FYI103 - S. McDowell

The book source you've already found may lead you to other information about your community; be sure to check the lists of references at the end of the chapter or the end of the book to see whether the book's author(s) refer to other sources that sound like they might be critiques of the community.

You may also find helpful information in the library's databases, particularly those about the social sciences (e.g., sociology, anthropology, etc.).  Also think about things that make your community unique.  For example: Was it founded by people trying to make a political statement?  If so, you may want to investigate political science resources.  Do its people share certain religious views?  You may find information in our religion databases.

Explore these databases to learn more:

**All of the resources below are accessible from the library homepage; scroll down to "Search for articles and databases," then choose "Databases A-Z" from the drop-down menu.**

Sociological Abstracts

• Stack your related search terms above each other, e.g., "college students" AND "greek" AND "alcohol"
• Select the "peer reviewed" box to narrow your results appropriately; you may also want to narrow by a specific date range and/or to English
• Click into results that look good, then notice the words/phrases next to "Subject" (below the abstract); by using this language in your next search and doing a "Subject" search, you can retrieve even better results 

Anthropology Plus

• You'll notice that this database looks exactly like Academic Search Complete; you can use any search tips and techniques you've already learned here, too!
• Type the name of your community into the search box and click "Search." You will likely get far too many results; open the "Subjects" menu in the left sidebar and select the one that matches the name of your community.

Academic Search Complete

• Use this database to find both scholarly and popular articles!

JSTOR (if your community is "extinct" or very old/established)

• Be sure to put the community name in quotes; there's a lot of content in JSTOR! If you still retrieve too many results, you can also add "community" or "utopia" to your search to focus it more.

**All of the resources below are accessible from the library homepage; scroll down to "Search for articles and databases," then choose "Databases A-Z" from the drop-down menu.**

Academic Search Complete

Historical New York Times / Historical Chicago Tribune (if your community is "extinct" or very old/established)

• Narrow by date to find articles written about your community during the time that it was operational

In most cases, just because there's no full-text link right there, that doesn't mean you can't get the article, often right away! Here's how to get your hands on the full text of any article you find:

1. If there's a full-text link in the database you're in, just click on it!
2. If you don't see a full-text link, go to the library homepage and choose "Journal, Magazine, & Newspaper Title Search." Enter the journal's title to see if the full text is available somewhere else.
3. If Augustana doesn't own the article you're looking for, click on "Interlibrary Loan" from the options in the right sidebar of the homepage. It's free, and you'll usually get the article within 3-5 days.