Research Guides: Library Services for NCK Tech Students: Find Information

Databases

State Library of Kansas Databases Collection
Accessible to Kansas residents from anywhere by logging in with a KS State Library Card. To get a card,email MaryAlice Wade at mawade2@fhsu.edu (provide your full name with middle initial, if any, your full birthdate, and your email address) or ask at your local library.
Free Open Databases
Databases that are freely available for anyone, on a variety of subjects.

Accessible from within Forsyth Library with a TIGERNET ID. Not accessible from off-campus. For databases you can use from home, click the NCK Accessible Databases tab above.

A-Z List of Databases
To see a list of the best databases for a broad subject area, use the Subject menu at the top of the page, or use the Database Type menu to find databases by their content.

Academic Search Premier This link opens in a new window
A multi-disciplinary database that provides full text for more than 4,600 journals, including approximately 3,900 peer-reviewed titles. Useful for nearly any research topic.

(From within Forsyth Library Only)

Library Catalog: Use the search box on the library's home page, selecting the "Books & More" tab. On the results page, limit to Books using the filters under "Filter My Results". For print books, select "Available in the Library" . If you only want E-books, limit to "Full-Text Online." You can also search our e-book databases directly.

Academic Complete This link opens in a new window
Academic Complete is a highly interactive ebook database covering all academic subject areas. The collection currently includes more than 186,000 titles from more than 280 of the world's leading academic, STM, and professional publishers.

ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global This link opens in a new window
Offers more than 1.7 million full-text dissertations in the humanities, social sciences, technology and more.
ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Open This link opens in a new window
With PQDT Open, you can read the full-text of open access dissertations and theses free of charge.
FHSU Master's Theses Collection This link opens in a new window
The FHSU Master's Theses Collection contains manuscripts written by Fort Hays graduate students dating from 1930 through the present. Theses submitted after 2009 are Open Access. Works prior to 2010 may be limited to on-campus access due to copyright restrictions. Please contact ScholarsRepository@fhsu.edu for questions regarding access to individual works.

Films on Demand Master Academic Collection This link opens in a new window
Streaming video of over 41,000 full length films and more than 316,000 clips available 24/7...subject coverage includes Business and Economics, Science and Mathematics, Humanities and Social Sciences, Health and Medicine, and Archival Films and Newsreels.

Brainstorm Keywords

Brainstorm Additional Keywords

Before you start searching, it's helpful to brainstorm keywords relating to your research topic. You may need to do some background research on your research question before you can identify additional keywords.

For example, let's say your research question is: In the past decade, how has the flu shot impacted the number of flu cases among elderly patients in the United States.

The main concepts would be:

flu shot
flu cases
elderly patients
United States

There are three main ways to brainstorm keywords based on key concepts:

Look for synonyms. Synonyms are terms that mean the same thing as your original key concepts:
- Ex: "aging populations" is a synonym for "elderly patients"
Look for narrower terms. Narrower terms are specific examples of your key concepts:
- Ex: "Influenza A" is a type of "flu case"
Look for broader terms. Broader terms are bigger categories that your key concepts can fit into.
- Ex: "flu shot" fits into the category of "vaccinations"

Connecting Keywords

Connecting Keywords with Search Operators

Once you've brainstormed keywords for your research question, think about what operators you may use. Operators are a way of combining keywords to get the best results from your search.

AND

Use AND when you want to find articles or other information that contains both/all keywords

Ex: flu shot AND flu cases AND elderly patients

OR

Use OR when you want to find articles or other information that contains at least one of the keywords

Ex: influenza vaccination OR flu shot

"Quotation

Marks"

Put quotes around phrases when you want that phrase to be found in that exact order

Ex: "influenza vaccination"

Why Forsyth Library Resources?

This video discusses why searching with library database is more effective than searching the internet, covering the following topics:

What are scholarly sources and/or peer-reviewed articles?
- Where to find scholarly sources
Advantages of using library databases instead of searching the internet

How to Embed This Tutorial in Blackboard:

Select and copy (Ctrl+C) all of the following Embed Code text:
<iframe title="Why Forsyth Library?" width="640" height="360" allowTransparency="true" mozallowfullscreen webkitallowfullscreen allowfullscreen style="background-color:transparent;" frameBorder="0" src="https://app.vidgrid.com/embed/umGEdzdAzL7O"></iframe>
In Blackboard, create and name an Item (or any other Blackboard tool that includes the standard Text Editor)
Click the HTML button at the bottom right of the Tool Buttons to open the HTML editor
Paste (Ctrl+V) the embed code within the HTML window and click Update and Submit.

Link to VidGrid Video: https://use.vg/Fk9ICi

Forsyth Library Tutorials

Forsyth Library Tutorials
This research guide contains a series of tutorials and videos providing an overview of library resources and services, a library vocabulary, and information on finding and using library resources.