ENG 102 - Magazines and Female Short Story Writers

Search Tips

As you begin to research, you'll need to come up with search terms (or keywords) to find sources in the library catalog and databases.

As you think about what concepts you want to research, think about what particular words might be found in a good article about that topic.  

A good first search is just the name of the author, followed by the word 'and' and the magazine title. If you use two words, such as a First Name Last Name, place these in quotation marks to tell the search engine to find books or articles that contain these words together.

• "Kate Chopin" and Vogue
• "L.M. Montgomery" and "Good Housekeeping"
• Freeman and "Harper's Bazaar"

This general search will show you everything we have on a certain author and magazine (sometimes there is more than others). If there are only 5 articles, you can browse through them. If there are 100, you may want to narrow your search a bit by using keywords from your topic.

Narrowed Search: "Kate Chopin" and Vogue and feminism  [Remember to search many times with different keywords!]

Use Synonyms: As you search, try a variety of keywords, including synonyms. For example, search for "lady's magazine" or "women's magazine." 

Keywords work best by trial-and-error. Never do only one search. Some keywords will work better than others, and some keywords may lead you to different articles than you found in your first search.  Search the databases with the keywords you selected to find relevant articles. And remember to ask a librarian if you need assistance coming up with keywords or looking for sources.

Search Help: If you are having trouble finding sources, follow some of the tips here.