Library Guides: Sustainability Studies M.A.: Articles

Tutorials

Tutorial: Keyword Searching
A short tutorial providing background on how keyword searching works, with tips to improve your search results. Estimated reading time: 10 minutes.
Tutorial: Finding Articles
Learn the process for finding articles using indexes. This is essential background information for all students. Estimated reading time: 20 minutes.
Tutorial: Scholarly Articles
Scholarly articles: what they are, how to find, recognize, read, and use them. Includes exercises. Estimated reading time: 20 minutes.
Tutorial: Navigating from a Citation to a Document
When you have a citation/reference, how do you find the document it refers to? Estimated reading time: 10 minutes.

What is Interlibrary Loan?

Interlibrary loan is a system that allows you to request material from other libraries to be sent to Trent for you to borrow. Normally, there are no costs to use the ILL service. Plan ahead because it can take a few days or even weeks for material to be sent, depending upon availability.

Visit the Interlibrary Loan page for more information.

Find Articles in Omni

You can find most articles using the Omni search. Enter some keywords, a citation, a DOI, an author - whatever you need.

The link to full text is in the full description when you click the title.

Search Omni
Link to the Omni search tool.
Omni Guide
A guide for using the Omni search tool.

Key Scholarly Databases

These databases offer more subject-specific and controlled searching to find scholarly articles.

Business Source Complete This link opens in a new window
- This scholarly business database contains Full Text journals and other resources covering topics such as: management, economics, finance, accounting, international business, country economic reports, company profiles, industry reports, and SWOT analyses.
EBSCOhost This link opens in a new window
- Search all EBSCO databases simultaneously, or select those useful to your topic. Note that some databases have unique search features and these are lost when you search multiple databases.
Scholars Portal Journals This link opens in a new window
- Access to a broad collection of academic and scholarly journals, supporting advanced research and academic study with high-quality electronic periodicals, from across various disciplines.
Web of Science Core Collection This link opens in a new window
- A multidisciplinary indexing database that indexes peer-reviewed journal articles, conference proceedings, and other scholarly content across a wide range of scientific and academic disciplines including the social sciences, and arts and humanities.

Other Useful Databases

Depending on your specific topic, one of these might also be useful.

Academic Search Elite This link opens in a new window
- Contains peer-reviewed journals, magazines, and newspapers across various academic disciplines.
Business Source Complete This link opens in a new window
- This scholarly business database contains Full Text journals and other resources covering topics such as: management, economics, finance, accounting, international business, country economic reports, company profiles, industry reports, and SWOT analyses.
Canadian Business and Current Affairs Database (CBCA) This link opens in a new window
- Canada's largest and most comprehensive bibliographic full-text reference and current events database, providing access to scholarly journals, trade publications, magazines, reports, radio and television transcripts, news, dissertations, and more from a Canadian perspective spanning various subject areas such as business, economics, politics, arts, sports, and more.
CPI.Q Canadian Periodicals (Gale OneFile) This link opens in a new window
- Gale OneFile Canadian Periodical Index provides access to a wide range of Canadian magazines, journals, and newspapers covering diverse topics such as current events, culture, business, health, and more.
Sociology Collection This link opens in a new window
- Sociological Abstracts in combination with other databases covering the international literature in sociology, social services, and related fields. Together, they provide abstracts, indexing and full text coverage of journal articles, books, book chapters, dissertations, & working papers.
PsycINFO This link opens in a new window
- Includes citations and summaries of articles from academic journals, books, and dissertations covering topics such as clinical psychology, behavioral science, mental health, developmental psychology, and social psychology.
- See the guide: Using PsycINFO Expertly.

Troubleshooting Searches

Too few articles:

Check for typos and spelling. Consider using both American and British spellings (eg. behaviour or behavior).
Remove long phrases.
Make sure you're using a database that is likely to include information on your topic.
Try using other synonyms and alternate words joined by the Boolean Operator 'OR' (e.g. aboriginal or indigenous or First Nations).
Check your Boolean logic. Are you using 'AND' when you should be using 'OR'?
If you have found at least one good article, look at the references of this article to find other related articles OR use the 'Find citing' or 'Find related' buttons when available in the databases.

Too many articles:

Add another concept to your searching using the Boolean operator 'AND'.
Add Limits (e.g. Peer Reviewed, Date of Publication, Language, Publication Type, etc.).
Check your Boolean logic. Are you using 'OR' when you should be using 'AND'?
When Keyword searching, try searching just in the Title field. This is not recommended for all searches, as you will eliminate relevant articles that don't have those keywords in the title, but it will likely find a few articles to get you started.
If you're searching in a database that covers all subjects (e.g. Academic Search Elite, Web of Knowledge), look for a database that is subject specific.