1) Generate search terms for your topic in both Spanish and English.
2) Remember to think about using synonyms/related terms. For instance, if you are working on the benefits of being bilingual in the workplace, other words that could be used for workplace are jobs, employment, or business.
3) Review the list of databases and descriptions below and pick at least two databases to try that match aspects of your topics. One should almost always be Linguistics and Language Behavior Abstracts.
4) Start by searching for articles in Spanish using your Spanish search terms. You will likely get far fewer results as our databases have a strong English language focus for scholarship. Look in the left hand column of the database for a Language menu where you can select Spanish.
5) Now switch it over to looking for articles in English. Make sure you undo the limit for Spanish! You will likely find a lot more materials and may need to make your search more specific at this point to narrow things down.
6) While searching try a trick called truncation. Truncation means cutting a word down to the stem and then adding an * (asterisk) to the end. It tells databases to search for all forms of the word. So typing in bilingual* will search not only for bililngual, but also bilingualism. If you cut it down all the way to biling*, you will also be including the Spanish word bilingue.
7) Try cross searching several databases at once! Many of the databases below come from the same vendor-- EBSCOhost. After you log into one, look for a link that says Choose Databases right above the search boxes. You can use that to add other databases from the list that apply and search them all at once!
When searching the library's databases, you may find articles you want that we do not have access to. You can get them for free through a service called interlibrary loan, and it usually only takes one or two days.
1. Instead of a link to a PDF below the article, you will see a link called check availability.
2. If we have the full text,the page that opens will provide a link under the "View It" heading.
3. If we don't own the full text, you can access our interlibrary loan system for articles, called ILLiad, by logging into the system using your WCU email address and password. Look for the link on the yellow bar in the middle of the page.
4. Once you log in, you will see the link to go to ILLiad.
5. If it is your first time logging into the system, it may ask you some questions about your delivery preferences.
6. The system will try to fill in the required blanks with the relevant information about the article. Double check to make sure that all the required blanks are filled. If not, go back to the tab with the article info to cut and paste the other required info.