You can use a research log to track your progress while conducting research. View some templates below and use what works for you.
Did you find an article, book chapter, or book that you want to read, but Holy Cross doesn't have access to it? Use Interlibrary Loan to request any materials not owned by Holy Cross and the Library will try to get what you need.
If you find an article in a Library database, use the purple "Check For Full Text" button to start an Interlibrary Loan request. You can also log in to your Interlibrary Loan account (linked below) to enter a request for the item you need. That account is also where you can view the status of your request, request renewals, and download your electronic materials. Articles and book chapters are typically delivered electronically. Print books will be delivered to the campus library of your choice. You will get an email when your item is ready.
Plan ahead: Interlibrary Loan can take time to process. Journal articles are usually available in less than a week, and print books may take longer if they are shipping from far away.
WorldCat (short for World Catalog) is the world's largest online library catalog that includes library records for thousands of books. If you are looking for a book that has been cited somewhere and it is not available in the Holy Cross Libraries, try searching WorldCat to find it at other libraries worldwide. You can request Interlibrary Loan directly through WorldCat.
A world-wide catalog of books, journals, audiovisual materials, and other sources available in libraries worldwide. Includes direct links to request items on Interlibrary Loan.
A database is a collection of information that is arranged and tagged for easy searching and retrieval. Think of a database like an online storage container: It stores different publications, journals, books, magazines, and newspapers and makes it possible for you to access them. The library subscribes to over 300 databases that are available for Holy Cross students to use. Visit our A-Z Databases list to see what is available.
Subject databases include journals and publications from a specific academic field. They may include a number of different publications, but they are all within the same academic area. These can be helpful if you want to look at one specific subject or field.
To find subject databases, go to the A-Z Database List. In the dropdown menu labeled "Subjects," select your subject area and click "Search." Some Psychology databases are listed below.
Citations and abstracts for journal articles, book chapters, books and dissertations in the field of psychology.
Journal, magazine and news articles, dissertations, and other publications relating to psychology.
General databases include information and journals that cover many subjects and academic fields. These can be a good place to start if you’re not sure what subject your topic falls under, if your topic is interdisciplinary and falls under multiple subject areas, if you want to see perspectives from different fields about your topic, or if you simply want to find general information.
To find general databases, go to the A-Z Database List. In the dropdown menu labeled "Subjects," select "_General" and click "Search." You will see a list of general databases, with some highlighted as "Best Bets." Some general databases are listed below.
Journal articles, magazines, and news in almost every subject area.
Journal articles in almost every subject area, including some historical articles back to the 17th century.
CrossSearch is a one-stop search tool that lets you search most of the informational resources available through the library, including:
As you can see, CrossSearch looks in many different places and for many different types of sources. In one search, you might see results for academic journal articles, books in the library’s collection, films, newspaper articles, and more. This can be a good place to start if you want to see a broad scope of the resources available on your topic. However, because CrossSearch includes so many types of resources, you might find you need to filter these results more than you would in a more specific database.
CrossSearch is best accessed through the library home page (https://www.holycross.edu/library).
Researchers build on past research in a field to develop their own ideas and theories. We call this the scholarly conversation - a connected web of years and years of research building off what came before it and generating new ideas. One way to see this conversation in action is to think about who an author cites in their research and who cites that author. Citation is how people give credit to other work they build from.
When you look at a source, you can look at the author's footnotes, references, or bibliography to see who they cited. You can use their citation to find the original source to view yourself. You can also see who cited the article you are reading - this is a great way to find out what came after your source and to see how other researchers are building on it.
One way to see who has cited a source is to look in Google Scholar. Enter the title of the article you are looking at and click search. Find the correct article in the results. If that article has been cited by someone else, you will see a link below the result that says "Cited By." Click there and Google Scholar will refresh to show you all of the articles or sources that have cited that original article.
The video below demonstrates how to find a resource from a citation using the Holy Cross Libraries search features.