IELP Library Guide for Student Research: Welcome!

The Library is open for PSU students, faculty, and staff to access the stacks, study spaces, computer labs, and Learning Center appointments. Your PSU ID card is required to enter the building.

The Circulation Desk is open for checking out course reserves, laptops, and other equipment, as well as library materials.

Get help right away via Ask a Librarian.

Watch this video to take a 2-minute tour of the PSU Library website!

This quick video explains how to turn your topic into keywords while searching for library resources and sources on the Web.

Use the acronym, ASE, for your research strategy!

Analyze 
your topic to discover keywords, related terms, synonyms. Use scholarly subject encyclopedias for background information.

Search
for articles, books, and documentaries. List relevant databases.

Evaluate
the resources....Are they relevant? Are they current? Peer reviewed? Scholarly or popular?

School of Library and Information Studies, The Florida State University. (2010). Research led by Dr. Melissa Gross and Dr. Don Latham. Project funded by The Institute of Museum and Library Services, which is the primary source of federal support for the nation's 123,000 libraries and 17,500 museums. The Institute's mission is to create strong libraries and museums that connect people to information and ideas.

Use AND or OR to refine your search. You will need to capitalize these words in order for them to work as Boolean operators:

plastics AND oceans - AND combines keywords

wages OR paychecks - OR provides a broader search for synonyms or words that have the same meaning.

If you have any questions or need help, Ask a Librarian.