Our discovery tool will look for books, journal articles and more in one quick easy search - a great place to start your research. For a more comprehensive search, individual databases offer greater functionality and give full access to a tailored suite of resources for your subject.
Search for books, articles, and electronic resources:
Search for books only (does not include all electronic books):
Search for full-text articles:
As part of your research you may want to find relevant journal articles, but don't have particular examples. You will need to search for these by keywords.
The quickest and easiest way to start your search is by using the Library search. Alternatively, it's useful to use databases when:
Databases can be smaller collections of journals, or tools to find specific types of information, eg market research or financial data.
If you know the database you wish to search, try our Databases A-Z. Or, if you are unsure which database is best for your subject, recommended examples are given within our collection of Subject Guides.
Each database works in a slightly different way, so check their help pages for advice.
Common search functions they usually share include:
Tip 1: Search where...?
Databases will usually let you choose where to search for your keywords, eg within
This is useful when your search returns too many results.
Tip 2: Connect with OR
This can be a real timesaver when searching for similar keywords eg
Tip 3: "Quotation marks"
When searching for phrases it's useful to enclose them in quotation marks eg "higher education". This will look for the phrase 'higher education' rather than the individual words, 'higher' and 'education'.
And last, but certainly not least:
Tip 4: Review your keywords!
A database will only find what you tell it to search for. If it doesn’t find what you need, review your keywords.