1. Type in the title of the article in the search box and it will link to the full-text article if AU Library has it.
Boolean operators:
AND - use to narrow a search and get fewer and more relevant results.
elections and voters
OR - use to broaden a search and get more results. Good for synonyms and words with variant spellings. Add parentheses when using OR.
("latin america" or argentina or colombia)
(organization or organisation)
NOT - use to narrow a search to get more relevant results
mexico not "new mexico"
Truncation:
Use to find words with different word endings. Most databases use an asterisk (*)
e.g. immigrant* yields immigrant, immigrants
e.g. immigra* yields immigrant, immigrants, immigrate, immigration, immigrating, etc.
Proximity search:
Use to find words that are close to each other on a page.
It is one way to find more relevant results.
Each family of databases has its own command words.
EBSCO:
n# = words near another word in any order, within a certain number
fundamental* n3 islam*
Factiva:
near# = words near another word in any order, within a certain number
president* near3 speech
HeinOnline
~# = words near each other in any order, within a certain number
"watershed planning"~10
Nexis Uni:
w/#=words within a specified number of words, in any order
"human rights" w/2 violations
w/s = words within the same sentence
crime w/s (dc or "district of columbia")
w/p = words within the same paragraph
gays w/p military
Ovid:
adj# = words near another word in any order, within a certain number
ProQuest:
near/# = words near another word in any order, within a certain number
"renewable energy" near/5 viable
Scopus
w/# = words near another word in any order, within a certain number
Web of Science:
near/# = words near another word in any order, within a certain number
government near/3 fund*
The databases in this page provide the citation, abstract, and in some cases, the full text of journal and magazine articles, books, and dissertations. They are sorted by order of prominence and then alphabetically.
Use only articles from scholarly journals for literature reviews, not those from newspapers or magazines or technical reports.
To save time one can search the following EBSCO databases simultaneously. Directions: Click on one of these databases; click on "Choose Databases" at the top of the page; and then select the appropriate databases.
Citations to English-language articles, book reviews, and feature stories in over 190 journals devoted to Jewish affairs.
Provides access to the literature on the left, with a primary emphasis on politically and culturally engaged scholarship inside and outside the academy and a secondary emphasis on significant but little known sources of news and ideas.
Index to international literature on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender issues.
American University users can obtain a copy of almost every published article or book in these databases.
For AU Library databases, if the full-text article is not available, click on the 
button. Or use the Interlibrary Loan form. The article can be obtained through the Consortium Loan Service (2 business days) or Interlibrary Loan (longer than 2 days).
Use these databases if a comprehensive search is needed. They are not a good place to start one's research.
This scholarly database contains over 3,600 peer-reviewed publications in full-text on every subject.