The RGO Library & Learning Commons provides access to many reliable, scholarly resources to support students, faculty, and staff at Bow Valley College.
There are many different search tools you can use to find information. It is always important to choose the search tool that matches your information needs.
Keep in mind what kind of sources your instructor is asking for.
• Used to find popular (news, commercial, entertainment) and non-traditional academic sources.
• When searching on Google, use the Tools button to narrow down the date range of your results. Click the News button to limit results to online news articles.
Google Scholar
Access Google Scholar using our institutional link to gain access to as many results as possible.
• Used to find academic articles and books, including some not held by the BVC library.
• Not all sources can be accessed for free on Google Scholar. Sources you can access will have a link to the right of the article's title.
• Use the limiters on the left side to limit results by date range.
Library catalog and databases
• Used to find academic articles, newspaper/ magazine articles. videos, books, and e-books
• You can use either natural language or keyword searches in the library catalog. For more information on these concepts, see the Searching for the best results tab.
• Once you've started your search, use the limiters on the left-hand side of the search results page to filter your results.
• Limiters that can be applied include filtering results by publication date, type of source, subject, and more.
Search strategies
No one wants to spend hours reading through millions of search results to find the perfect source(s). There are many strategies you can use to become an efficient searcher of the information landscape.
Here are 4 common strategies:
1. Natural language search: A search that uses the language of normal speech to find documents containing specific content. E.G. Do forest fires contribute to global warming?
2. Keyword search: A search that uses a significant word or phrase to find documents containing specific content. E.G. "forest fires" "global warming"
3. Filter: A way to limit or narrow a list of search results by date, subject, format, author, location, or language.
4. Citation mining: Using an existing source to lead you to related information.
Natural language search
Most search tools allow for natural language searching. A good place to get started is to enter your question or thesis statement into a search tool, such as the library catalogue. One simple natural language search can lead you to a list of results that you can filter to match your information needs. It can also lead you to synonyms for the keywords in your topic for future searches.
The screenshot below is from a natural language search in the library catalogue for:
Do forest fires contribute to global warming?
Note:
• Ways you can limit your search with the built-in filters in the library catalogue
• Words in the results that can be used as keywords in future searches
Keyword searching
• Break your topic into its major concepts. This removes extra unneeded words like "to" and "contribute" from your search. In our example, "Forest fires contribute to global warming", the major concepts are "forest fires" AND "global warming"
*Tip: place quotation marks around phrases. A phrase is a group of 2 or more words that, together, have one meaning. For example, "forest fire" and "global warming".
• Combine the separate terms in a keyword search using the word AND. The screenshot below is a sample keyword search.
Note:
• The quotation marks around the phrases "forest fires" and "global warming"
• The difference in results from the first example
Introducing Google Scholar
Google Scholar is great for finding peer-reviewed articles. Use the link on the library homepage to access Google Scholar so you don't hit paywalls in your search.
Use a natural language search or a keyword search. Note that Google Scholar does not have as many limiters as the library catalogue but includes many other features to help you narrow your results.
• The "Related articles" link in Google Scholar is a good way to find related sources to particularly relevant articles.
• The "Cited by" link will give you a list of resources that have cited the article.
The screenshot below is from a Google Scholar search
Note:
• Some of the author names are hyperlinked - click on these to find other material published by that author
• The "cited by" and "related articles" links will help you to find similar articles
• The "cite" symbol will give you an APA reference for the article
