –Z are on the 4th floor.

Search for books and articles your instructor has put on Reserve: by clicking
the grey Reserves (Course materials) tab on the RH side of the ToroFind
library catalog page. Search by Course Name or Professor.
 Finding Journal Articles

Browsing for current awareness: Current issues (2002-2004) of print journals
to which the CSUDH Library still subscribes are kept in alphabetical order by
journal title, on shelves in NW corner of the 3rd Floor.
(some very popular title such as the current issues of the Los Angeles
Times and Time Magazine are kept at the Reserve Books Desk
opposite the Library entrance on the 2nd floor)

Finding journal articles on a particular topic: use an index in the form of an
electronic journal index (or, sometimes, for articles published before the dates
covered by the electronic database, an index in printed volumes).
Indexes enable you to identify material that has been published on particular
topics or by certain authors. Some indexes cover only journal articles; others
include references to newspapers, books and other types of material as well.
Some indexes are general in nature and cover many topics.
Others index publications in a specific a subject area like Psychology.
Ask at the Reference Desk on the Library 2nd floor for help with using
electronic or print indexes.
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
Terms you need to know before you search for a journal article:
DATABASE: An organized collection of information, especially electronic information
such as online journal articles e.g: Academic Search Premier
JOURNAL (also SCHOLARLY JOURNAL): Scholarly publication, articles usually reviewed
by experts in the field before publication; published for an academic
audience; narrow focus; deeply researched e.g.; American Journal of
Psychology
MAGAZINE: Publication of general interest: popular interest and broad subjects
e.g: Psychology Today
ABSTRACT: a brief summary of the main content of an article
FULL TEXT: the complete article
CITATION: the basic information you need to find the full text of an article
See http://library.csudh.edu/FAQscholjrnarticles.htm for help with identifying,
locating and citing scholarly journal articles.

Good journal indexes to know about:
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
General and Interdisciplinary Electronic Indexes:
 Academic Search Premier: (selected full text)
 WilsonWeb: OmniFile Full Text Mega (selected full text)
Newspaper Articles
 ABI Inform/ProQuest Newstand Premier: (selected full text)
 LEXIS NEXIS Academic Universe Premier
(full text)
 NewsBank (full text of many California newspapers;
LA Times
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1985 to date)
Subject Specific Electronic Indexes:
 PsycINFO (psychology and psychiatry) (selected full text)
 ERIC (Education journals and documents ( selected full text)
Once you are successfully logged in to a journal index, read the
instructions (Help screen) to figure out how the database works.
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 Using Academic Search Premier
 What is Academic Search Premier?
The world’s largest academic multi-disciplinary database, with full text for nearly
4000 scholarly publications, including nearly 3,100 peer-reviewed titles; indexes and
provides journals in nearly all academic areas of study: social sciences, humanities,
education, computer sciences, engineering, language and linguistics, arts &
literature, medical sciences, and ethnic studies.
How to Do an Article Search on the ADVANCED SEARCH SCREEN:
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Enter your search terms in one or more Find fields.

To develop an effective search, look at your topic or research question and
write down the keywords. Then think of synonyms for each of the keywords.
For example: Do video games contribute to violent behavior in children?
Keywords video games violence
Synonyms gaming
children
aggression youth
Search becomes: video games and violence and children

Use connector words to combine concepts:
If your search contains multiple concepts, combine search terms with
Boolean operators AND, OR and NOT, (capitalized to distinguish them
from your search terms):
 AND narrows a search (both words must be present)
video games AND aggression
 OR broadens a search (either or both may be present)
violence OR aggression
 NOT excludes a term
violence NOT rape
 Viewing the Results of your Search:


After entering your search terms, click the Search button to begin the search
of Academic Search Premier for those terms. As soon as the search is
complete, the Result List will open and, if the search was successful, will appear
in table format listed by date with the most recent articles first.
Each record in your Result List includes a citation and an abstract with your
search terms highlighted.
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
Articles with full text will have at least one icon at the end of the
abstract. (Some records will be for articles whose Full Record may be
available in two formats: HTML and .PDF). Click on the icon to get to the
article.

MANY records have
icons. When you click
this icon, there are four possible outcomes:
1. You will go directly to the article in a different journal index,
2. You will see a list of possible links to the article in two
or more different journal indexes, as well as to the locations and
dates of print and microfilm versions in the CSUDH Library,
3. You will be taken to a different journal index, but will have to
search in it for the issue and/or the article you want,
4. You may be told that "Electronic Online Full Text is NOT AVAILABLE for
this Article" and supplied with a link to the CSUDH Journals List
( where you can type the journal name into the Find box and click
Search) OR to the CSUDH Print/Microfilm Collection
-If the CSUDH Library subscribes, you will see a list of all
hard copy and print holdings of the Library for that journal title.
These may be in current issues on the 3rd floor, bound volumes
on the 3rd or 4th floor, or microfilm on the 2nd floor or in
storage.
-If you see "No Titles where the title contains xxxxx",
CSUDH Library does NOT own in any form the journal
you're looking for. (see WHAT NOW?, on p. 6)

If you don’t see any link to full text full text icon:
-open a new window in your browser by going to the browser menu
and clicking File / New / Window.
-in the new window you have opened, go to the Library Home Page
at http://library.csudh.edu/ .
-click on the Find Journal Articles & Electronic Resources button.
-click on the Find a Specific Journal button.
-type the journal name into the Find box and click Search to see a
display of all electronic versions of that title as well as a list of any
paper or microfilm issues in the CSUDH Library.
- If you see "No Titles where the title contains xxxxx", CSUDH
Library does NOT own in any form the journal you’re looking for.
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 The Library doesn’t have it--WHAT NOW???

If you find that the CSUDH Library does NOT carry in any form a specific
journal, magazine or book that you require, you can either:
Click on the Find Books at Other Libraries button on the right side of
the CSUDH University Library Online Catalog page and check for
holdings at other academic or large public libraries you can visit in
person: CSU libraries (Pharos), UC libraries (Melvyl) or look on the
Southern California Libraries website.
or
 submit an Interlibrary Loan request at the Reference Desk on the
second floor of the Library or use the online ILL form at
http://library.csudh.edu/ill.htm to submit an electronic request.
A photocopy of that article will be obtained from another university, but
may take as long as a month to arrive).
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
A few more journal searching tips:

If the journal article index has a Thesaurus or Subject Guide, look
there to find correct search terms for your topic.

Find too many articles?
 Use more specific terms
 Limit by language, publication, date, full text, peer reviewed…
 Use controlled vocabulary
 Narrow your search with AND

Find too few articles? None? Out-of-context?
 Use different search terms, synonyms, alternate terms and
phrases
 Check your spelling
 Use truncation (legal* =legal, legalize, legalization, and other words
that begin with legal.)
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Broaden your search by joining synonyms with OR
Search a different journal index
Ask for help
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
How can I use the Library’s databases when I’m off-campus?
Open the CSUDH Library web site at http://library.csudh.edu/
1. (If connecting for the first time, click the yellow “What you need to connect from
home button and read the “How to access…” page)
2. Click on the red Find Journals & Electronic Resources button.
3. Click on the Alphabetical List or Subject List button.
4.
After clicking on the link for the index you want to access, you will see the
Authorization screen (see below); enter your first name last name and the 14-digit
barcode number from your CSUDH photo ID card and click the Login button.
You must already have registered as a CSUDH Library user, either in
person or online, for the Login to work. Online registration takes at
least 5 days.
Welcome to CSU Dominguez
Hills
The resources you have
requested are restricted.
Please enter:
Your Name (Example: Jane
Smith)
Numeric characters of CSUDH ID
barcode number
(omit initial letter A and trailing
letter B)
What is a barcode number:
-- if you have a CSUDH ID or CSUDH
Library ID of any type, the barcode is the
14 digit number starting with 20550
followed by an additional 9 digits (in most
cases your social security number or
student number) e.g. 20550342156744
-- if you DO NOT have an ID card enter 20550
followed by your social security number
(e.g. 20550345629967). Do not use spaces
or hyphens.
NOTE: Your barcode ID Number will only work
if you are registered in the Library Patron
Database. If you have checked out books
from the Library you are automatically
registered.
Login
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How to find a specific article when you already have the citation:

If you’re not sure which journal index contains the journal, look in the
CSUDH Journals List to find out if the CSUDH Library either has access to
electronic full text of that journal, or owns print and/or microfilm:
- go to the CSUDH Library web site at http://library.csudh.edu/
- click on the red Find Journals & Electronic Resources button.
- click the CSUDH Journals List button (3rd button down in row on LH side of
screen)
- type the name of the journal into the Find box.
- if the Library has full text of that journal, you’ll see a page with links
to journal indexes that contain it, as well as a link to the CSUDH
Print/Microfilm Collection

If you think the article is in a particular journal index or database, search
for it by entering information from the citation into the Find boxes of that
particular journal index.
.Combine the Author last name first, distinctive word or phrase from title, and
journal title)to check in most journal indexes for a specific article from a
reading list or bibliography.
e.g.: you think an article (“Hassles: their importance to nurses’ quality of work
life”, by Lynda Beaudoin and Linda Edgar, in Nursing Economics, May/Jun 2003.
Vol. 21, 3; p. 106) may be in ProQuest Nursing Journals:
- log in to ProQuest Nursing Journals
- type hassles (a distinctive word or phrase from the article title) into the
top “Find” text box
- click the dropdown box to the right to read TI Title.
- make sure the dropdown box at the beginning of the second line still reads
And
- type Beaudoin Lynda (author’s name, last name first) in the “Find” text
box on the second line
- click the dropdown box at the end of the second line to read Author.
- make sure the dropdown box at the beginning of the second line still reads
And
- type Nursing Economics (the journal title) into the “Find” box on the 3rd line
- click the dropdown box at the end of the second line to read Publication
title
- click the Search button.
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Remember:
 You can’t find individual journal articles in the online catalog (ToroFind)--you have to use a journal index (click the “Find Journal Articles and
Electronic Resources” button on the Library home page).
 Use the CSUDH Journals List at
(http://0-atoz.ebsco.com.torofind.csudh.edu/home.asp?Id=csudh
to locate a specific journal when you already know its title.
 Full text is not always available! The full text of an article for which you
have been given or have located a citation will not always be online, nor will it
always be owned by the CSUDH Library.
Doing a Literature Review

What is a literature review?
 It is an account of what has been published on a topic by recognized
scholars and researchers, and is frequently a required part of the
introduction to an essay, research report or thesis.
 The literature review should communicate to your reader what knowledge
and ideas have been established on a topic, and what their strengths and
weaknesses are.
 As you plan, let yourself be guided by your own research objective, the
problem or issue you are discussing, or your argumentative thesis.

What are the characteristics of a good literature review?
 The literature review is far more than a descriptive list of resources you
found on a topic. It should:
 be organized into sections that present themes or identify
trends and also relate to your research question
 synthesize results into a summary of what is and is not known
 identify areas of controversy in the literature
 formulate questions that need further research.

How can I choose what to include?
 Ask yourself these questions about each book or article you include:
 Has the author stated a problem or issue? Is it clearly defined?
 Is the significance (scope, urgency, relevance) of the problem
clearly established?
 Does the author evaluate the literature relevant to the problem
or issue?
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Does the author include literature representing positions she or
he does not agree with?
If the article or book is about a research study, is the study
well designed and executed?
Does this book or article contribute to our understanding of the
problem or issue?
How does this book or article relate to the specific thesis or
question I am proposing?
Internet Searching-try Google: www.google.com


Google uses sophisticated text-matching techniques to find pages that are both important
and relevant to your search. When Google analyzes a page, it looks at what the pages
linking to that page have to say about it. It also assigns higher relevance to pages in which
your query terms appear near each other.

Google only includes pages in your results that include all of your keywords.
Google assumes that you are placing the operator "and" between your search terms to
combine them.

Search for complete phrases by enclosing them in quotation marks.
Searching for phrases in quotation marks will return all pages containing exactly
the words in quotation marks in the exact order you entered them.

Browse by specific subject area on the Google Directory page by clicking the
“Directory” tab. For example, if you go to the directory page and click on "Education"
(under “Reference”), you’ll see lists of categories, each of which you can search within.

Google's Preferences Page enables you to:
-receive unfiltered results (the default is “moderate filtering”).
-adjust the number of results per page upward (the default is 10)
-restrict results by language (the default is 30+ languages)
Google's Advanced Search Page enables you to:
-limit your search to a specific web domain e.g.: .edu
-restrict your search to pages in a given language
-tweak your search so it meets your needs!
Google's Language Tools Page enables you to:
-translate pages or passages in a language you don’t know
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prepared by: E. Carol Dales /Distance Learning Services Coordinator
California State University, Dominguez Hills / University Library, ERC B-218
800 East Victoria Street, Carson, CA 90747 cdales@csudh.edu Ph.: 310-243-2088 February, 2004
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