Skip to Main Content
Banner Image Return to SJF Lavery Library Homepage Return to Lavery Library Research Guides Homepage

ENGL 420 Seminar Guide

This guide is intended to assist students in ENGL420 with research for their capstone papers.

Searching your key concepts in a database

From Concept Map to Database Search

image clipped from concept map showing two columns of three boxes and each column is linked with an arrow pointing from column 1 to column 2 next to image of three database search boxes; an arrow from each of the second column of 3 search boxes points to a corresponding search box

Select a keyword from each row in your concept map [shown above on the left]; enter each into a search box in the database you've selected [shown above on the right].

Perform more than one search in each database, changing keyword combinations as needed.

Phrase searching with your key concepts

About Phrase Searching with Quotation Marks

Search for an exact phrase by placing quotation marks around the search phrase.

Tip: phrase searching works when you are searching library databases, Google, and the Lavery Library Big Red Search Box.

Example for searching a database for "civil rights movement"

For example, a search for "civil rights movement" will search for that exact phrase instead of treating it as a search for civil AND rights AND movement. 

Shown below are two database searches. The one on the right uses phrase searching:two database advanced search boxes shown. on left, top box reads civil rights movement, middle box reads united states, and bottom box reads activists. On right, a highlighted image with a star shows top box reading "civil rights movements" with quotation marks, middle box reads "united states" with quotation marks, and bottom box reads activists

Examples for names and titles

Phrase searching is a useful search strategy when you search for a person's name, or a title. 

  • "Frederick Douglass"
  • "The Girl with the Louding Voice"

Is my resource scholarly?...

Identifying differences between scholarly, trade, and popular publications helps to select the proper resources for research.

Chart of Publication Types

Chart describing characteristics of each publication type: scholarly, trade, popular. An accessible version is below as a Word document file.

Example of Each Publication Type

See what each of these publication types looks like.