Combine concepts with AND to find more relevant sources
picasso AND Africa
internet AND privacy
bedrock AND Massachusetts AND hydrology
Use “double quotes” to find exact phrases
"rock art"
“African diaspora”
“invertible matrix”
Use proximity searching* to find words near each other
women NEAR violence
progressive NEAR/10 tax
"global warming" NEAR/20 "sea level"
*Proximity searching works differently in different databases. Check the help section of the database to learn how to properly use it.
Many of our databases have this 
button, which searches for the full-text of the article in our collections. If we don't have it electronically, look for the "Request article scan" link in the "Get It" section.
Scholarly articles:
Review the differences between scholarly and popular articles, see how scholarly articles are organized and review the process of peer-review:
Databases are collections of articles, often discipline specific, that allow you to search across a large number of journals at one time.
Use the broad keywords on the Finding Books page and then narrow your search with more specific words based on your research needs. Your best bets for finding journal articles in the field of biology are below.
The "Search Tips" boxes to the right and left offer advanced search techniques that can be used in many of the library databases.
This link opens in a new window
This link opens in a new windowUse ORs and parentheses to combine synonyms or multiple topics
(oil OR petroleum OR crude)
(antibiotic OR antiviral)
(woman OR girl OR female)
Truncate roots of important words* to find plurals and more
perform* (searches for perform, performance, performativity, etc.)
cell$
pregnan!
Insert a “wild card” [*?$!] to catch words with different spellings
wom?n
coloni#ation
odo$r
*Truncation and wild cards work differently in different databases. Check the help section of the database to learn what symbol to use and how to properly use it.
Other ways to get help:
Call us at 413-597-4500
Text us at 413-648-6071
Stop by during our service hours.