1. The Discovery tool is located at the top of this page, or on the library's home page. The Discovery tool searches the majority of our holdings, meaning it searches most of our databases with a single search. It is a good place to start your research.
2. Begin your search by entering keywords. This means you are telling the tool what topic you are researching. If you are looking for resources about violence in sports, you might try searching "violence in sports" or "sporting violence". It is a good idea to search for synonyms. You may also want to try using Boolean operators, meaning you use operators such as AND, OR or NOT. For example, you want to learn about violence in sports, but you don't care if it involves football. You would type in "violence AND sports NOT football" using the dropdown boxes pictured in the image below. Once you've settled on your keywords, hit search. You can refine your results on the next page.
3. Once you search, you will see a results page like the one below. If you are accessing our site from off campus, you will be asked to authenticate using your CWID and your last name. If it doesn't work for you, please call us at 843-953-2569.
Your search terms are at the top left of the page. Your tools to refine your results (narrow down your topic) are in the left column, and your results are in the middle. It's important that you refine your results to find the best possible resources. Your results will automatically change. Here are what some of the more important limiters mean:
When you are ready to look at a resource you think will suit your needs, click on the title of that resource.
4. An example of the full title record is pictured below.
To view the article, click PDF Full Text or Full Text Finder on the left hand side of the page. Information about the article is in the middle column. You will need this information to cite your source. Tools for saving and citing the article are located on the right hand side of the page. You can create a citation in the style you need, but check it against our Citing Sources guide, as computer generated citations can sometimes have errors.