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Develop your search

Trying different keywords and using synonyms is important when searching. Student Learning Services can assist you with developing a theses statement.  Depending on your topic, useful words to include in searches may be: trends, issues, challenges, impact, developments, effect, success, ...  Every topic can be searched a number of ways:

us canada import cheese restrictions
​nafta dairy 
nafta canada (dairy or cheese)

softwood lumber canada "united states"
canada "united states" trade softwood dispute

"technical barriers to trade" effects
"technical barriers to trade" impact

The above searches will also work on Google and Google news.  
Resources to help: The differences between Scholarly/Popular/Trade publications and Is this scholarly?

Below are three different ways to search MRU library resources:

I. Search every database at once

This is the same search box that is on the Library homepage. Once you've done a search, you can change the type of your results by clicking the filters on the right.

  • Check off Articles under the Resource Type filter to just see both popular and scholarly resources.
  • Check off Peer-Reviewed Journals under the Availability filter to find scholarly articles. Select Available online to retrieve full-text articles. 
  • Limit by publication date by using the Creation Date filter
  • Find related articles by clicking on the red arrows (when available)
  • Use the Advanced Search link to open an advanced search box for more precise searching

II. Google Scholar

Google Scholar - Search scholarly literature within MRU and around the world.

If you find one good article make sure to click Cited by and Related articles below its summary.
Does not include magazines or trade publications. Besides providing links to articles in MRU databases, Google Scholar links to online repositories which contain articles the author has been allowed to upload.  Academia.edu and ResearchGate are among the repositories searched by Google Scholar.
To set up off-campus follow Settings --> Library Links. 

III. Subject-specific databases

Check databases within each of the Library's main subject areas via the Find Resources link.
 

Manage and cite your research

There are a number of free citation managers that help with saving research. Two of the more popular are:

​Mendeley www.mendeley.com
     Very useful if your research is mainly pdfs. It is recommended to get both the desktop and browser versions.  You can drag-and-drop pdfs into the desktop version which also has a Word plugin that will automatically insert in-text citations and create a bibliography. The browser version has a web importer that allows you to import web pages.  "Sync" the desktop and browser versions to access Mendeley anywhere in the world. Files and folders can be shared with other users.  The desktop version is installed on most MRU lab & library computers. Create a "Group" to share research.

Zotero www.zotero.org
     
Useful if much of your research is in html format. Has most of the same features as Mendeley. 

Librarian

Profile Photo
Geoff Owens
Contact:
Email: gowens@mtroyal.ca
Phone: 403.440.7737
Office: EL4471S
Profile Photo
Geoff Owens
Contact:
Email: gowens@mtroyal.ca
Phone: 403.440.7737
Office: EL4471S