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English 11 Critical Response Project: Home

Research Pro-Tips

  • “Critical sources” means journal articles or critical essays.
  • Search GALE Databases first for critical sources. I’d recommend starting with Academic OneFile.
  • Use the title of your novel, followed by one of these keywords in your search:
    • literary criticism, conflict, characters, theme, motif 
  • Once you’ve found the critical source you’d like to use in a GALE database, open it, then click on “Citation Tools” at the top of the banner on the right of the screen.  It will generate a proper MLA 9th Edition citation for you. (Note: the citation tool only available in GALE databases)
  • If you find a source from a non-GALE database, use the "Citations" tab in this guide to create your MLA 9 citations.  

 

 

  • Database searches work differently than Google searches.

 

  • Boolean operators, truncations, and phrases are the search language of databases.

 

  • Fluency in the language of databases results in better, faster, more accurate search results.

 

  • Didn't get the results you expected? Ask your Hivarian for advice - I'm here to help!

 

Use AND (+) in a search to narrow your results by:

  • telling the database that ALL search terms must be present in the resulting records

  • example: cloning AND humans AND ethics

 

Use OR in a search to broaden your results by:

  • telling the database that ANY of your search terms can be present in the resulting records

  • connect two or more similar concepts (synonyms)

  • example: cloning OR genetics OR reproduction

 

Use NOT (-) in a search to narrow your results by:

  • telling the database to ignore concepts that may be implied by your search terms

  • exclude words from your search

  • example:  cloning NOT sheep 

 

Truncation is a technique that broadens your search to include various word endings and spellings.

 

  • To use truncation, enter the root of a word and put the truncation symbol at the end.

 

  • The database will return results that include any ending of that root word.

 

Examples:

child* = child, child's, children, children's, childhood

genetic* = genetic, genetics, genetically

 

  • Truncation symbols may vary by database; common symbols include: *, !, ?, or #

 

Databases interpret phrase searches differently.

 

  • Some assume that words typed next to each other should be searched as phrases.

 

  • Others automatically put a Boolean AND between your search terms, requiring that all the words be present, but not necessarily adjacent to each other.

 

  • These searches can retrieve very different results.

 

  • Using parentheses or quotes around search words is a common way to do phrase searching, but not all databases or search engines use them.

 

Example:  "genetic engineering"

Gale Databases

Google Scholar