Articles and More is the first stop for most library research. It is able to search through the entire library catalog, as well as OhioLink and many of our databases to give you a broader number of results. Understand though, that Articles and More cannot search everything that you have access to in the library. It may still be necessary to use specialized databases, especially to find things like newspapers and streaming video.

What are research articles (aka scholarly or peer reviewed articles)? 

1. Experts (including professors) conduct research on their topic of interest and report on results in research journals. 
2. The articles go through a process of stringent review known as "peer review" where other experts read the article and decide whether it gets published. 
3. Most research articles will have a review of previous research on the topic, a presentation of the methods and data for their research and a bibliography.
4. The library at North Carolina State University has a great page showing what a scholarly research article looks like. 

Top 5 Tips for Finding Research Articles 

1. Break up your search into its smallest parts (keywords). Ex: instead of searching for "gender differences in classroom communication" search for classroom AND communication AND gender   
2. Think about other ways that an author might describe your topic. Ex: articles about gender differences might also use terms like: (women OR gender OR girls OR men OR boys) 
3. Not sure what search terms to use? Look for information about your article in the background resources listed on this page or check for your topic on Google or Wikipedia. These are all good sources for keywords to use. 
4. Too many articles leaving you overwhelmed? Add more search terms and try applying filters. Narrower searches help ensure that all the results are relevant to your interests.
5. If you're not finding what you need, contact your librarian for help. I'd love to talk with you about your research topic and figure out how we can tweak your search to be more useful. 

For example:  

1. Using AND and OR in Searches
   1. Shakespeare AND Symbolism
   2. Shakespeare AND (symbolism OR metaphors)
   3. Shakespear* AND (symbol* OR metaphor*)
   4. Shakespeare AND (film* OR cinema OR motion picture*)
2. Phrase Searching with Quotation Marks
   1. Shakespeare AND "All's Well That Ends Well" 
   2. "Christopher Durang" AND humor
3. Include Word Roots Using * 
   1. Shakespear* = shakespearean, shakespeare's, shakespeares'
   2. Symbol* = symbolism, symbolic, symbolize
4. Search Filters
   1. Ways to limit your search in the library catalog and most databases:
      • Available Online, Peer Reviewed, Resource Type, Date Range, etc.