Selecting the best or most appropriate finding aid for identifying sources depends almost entirely on the context of your research project. There is no single database or web search interface that will work for every research context; instead, you'll need to match your specific research needs to a variety of options. 

1. Start with the information provided in tertiary sources!
   • Look up specific titles of books in Primo, or journal titles (not article titles) in Primo Journal Search.
   • Use the vocabulary in the subject encyclopedia entries as search terms in databases.
2. When searching Primo or a database, pay attention to the subject headings in your results. You can use the vocabulary or click to do a new search for that heading. You'll be surprised at what you discover this way! 
3. Mine the bibliographies in other secondary sources. You may find one secondary source that is not quite right for your project; however, it may cite another scholarly source that would be just right! 
4. Select the best sources, not just the most convenient sources. This may mean requesting a book from SUMMIT and/or an article from Tipasa, both of which take about two to five days to arrive.
5. Make sure you have a method for keeping track of your research (what you searched and where) and organizing your sources. Using a citation manager (e.g. RefWorks or Zotero) or a synthesis matrix to organize and evaluate what you've found.

Collins Library, like most academic libraries in the United States, uses Library of Congress Subject Headings to describe the content of books. 

Use subject headings to search for resources related to a specific author or work, in addition to literary themes or movements, genres, and/or critical approaches.

Here are several examples:

Blest Gana, Alberto, 1830-1920 -- Criticism and interpretation

Latin American fiction -- History and criticism

Latin American fiction -- 19th century -- History and criticism

Literature and society -- Latin America

Nationalism in literature

Need help navigating the MLA International Bibliography? View the following tutorials for in-depth explanations of MLAIB's search functionality:

• Researching Literature in the MLA International Bibliography, Part I
• Researching Literature in the MLA International Bibliography, Part II: Advanced Searching Strategies for Literary Scholarship
• How to Find Literary Criticism That Uses a Particular Approach or Method in the MLA International Bibliography

These e-journal collections provide access to many journals in the humanities, but they are more limited in coverage compared to subject databases. In most cases, it's better to search subject databases to identify articles, and then search the journal title in Primo to link to the materials in these e-journal collections.

Google Scholar can help you find articles which have cited an article that you have found. Frequent citation is often (but not always!) a marker for a particularly influential scholarly work.

Step 1: When looking at search results, check for the 'Cited by X' link underneath each result. That will tell you how many subsequent articles (that Google Scholar is aware of) have cited this particular article or book.

Step 2: Click that link, and you will be taken to a new set of results, all of which have cited the original article, which will still be listed at the top of the page. 

If your article is not available at Collins Library, you've got another option for getting it. Use Tipasa, our interlibrary loan service.

Tipasa is linked to your library account so you'll need to log in to use it.

Once you are logged in, either go directly to Tipasa and manually enter the information, or, if you're using a database, look for a shortcut link to automatically fill out the form:

Allow at least a week for the article to come. If your article is delivered in electronic format, you'll receive an email with a link to follow as soon as it's arrived.