Library skills for English 1112 online: Academic Search Complete

Academic Search Complete is a tool for finding full text articles from journals and magazines  It pulls from thousands of publications covering almost every topic a college student might need.  A simple keyword search will return a list of articles which can then be narrowed by: type of source, date, and subject.  Read some of the specifics, below, then watch a short video in the box on the right to see Academic Search Complete in action.  

Please note that you will need your library barcode number to access this database if you are not on a Clark State Campus. The number is on the back of your Clark State student ID card and starts with 2512....  If you do not have an ID card, please contact the Library and we will send your barcode number to your Clark State student email. 

Keyword searching is a great way to start a search, and by using AND, OR, and NOT you can make your keyword search more effective.  For example, if you are writing about head injuries and college athletes, your article list will be more useful to you if you search for "college sports AND concussions" than if you just search for "concussions." You could also search for "college sports AND (head injuries OR concussions)" in order to snag articles that use either term. If you want to exclude a sport from the articles you could search "college sports AND concussions NOT baseball." There is a keyword search box shortcut to Academic Search Complete on the lower right of this page. You can also find Academic Search Complete on the research guide for English.

Once you have a list of articles look down the Refine Results menu on the left.  Check the date range and adjust it as needed.  Look at the source types and choose the ones you want: magazine, journal, trade, etc.. Scan the list of articles by looking at the title and the name of the journal or magazine. When you find a good article click on the title.  On this page you will see a list of linked subject headings.   Sometimes it is helpful to switch to a subject search in order to look at a list of articles all on the same topic. With the subject heading list displaying you can then add other keywords or subjects to narrow your search. Once you have refined results you are ready to look at the articles.

Scan the articles by title until you find one that looks interesting.  To read a little more about it, hover over the magnifying glass icon on the right in order to read the abstract in the pop-up window. The abstract is a one paragraph summary of the article.  If the abstract sounds good you can access the full article by clicking on the title in the list. At this point you will have a new screen and a set of tools on the right.  Look for the "Cite" icon to access a list of completed citations, listed alphabetically and scroll down to APA or MLA depending on what your instructor requires.  In the tools on the right there is also an E-mail icon so you can send yourself a copy of the article, attaching the citation if you wish. You can access the full text of the article by scrolling down the page for the .html version or clicking on the .pdf link on the left to see the article as it appeared in the publication.

Academic Search Complete is a powerful tool that can help you with your research.  For more advanced examples or additional instruction please contact a librarian.  Contact information is in the box below.

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