It is usually a good idea to start out broadly, so using just one or two of your topic terms is a good way to begin. Once you have a set of results, you can begin narrowing down your results by entering one or more terms. Searching in a specific field such as "Subject" or "Title" will narrow or focus your results.
Truncation Finds Multiple Word Forms
The asterisk (*) is usually used to search words with the same root:
Person* = Personal, Personality, Personable, etc.
Wildcard symbols (usually a ‘?’) replace a single letter:
Wom?n = Woman, Women
Once you locate a few good articles on your topic, be sure to review the references to other articles that are cited. This is a great way to locate related research articles on your topic. Many databases also provide a link to these articles if they are available electronically. If you don't find a link, be sure to check the Library's Journals A-Z List to see if it's available, If not, you can always use our awesome Interlibrary Loan Service.
Using Library Databases to Find Articles: Search in databases to locate journal articles on a topic relevant to Communication Disorders. Listed below are some of the most important databases. You can also access them by clicking on Databases --> and select "Communication Disorders" from the drop down. All are accessible from off-campus.
Use the Journals link to search for more titles!
American Journal of Audiology*
American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology*
Communication Disorders Quarterly
Contemporary Issues in Communication Science & Disorders
International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders
Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research*
Language, Speech & Hearing Services in Schools*
*ASHA publications
Many, if not all, of the library databases allow you to create accounts within the database to store your articles and searches for future reference.
When completing a search, you will often see options such as "Mark" or "Add to Folder" . If you decide to use this feature you will need to create an account in the database. The good news is that once you create an account in an EBSCO database such as PsycInfo, you can add items from any of their databases using the same username and password. The same holds true for the ProQuest databases.