Mr. Woodman
American Literature - Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Research Paper
Turning Your Thesis into Search Terms
Searching a database the same way you search Google or Ask! isn't going to yield good results - databases don't like questions and the more words you use in the search box, the fewer results you will get.- Break your thesis down into search terms.
- Use the title of the book as one term. In this case, you can probably get away with "Huckleberry Finn"
- Combine the title with a topical term from your thesis: family, friendship, racism, childhood, etc.
- Connect terms with search operators: and, or, not. For example, "Huckleberry Finn and racism" would retrieve results that include a reference to Huckleberry Finn (either the character or the book) and the topic of racism.
- Start out with two general terms: "Huckleberry Finn and family", for example. If you get too many results, add a third term: "Huckleberry Finn and family and abandonment"
- If your first search doesn't bring up any results, try altering one part of your search at a time by using synonyms or related words. For example, if you strike out with "civilization", try "society" instead.
Resources for your project:
Online Databases:
Please see a member of the Library staff for the usernames and/or passwords you will need to access these resources.InfoTrac Power Search:
Provides access to a selection of reference material, full-text periodicals and newspapers, primary sources, creative works, and multimedia across multiple databases.
- Click on the box to limit your results to items with the full text available online
- If you're using "Advanced Search", put one search term in each box and use the drop down menus to specify operators and where you want the database to look for your terms.
- When in doubt, use "keyword"
- You may also want to try "person name" to search for the author of your book
- If you're searching on your novel's title, enclose the title in quotation marks for more relevant results
Offers literary criticism and biographical information on many authors and poets. For home access, please click here.
- Use this database to find background information on your author, critical essays and some details on the historical and cultural context of your book.
- Search or browse by author or title
- Use "Advanced Search" to serach by keyword to explore specific themes or ideas relevant to your thesis
- When using "Advanced Search", be sure to check the "Full Text" box
- Once you have a list of search results, take advantage of the "Subjects" menu on the left side to narrow down your results.
Integrates original biographies with full-text magazine articles, images, and website links. Use this if you need to find biographical information about Mark Twain.