Graduate Student Resources

Compiled by UA librarians, our research guides provide an overview of resources, such as recommended databases, reference books, journals, videos, and more – tailored to a subject, course, or academic topic.

Scout is UA Libraries' main search tool. You can imagine it sitting on top of all the libraries resources, and reaching into them to pull out search results. Scout is a great starting point for your research, but don't stop there--subject databases will help you find different, and often more specialized, sources.

Picking the right databases can be tricky. Your liaison librarian will have a good understanding of the databases in your field. Contact your liaison librarian and ask for advice. For more information on how to find databases at The University of Alabama Libraries, see the embedded video below: 

Truncation (or "wildcard searching") is a way of searching for variable or branched spellings of search terms. 

• Use an asterisk to search for variable endings of a root word. 

  • Educat* = Educate, education, educator, educating, etc. 

• Use a question mark to search for spelling variations for a word

  • Behavio?r = Behavior and Behaviour 

Phrase Searching is a way of searching for specific phrases.

• Use quotation marks to search for exact phrases 

  • "quality of life"

Nearly all databases/search engines include Boolean Operators. Understanding how they work is crucial to being an efficient searcher. 

AND: 

• Narrows your search by combining two or more search terms.
• Example: Hypertension AND "DASH Diet" 
  • would retrieve articles about how the DASH diet can help to mitigate hypertension. 
    
    
    
    
    
     

OR: 

• Broadens your search by looking for either term. 
• Example: (Hypertension OR "high blood pressure") AND "DASH DIET" 
  • would retrieve articles about how the DASH diet can help to mitigate hypertension OR high blood pressure. 
    
    
     

NOT:  

• Narrows your search by specifically filtering out one (or more) search term
• Example: (Hypertension OR "high blood pressure") AND "DASH DIET" NOT diabetes 
  • would retrieve articles about how the DASH diet can help to mitigate hypertension OR high blood pressure (while ignoring articles that also mention diabetes).