An English Research Guide
Very Short Introduction Ebooks from Oxford
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Very Short IntroductionsBrief ebooks written by experts across the board - on physics, art, communism, beat poetry - almost anything!
CLA Librarian
Purpose of this Guide and Research Help Options
This guide gives you great pointers on the best databases and resources for your field. Don't forget that you can find help on 24/7 live chat at any time of day or night. You can also email the CLA librarian, Brett Bodemer, at bbodemer@calpoly.edu.
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Chat and other Research HelpIf you want live help now, click on the chat icon at the lower right corner of this page! For further options click on "Chat and Other Research Help" link above.
English Library Research Video
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English Library Research VideoThis brief video demos how to sign in, search, find peer-review articles, primary texts, and other materials. You can even speed it up!
Articles - Search Many Databases at Once
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Academic Search PremierIN THE UPPER LEFT CORNER, WHERE IT SAYS 'CHOOSE DATABASES' CLICK AND SELECT 'ALL DATABASES' - this will let you search ALL the EBSCO databases at once.
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ABI/INFORM CompleteIN THE UPPER LEFT HAND CORNER, CLICK ON the "three line" icon, select CHANGE DATABASES, check the box for SELECT ALL, then scroll to bottom and click on USE SELECTED DATABASES. You will now be searching all Proquest databases at once.
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Google ScholarBy going via the Kennedy Library Link you can link out to full text in a variety places. If you don't see "Find It at Cal Poly" on the results, click the "More" dropdown and it should be there.
Search Ebrary, SpringerLink and Project Muse for ebooks
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Ebook Central150,000 ebooks, most are keyword searchable!
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SpringerLinkBook chapters, books, journal articles.
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JSTORScholarly books and articles, with some current content and lots going way back.
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Project MUSEScholarly books and articles. To get books click Books on left column.
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Wiley Online LibraryBooks and Articles. To get books, after first keyword search, click BOOKS in right column.
JSTOR
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JSTORLots of great content here, going way back, very strong in English and the Humanities. Good trick: if you are getting TOO many results, take one of the pull down menus to Title and put one of your keywords in that field. If you still get too many results, try putting both keywords in a Title field.
If you know the article you want and want to find the full text
Google Scholar: Try the author's last name and a good chunk of the title in " " and then use the Find it At Cal Poly link, often found hidden beneath the "more" under the result. Be sure that you are logged into MyCalPoly Portal AND signed into OneSearch.
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Google Scholar******
If Google Scholar doesn't work, fill out a form at the ILL link below with all the required fields (and more if you have patience) and ILL will seek the item from another library.
Find historic Book Reviews/Play Reviews/Movie Reviews
In many databases you can limit by date, type in title of book, play or film (use quote marks " "), the author/director's last name and also the word review.
Example 1: "The Sun Also Rises" Hemingway review
Example 2 "A Raisin in the Sun" Wright play review
This trick works well in the following:
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Academic Search PremierBe sure and choose all the EBSCO databases once land on the interface.
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Academic OneFileLike Academic Search Elite - a range of news, magazines, and scholarly journals.