See the best library databases we subscribe to for research about broadcasting topics. Learn some search strategies and tips when working with these search tools, view tutorials, and learn how to request items we don't have through Interlibrary Loan.
For background information (straight-to-the-point, basic information on your topic), try one of these reference resources and search your general topic (such as, "vinyl record players" or "Orson Welles"). These may be useful to get some basic facts and information about the historical or cultural context of your topic:
To search for more detailed articles and analysis, you can do more complex searches in larger collections. You'll want to use a combination of search keywords and include more specific ideas or aspects of your topic when searching in these suggested databases:
Search Keywords
The library databases search for every instance of your search keyword or keywords as you typed them. If that word or word(s) appear anywhere in the:
That source will be in your results list, even if it is not actually about your topic or has very little information related to it.
(Google works similarly, but does a lot of prediction and guesswork through its algorithm about what you are looking for that our library databases may not.)
Search Filters & Limiters
Most library databases will let you filter your results by:
Sometimes you can choose these options when you first enter your search but sometimes you need to apply them after you have a search started.
Full-text will almost always be appropriate if you want to be able to access, view, or read whatever you see in the results immediately.
Source type is helpful if you only want to search for specific types of content - like articles, books, streaming video or audio files.
Scholarly (peer-reviewed) may also be useful to see only those types of sources in your results.
Accessing Full-Text
If you selected Full-Text as a search limiter, you should see a link somewhere on the page to the PDF or HTML text version of the source. Depending on the database, this link may be in different places.
Sometimes you may see Open in..., View record in..., or Full-Text Finder in EBSCO Discovery Service, which means the source is located in another database. It's usually just a few more clicks to get to the PDF or HTML text in it's original location if that is the case.
Need help searching some of the databases listed above? You can view our search tutorials:
See more tutorials on the NCC Libraries YouTube channel.
You may discover an article that would be useful for your topic, only to find that the library does not have full-text access to it through our databases. If that happens, you can submit an interlibrary loan request, and we will see if another library with access to full-text of that article is willing to share it with us. Most often, the articles will be shared with you by email, but they may take 2-3 days to arrive. Work with a librarian if you need help identifying books to interlibrary loan or assistance with the request.