Easy Search

• Top search box on CPLA Virtual Library Homepage 

• Good for searching a wide number of resources at once. 

• Not the best tool for specific subjects.  

Library Catalog

• The main search engine for finding books, journal articles, & databases.  

Journal & Article Locator

• Great for finding a specific article. DOI: Digital Object Identifier:  

  • A persistent link that will lead to a stable version of a document.  

Databases

• Search from over 400 general and subject-focused scholarly databases. 
• Search by discipline, topic, or library. 

Tips for Searching Databases

1. Use keyword combinations rather than specific phrases

• Academic databases often don’t behave like Google, where the results become more refined with larger search terms. You will often want to use a few keywords related to your article and then filter search results using the different tools available.  

2. Booleans:  

• AND: shrinks search results 

• OR: expands search results 

• NOT: Excludes following keyword(s) 

3. Quotation Marks – use to expand keywords to phrases.  

• i.e. “Natural Resources” will look for articles that mention the words together, where a search of Natural Resources without quotes will often search for “Natural” OR “Resources” separately.  

Research Guides  

• LibGuides are a widely-used resource for aggregating subject-specific information and educating library-users on different resources available.  

Inter-Library Loan & DocExpress

Inter-Library Loan:

• A tool to request print materials from other institutions.  

• Obtain scanned copies of chapters or other print materials from libraries around the U.S.

DocExpress: 

• A tool for requesting digital copies of scholarly articles held in print journals within the UIUC collection.  

• Not used for articles from other institutions.