Michael Schwartz Library
Michael Schwartz Library
216.687.2478
What is a research guide? Research guides are built by librarians. We use them to highlight the best library and non-library resources to use for different subjects. There is a research guide for each major, and often times individual classes will have a research guide.
Here are a few of the many research databases available at the Cleveland State University Library.
The library does not have access to every article ever published. You can use a service called Interlibrary Loan to request articles, books, dissertations, and conference papers from libraries outside of Ohio. Always check to see if something is available through our library or OhioLINK first.
To use Interlibrary Loan, you need to register and login. Afterwards, choose the item type you are requesting and fill out the form with all required information.
A database is a system that allows structured information to be retrieved easily. Our research databases contain millions of articles from scholarly journals, magazines and newspapers, and trade publications, as well as business information, statistics, legal information, conference papers, images, music, and more. Some are general interest, but many are subject specific.
This is typical search screen in one of our many databases, Academic Search Complete. Not every database will use this exact same interface.
Databases allow for advanced control over your searching. You can combine keywords using operators like AND, OR, and NOT, which give the database specific instructions on what to do with your search terms.
You are given more options to narrow your search below the search boxes. Note, you can limit to scholarly articles only, articles with PDF full text available, new articles, etc.
Results will be displayed with a total count of articles that met the search criteria. You can also sort results by date, change the number of results displayed and hwo they are displayed, or export the whole search to a folder.
You can limit the results after your search in the bar on the left hand side of the screen.
Clicking on an article will bring up a more detailed view of the article, including an abstract (a summary) and associated subject terms. Subject terms can be used for future searches.
To view the actual article, you will usually see a PDF full text icon.
Sometimes, there is a Full Text Finder icon instead of a PDF icon. Click this link and follow the hyperlinks until you reach a PDF of the article.
There are also some instances where the article's text is in HTML, and there is no file to download. In other cases, the library does not have access to the full text of the article, and it must be requested through Interlibrary Loan.
You can also add the article to a temporary folder, email a link, print the database record, and cite the article in a variety of formats using the tools on the right side of the screen.
