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Online Search Strategies

Accessing the Reynolds Libraries databases

If you click on any Reynolds Libraries database link (including direct links to specific articles, eBooks and videos) from off-campus, you will be prompted with a Virginia's Community Colleges login screen. Use your My Reynolds username & multifactor authentication (MFA) to access any of the library databases from off-campus. 

  1. From the Virginia's Community Colleges login screen, enter your username then click on the Go button.
  2. When prompted, enter your Authorizing PIN number on your mobile phone.

If you cannot login from off campus, email library@reynolds.edu or call 804.523.5211 - or - 523-5220.

ProQuest Central eBooks Note: If you are accessing a ProQuest Central eBook from ON or OFF campus, you will be prompted with a Virginia's Community Colleges login screen. If you are accessing a ProQuest Central eBook from the library catalog, you will also be prompted to select your institution, J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College.

Popular Databases

1. To search our two most popular databases, go to the library's home page at https://library.reynolds.edu

2. When the library's homepage appears, move your mouse over Quick Links near the top of the screen.

3. When the Quick Links menu appears, click on Academic Search Complete or Opposing Viewpoints.

Databases A to Z

1. If you are already know the name of the database you want to search, go to the library's home page at https://library.reynolds.edu

2, When the library's home page appears, move your mouse over Research near the top of the screen.

3. When the Research menu appears, click on A-Z Databases.

 

4. When the next screen appears, click on the letter of the alphabet that the database begins with.

Databases by Subject:

  1. Go to the library's home page at https://library.reynolds.edu/
  2. When the library's home page appears, move your mouse over Research near the top of the screen.
  3. When the Research menu appears, click on Databases.
  4. When the next screen appears, click on the Filter by Subject/Discipline option.
  5. When the menu appears, select a subject.

General Databases:​

Start with a comprehensive general database such as Academic Search Complete or MasterFILE Premier.

Course and Subject Guides:

If your instructor or a librarian directed you to a specific course or subject guide from Reynolds Libraries' Research Guides website, try the databases listed in the guide by clicking on the Find Articles tab/page of the guide.

Ask a Librarian:

You also can ask a librarian for recommendations on which databases to search for your particular topic.

Find articles

These are the main databases that may be useful in your historical research:

AND

Type AND between your keywords to narrow your search. The database or search engine will only retrieve those articles or web pages that contain both words. Using AND will decrease the number or hits or articles or web pages in your result list.

Example: school AND crime

Note: Some databases and search engines (such as Google and Craigslist) allow you to type a plus sign (+) in front of a keyword when doing a basic search. This works the same as AND.

Example: +school +crime

 

School And Chrime search

OR

OR Type OR between your keywords to broaden your search. The database or search engine will retrieve those articles or web pages that contain at least one of these words. Using OR will increase the number of articles or web pages in your result list (especially if not used in combination with AND or NOT). Use OR between keywords that are synonyms or have similar meanings. Example: baby OR infant

 

Search for Baby or Infant

NOT

Type NOT before a keyword to exclude that keyword from your search. Using NOT will decrease the number of articles or web pages in your result list. The best use of NOT is when you are searching for a keyword that may have multiple meanings.

Example: bat NOT baseball

 

Search for bat Not base ball

Combining Boolean Operators

Use parentheses ( ) to keep combination searches in order. In the example below, the database or search engine will retrieve articles or web pages that must contain the word law and at least one of the words in parentheses.

Example: (ecstasy OR mdma) AND law

 

Search combining law ecstasy mdma

Truncation

Truncation, also known as stemming, uses a character such as asterisk (*) or question mark (?) at the end of a word, which allows you to search for a root form of a word and pick up any ending.

Example: typing teen* will find teen, teens, teenage, teenager, teenagers.

Notes:

  • Be careful not to end the stem or root of a word too early to retrieve too many results. Example: typing cat* will find cat, cats, catalog, catastrophe, catsup, etc.
  • Different databases use different symbols to truncate words. However, most of our popular databases, such as our library catalog, Academic Search Complete and Access World News (NewsBank) use an asterisk (*) as their truncation symbol. If in doubt, check the "Help" screen for the truncation symbol.
  • Some search engines, such as Yahoo! and Google, automatically use truncation without you having to type a truncation symbol.

Wildcard Symbols

Wildcard symbols can be typed in place of a letter or letters within a keyword if you are not sure of the spelling or if there are different forms of the root word.

Example: wom?n will find both women and woman.

Note: Again, check the Help or Tips links available on most library databases and Internet search engines to verify the wildcard symbol that should be used - usually an asterisk (*) or question mark (?)

Enter your fairy tale title AND keywords / themes related to the story (see below).

You may also narrow your search by entering the author's last name and/or the keyword, criticism.

Example: "snow white" AND grimm AND stepmother

  • child development
  • coming of age
  • anxiety
  • death
  • father
  • fear
  • good & evil
  • hero
  • heroine
  • independence
  • isolation
  • loneliness
  • maturity
  • morality
  • mother
  • murder
  • puberty
  • sexuality
  • sibling rivarly
  • stepmother

Complete the form and we will see if we can find the full-text article through another library. You can also open this request form in a new window to complete it.

 

Find books

Below is a sampling of print books from our library collections on Western Civilization history topics.

Enter your fairy tale title AND keywords / themes related to the story (see below).

You may also narrow your search by entering the author's last name and/or the keyword, criticism.

Example: "snow white" AND grimm AND stepmother

  • child development
  • coming of age
  • anxiety
  • death
  • father
  • fear
  • good & evil
  • hero
  • heroine
  • independence
  • isolation
  • loneliness
  • maturity
  • morality
  • mother
  • murder
  • puberty
  • sexuality
  • sibling rivarly
  • stepmother

Search Reynolds Libraries catalog for books:

 

 

Reynolds Library uses Library of Congress Classification to arrange books on the shelves.

Many books on Western civilization or World History can be found in Section C or Section D

If we don't have a book at Reynolds, you can search WorldCat to find books in area libraries: