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HUM 210: Understanding our World Through the Arts

How to find Books and Articles

In our library catalogue, if your topic was Narrative Therapy, i.e., the therapeutic uses of storytelling, you might try the following Advanced Search:

  • AND finds results with BOTH terms 
  • OR finds results with EITHER term
  • therap*  finds any ending, e.g. therapy, therapeutic [the * is a truncation symbol that acts as a wildcard, to look for any ending]

When you run this search, you may notice that it is represented in the single search box at the top of your results screen, with round brackets replacing the boxes:

You could also do the exact same search in one line:

Using parentheses establishes the correct priority between the OR and AND connectors.  For example in algebra, the use of round brackets establishes the priority of what must be calculated first:

  • 3 x 2 + 2 = 8
  • 3 x (2 + 2) = 12

At the top of most of the pages of this Research Guide you will find a suggested search which you can paste into a WorldCat search, e.g.,:

WorldCat search on the library website:

At the top of each page you will also find tabs with Books and eBooks in our library.  You can browse the titles to get ideas for topics. If you follow the links to the catalogue record, you can view the Description in order to find more subject keywords for further searches.

If you need any help viewing our eBooks, just go to the tabs above the search box on the library website:

From the library Databases page, go to EBSCOhost and then select EBSCOhost Web.  Then choose your database(s) and create a search similar to the example below.

The Sample topic below is Using contact improvisation in teaching:

After looking at your results for clues to other keywords, you can broaden your search to get more:

  • AND finds results with BOTH terms 
  • OR finds results with EITHER terms
  • teach*  finds any ending, e.g. teaching, teachers

Finally, you may limit your results by using the filters on the left-hand side of the screen, e.g., recently published (in the past 5 years),  full text articles in peer reviewed journals published in English

Each page of this Research Guide has a Sample Topic and suggested searches in EBSCOhost databases. You can simply replicate the searches in the same databases that are shown in the screen captures. 

Peter Turkstra Library,  Redeemer University , 777 Garner Road East, Ancaster, ON, L9K 1J4, Canada
Circulation Desk Telephone: 905.648.2139 ext. 4266, Email:   library@redeemer.ca