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Library Research Guides

ENGWR 480 (online) - Professor Rodgers (Spring 2020): OneSearch: Books & Articles

What Should I Do on This Page?

Now that you've explored the preliminary databases and have collected some background information on your topic, it's time to begin conducting some reference research, and OneSearch is just the tool to use for that. 

The first step you should take is to watch the OneSearch in One Minute video. 

Once you've watched the video, read the information in the Search Tips section to learn a few strategies you can use when navigating OneSearch.

Once you're done with those two steps, you'll be ready to dive into OneSearch. 

You can start by using the 1-3 keywords that you used in the preliminary databases, but now you can also add more relevant keywords to refine your topic (see the Potential Keywords and the Search Tips boxes below).

If you'd like to see some of the search tips used in action, watch the Quick Tips & Shortcuts for Database Searching video (NOTE: The database used in this video may look a bit different from OneSearch, but the tools are similar).

OneSearch in One Minute Video

Search Tips

Using OneSearch Limiters:

You can limit the results you get to various types of sources (e.g. reviews, or newspaper articles, etc.).  

"Reviews" is highlighted as one of Resource Types


General Search Tips:

  • 3-5 keywords often works well
  • Take advantage of the limiters inside of OneSearch
  • Try different keywords (think synonyms)

Using Quotation Marks

Use quotation marks to search for a specific phrase. 

Example: "tribal law and justice act"

The results from this example will include sources related to this specific act.

Using Parentheses

Use parentheses around keywords separated by the word "OR" to expand your search and get more results. 

Example: housing (native OR indigenous)

In the example above, we are running two searches at once: 

native housing AND indigenous housing 

Using the Asterisk (*): 
Use an asterisk to shorten a word and search for all possible endings of a root word. This will give you more results

Example:  "native american" hous*

This is searching for the phrase native american with multiple derivatives of the words house: house, housing, houses, etc.

OneSearch Box

Find books, articles, ebooks and more

Potential Keywords

Consider using the following 2-3 keywords in the databases to the left to find some background information on your topic.  

Casino Gambling

  • native american casinos
  • native american gaming
  • indian gaming and regulatory act

Education

  • boarding schools
  • indigenious education
  • indian self-determination and education act

Fishing and Treaty Rights

  • hunting and fishing rights
  • fishing rights
  • treaty rights

Housing

  • native american housing

Language and Cultural Heritage

  • native american languages Act of 1990
  • native american languages
  • native american culture
  • indian child welfare act

Tribal Justice

  • tribal law and justice act

Quick Tips & Shortcuts for Database Searching