2. Catalogs, like the UR Library Catalog and WorldCat, are useful for finding books, primary sources, bibliographies, and reference works. To find journal or newspaper articles you will need to use online indexes and fulltext databases. WorldCat is a source for materials not available in the University of Richmond libraries for Interlibrary Loan.
3. A good book or journal article can be a bridge to more research sources if it has footnotes or a bibliography. Even books and articles in languages you do not read may list sources in languages you do read.
4. Where available, use browse features of databases to discover subject headings used, because the same topic may have been assigned different subject headings over time.
5. Keep in mind that many useful resources, and not just primary sources, are print works, and not electronic or Internet resources. The Subject/Course Guides library web page, focus primarily on electronic resources. The UR Library Catalog and WorldCat (for Interlibrary Loan only) are your best sources for books.
OneSearch on the library homepage is a good way to start your research. After entering a search term, you will see results that include articles, books, electronic books and resources, and newspaper articles. Options on the left side will help you refine your results via several different parameters, including type, subject, location, and date. However, you might want to try other, more specific, search options as well.
To search for books that are available here in Boatwright, use the Library Catalog tab and narrow to “Books & More” or “Campus Libraries,” where you can also focus on a specific UR library. Start with a keyword search or "all words" using terms such as tobacco or tobacco history. When you have found one or two relevant books, examine their subjects headings to help guide further searching. You can also add descriptive terms such as "politics and government" or "newspapers" for more specific searching. If you need help understanding call numbers, this video will help!
To search for journal articles, use the "Articles" tab on the library homepage. The default search includes scholarly articles in English, and you can use the filters on the left side of the page to help refine the search results by type, date, language, etc.
If you are looking for information on a person, you should first use that person's name in a keyword search. However, many books will have information on persons that is not evident from the information in the catalog. To find these books, you should use the browsing guide on the left and scan the tables of contents and indexes of books in the appropriate call number area.
If you are looking for Primary Sources, try including the word "source" or "sources" in your keyword or subject search to so search fo printed/published primary sources. Digitized archival materials and primary sources are available through a number of databases; see the Course Guide tab for suggested relevant databases. For Newspaper or Article information, see that LibGuide tab for more information.
You can search by book Title, Author, All words or Subject heading.
Some suggestions to begin searching include:
Demonology
Heresy
Heretics
Heresies, Christian
Inquisition
Occultism
Sects, Medieval
Warlocks
Witchcraft