English 101: Writing and Rhetoric - Miller

For your 101 assignment, you will be required to use 5 sources. Watch the videos on the left side of this page to learn more about how to find books and articles, and follow the steps below to begin searching for articles on your topic.

Step One: Watch the video on the left-hand side of this page.

Step Two: Go to the library's main page (library.wcu.edu) and locate the OneSearch box. 

Step Three: Use the keywords you generated to start your search.

Step Four: Use the limiters on the right-hand side of the results page to narrow your search as necessary.

Step Five: When you find an article that seems like a good fit for your research, click on the link to see the full text.

Step Six: Read the article's abstract. If it seems relevant, move to Step Seven. If it doesn't seem relevant, go back to Step Five and try again.

Step Seven: You'll want to save relevant articles to refer to later. The menu of options differ with each database or journal package. Below is an example of the options you might see:

For this article, you can download and save a PDF, save the article to Google Drive, print the article, email it to yourself, or generate a permalink. You can also auto-generate a citation in a number of styles. Caution: Always double-check the citation before you use it. They are not guaranteed to be 100% correct every time.

Final Thoughts: Often when you open a link in an academic database, the content you see is session-specific. That means if you leave your browser tab open for too long, copy/paste the URL from the search bar, or bookmark the page the article is on, you may lose it. If you want to ensure you'll be able to get back to the article later, always use the permanent link option (it usually looks like a chain, see below).