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Buena Vista University

OBVU100 / 200, University Seminar / Transfer Seminar

This guide is designed to introduce new students to the services and collections of the Buena Vista University Library

Database Searching Tips

The databases you will access at BVU come from many different companies and each one has a different structure.  Why are there so many databases?  To ensure that you have variety and so that every major and area of study has resources to support you assignments.

In your General Education classes, you will probably be well served by the databases in our "Multidisciplinary" category.  As you get into more upper level classes, your database selections will tend to focus on more specialized subjects.

Academic Search Complete is one of those multidisciplinary databases that is a good first stop for most research projects.  

In this screen shot, I did a search (employee productivity AND pandemic).  This search retrieved 63 articles but close to 50% of them were from peer-reviewed journals. 

  • The "peer review" filter is found in the left column and is outlined in a red rectangle.

Academic Search Complete also lists all the subjects covered by each article, so it's easy to see if there are other search terms you should try.  I've underlined some subjects that I may want to try if I don't find any articles in this search that will work for my assignment.

Click on the article title to bring up the detailed record for each entry.

Click on the PDF or "Linked Text" icon to bring up the full-text.

Click on the "Search for Full-text" link to see if BVU offers this article in another database or to order a copy of the article through interlibrary loan.

More search tips

Need some assistance with your search to find relevant information?  This does get easier with practice--don't panic! Contact a librarian.

Generate search terms

Combining search terms

Advanced searching tips and shortcuts

Help finding peer-reviewed articles