English 102: College Writing (Prof. Prodoehl): Search Tools

Search Tools:

• Research@UWW

  Use the search box on the libraries' website. One search for books, articles, and more.
• Library Databases

  Use the libraries' databases to locate articles and other resources from a specific subject area (e.g., history, psychology, biology).
• Worldcat

  Use Worldcat to locate books that are not available at UW-Whitewater or other UW System libraries.
• Course Guides

  Research help & sources customized for a particular course.
• Google Scholar

  Use Google Scholar to locate academic (journal articles, books) information on a topic.
• Internet Search

  For quick facts and a general introduction to topic. Includes resources such as Google, Bing, and Wikipedia.

The below chart will help you answer questions like these:

• What type of source would be best for you to use to find the information you need?
• Is the currency of a source important to your topic?
• Does the date of a source need to be close to the time the event you are researching occurred?
• Is in-depth coverage of your topic important?

On the same topic is a terrific video about the Information Life Cycle (2:34) from the University of Nevada-Las Vegas.