Junior Thesis Project

Junior Thesis Search Strategies
Get comfortable online and get your list together first before heading to the libraries.

1- SRC online catalog (Destiny)
  • Relatively small collection (20,000 items)
  • Search can be more general to find many materials to look through
  • Use subject category links with items to expand to related materials
  • Look at call numbers and relate that to browsing at other libraries
  • Make sure we have it "IN" before looking for it.
2- Badgerlink (www.badgerlink.net) FREE for Wisconsin Residents
  • The best place to start
  • 8,000+ full text magazines
  • 6,800+ full text books
  • 4,500+ full text newspapers (~3,000 historical)
  • Also contains Wiscat
  • Use advanced search tools / be specific
    1. ​​Start search as a Student -> Higher Education for more journals such as Academic Search Premier
    2. Limit your results using check boxes under Advanced Search to include: Full-text and Scholarly articles
  • Generate keywords from your thesis statement
  • Fine tune your search strategies to use with other engines
  • Full text items count as print resources

3- UW-Parkside (www.uwp.edu/departments/library/)
  • Require a user account (card) with a fee.
  • Not as lenient on overdue books.
  • Uses a different system (Library of Congress -LC) for organizing materials

4- Racine Public Library (www.racinelibrary.info)
  • School account; see Mrs. Weaver to have titles placed on hold and brought to school
  • Part of the SHARE consortium
  • Public libraries from 4 counties included in the search (ILL is an option)
  • Find out if they have the book and if it is available.

5- Wiscat (www.wiscat.net)
  • Searches all Wisconsin public libraries
  • Good way to find books that exist on your topic
  • If needed, use Interlibrary Loan with Racine Public Library - Mrs. Weaver can help you with this process.

Summary
  1. Start with Badgerlink
  2. Save Abstracts/Full Text as PDFs,
  3. Devise your search terms with that database
  4. Branch into other systems/databases as needed
  5. Organize your sources using NoodleTools
  6. Return your materials to the right library!

Note: WorldCat (www.worldcat.org) is another amazing source but requires refined search strategies and often lists books or articles without full text. Badgerlink should be adequate but if not, try WorldCat. ​
Clements, Jessica, Elizabeth Angeli, Karen Schiller, S. C. Gooch, Laurie Pinkert, and Allen Brizee. “General Format.” The Purdue OWL. April 3, 2013.  
​           http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/717/13/.