Loyola's collections, both in print and online, are vast, and research can be intimidating. So, if you don't know where to start, start here!

The library catalog is a great place to start your research. Here are some tips to make searching more effective:

1. Make sure that you sign in. This allows you to see your access options for library materials, save searches, set notifications on saved searches, and save items to your favorites.
2. Use Boolean operators if you're doing a keyword search. For example:
   Emily Dickinson AND nature AND science - the catalog will return only materials that mention all three search terms: Emily Dickinson, nature, and science
   Emily Dickinson AND (nature OR science) - the catalog will expand your results by returning materials that mention both Emily Dickinson and nature or materials that mention both Emily Dickinson and science
   Emily Dickinson AND nature NOT science - the catalog will reduce your search results by returning materials that mention Emily Dickinson and nature but do not mention science.
   Make sure that you enter Boolean operators in all caps: AND, OR, NOT
3. Use truncation and/or wildcards. For example:
   Entering the search term poet* will return results for poet, poetic, poetics, poetry, poets
   Entering the search term wom?n will return results for woman, women
4. Group your terms using parenthesis to do multiple searches at once. For example:
   ("Elizabethan drama" OR Shakespeare) AND "revenge tragedy"
5. Narrow your results to a specific genre, place, or time. For example:
   Gwendolyn Brooks AND biography
   Science fiction AND Latin America
   Bio-bibliography AND poets AND 18th century

If you need an overview of research in English at Loyola University, start with the research guide.

If you need a general overview of a topic with a bibliography leading you to more resources, start with:

• Cambridge Companions Online
• Oxford Bibliographies Online
  • American Literature
  • British and Irish Literature
  • Literary and Critical Theory
• Literature Criticism Online (use the Topic and Work Overviews filter)

If you need articles, start with:

• MLA International Bibliography with Full Text
• JSTOR
• Project Muse

If you need a biography and critical history for an author, start with:

• American National Biography
• Dictionary of National Biography
• Dictionary of Literary Biography
• Contemporary Authors

If you need dissertations and theses, start with:

• ProQuest Dissertations and Theses
• Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
• EThOS
• DART-Europe

If you need books, start with:

• Loyola library catalog
• WorldCat