LibGuides: Mathematics: Researching MathTopics

Researching Biology Topics

Library databases contain articles from scholarly, peer-reviewed journals, general magazines, newspapers, and sometimes ebook chapters.

Use the tips provided on this page to create the most effective searches.

Some databases are specialized and cover only one topic. The ones below cover the sciences and math.

Science Direct
Thousands of peer-reviewed journals and ebooks in the physical, life, health, and social sciences.
MathSciNet (Ebsco)
- $Math Source$
Nature Journals
1869-present, some peer-reviewed content. Access to all journal content on the nature.com platform including archived content. Full text access includes 35 Nature-branded titles and 44 society titles. Partial full text available for other articles.
SpringerLink
Over 1,250 fully peer-reviewed journals in sciences, technology, medicine, and more.
Wiley Online Library
Scientific, technical, and medical scholarly journals.
PrimoVE
PrimoVE searches all of IMSA's database subscriptions. You can also search for just books, just articles, or resources from other colleges & universities.

Use strong keywords: Pick out the most important words/concepts in your research question. Use keywords such as those experts and scholars would use. These are usually nouns

Avoid terms that can be used in many settings (like effect, impact, develop)

Use Advanced Search and group keywords by concept: Use OR between synonyms (expands your results); use AND to combine different subjects (narrows your results)
- dental OR teeth OR tooth OR oral
- acid AND batteries

Search multiple endings of a word: Use asterisk, e.g., econom* for economy, economic, economies

Limit results: Choose publication years, scholarly or peer-reviewed, full text, etc.

A tutorial from the University of Texas - Houston on developing a keyword list & formulating effective search strategies.

The keywords & library databases you will use will be different. Talk with an IRC Librarian for help.