Northern Kentucky University

After-Hours Guide to Research

Research making you crazy?! Then look no further…

This guide's purpose is to help students with research when they have little time. This guide walks you through all of the most commonly helpful resources Steely has to offer so that research can go smoothly even in a time crunch situation.

Use Ask Steely for chat, phone, text or e-mail assistance during regular hours. Librarians are on duty during many of the Library Hours. Look here to see Librarian Open Office Hours

If you feel your assignment may require extra attention and would like to schedule a one-on-one session with a librarian, click here to check out our upcoming consultation openings!

Getting Started!

Research Guide

What is a research guide?

Steely's research guides page is one of the best places to start if you're not sure where to search for items on your topic. The research guides are divided by subject and offer helpful resources (including websites, databases of online articles, and books) that are related to your individual subject or topic.

Determining correct research guide(s)

Think about your research topic. It might fall into the same discipline as your class does (music, biology, etc.) However, sometimes your assignment is for certain class and falls into another discipline. For instance, if you're writing a paper about a political issue for your English 101 class, you may want to consult the Political Science research guide instead of the English one. Also, some subjects may be multidisciplinary and it may be useful to try multiple research guides.

Tutorials

What is a tutorial?

Steely's tutorials are excellent how-to guides on common questions and frequent problem research situations. You can browse all tutorials here:

• Full List of Tutorials

Some of the most commonly used tutorials are listed below:

Here is a tutorial to help you start your research:

Choose a Research Topic & Establish a Research Plan

Finding Articles and Database Searching

-For general research, Academic Search Premier is an easy and helpful database to jumpstart your research. It spans multiple disciplines and is considered a general database, rather than a specialized database for something specific (i.e.-the arts, science, psychology, etc.)

-Complete List of Database Tutorials

-For locating full-text articles, click here Finding Articles in Steely Library Demo

Style Guides

Need books?

-Use our catalog, NKUIRE.

Can't find the book or full-text article you're searching for?

-Four Ways to Access Articles in a Database Having tech troubles?

For password/log-in problems and other technical issues, check out the IT Service Center The IT Service Center offers 24 hour phone and live chat support.