FYS 101-09: The Languages of War

Fall 2008

Brenda Boyle

Starting Points

Use Reference Universe to locate reference materials on your topic. A general search using the term “war” includes the following results:

•    Encyclopedia of War and American Society / DEN Ref  E181 .E634 2006 (v. 1-3)
•    Encyclopedia of War and Ethics / DEN Ref B105.W3 E53 1996
•    War and American Popular Culture : A  Historical Encyclopedia / DEN Ref E181 .W26 1999

Using the Databases

• Use the Library's Subject Guides to find the best databases.
• EBSCO databases can be searched together
  

To get started, try these:

History and Politics

• International Political Science Abstracts (EBSCO)
  
• Historical Abstracts (EBSCO)
• Humanities International Complete (EBSCO)
  

Arts, Communication and Literature

• Arts and Humanities Citation Index
  
• MLA International Bibliography(EBSCO)
  
• Film and Television Literature Index (EBSCO)
  
• Communication and Mass Media Complete (EBSCO)
  
• Academic Search Complete (EBSCO)
  

Primary Source Databases

• The Times (London) Digital Archive 1785-1985
  
• New York Times Archive
  
• Archive of Americana
  
  

Once you have decided on the appropriate database, use the following terms to create a search:

AND (fewer results)
ex. war AND feminis*

OR(expanded results)
ex. (war or conflict)

NOT (eliminates words)
ex. Vietnam NOT protest*

* truncation symbol to find results that include keyword variants
ex. German* will retrieve German, Germans, and Germany

"quotation marks" to search a phrase
ex. "video game*"

(parentheses) to make one portion of search string operate together
ex. ("motion picture" or cinema or film* or movie*) AND "Vietnam War"

Searching CONSORT and OhioLINK

CONSORT: Searches Denison, Kenyon, OWU, and Wooster
OhioLINK: Searches over 80 Academic libraries in Ohio, including all CONSORT libraries.

• AUTHOR Search
  Inputting the name of an author or director in a lastname, firstname format (Ex. Stone, Oliver) will bring up a list of that author or director's work.

• KEYWORD Search
  The keyword search looks at everything in the catalog record. Use this type of search to combine multiple terms into one search.
  Note: Instead of using NOT to limit results, use AND NOT. Ex. (Vietnam AND NOT protest*)

• SUBJECT Search
  Searches subject headings.  Use this type of search to look for:
  A Person's Name (Ex. Johnson, Lyndon B.)
  A Concept or Term (Ex. Protest Movements)