NYU Libraries Online Tutorials

Find books, articles, & more with one search

As of January 2024, NYU Libraries' search system has been updated. The biggest change is that it provides a broader search scope than before, reaching into more of our collections. With just one search, you're covering our physical materials as well as lots of our online platforms and database subscriptions. View the video to learn more. This video has captions. For a transcript  go to the NYU Stream viewer: NYU Libraries Search System Update.

The quickest way to get a physical book in your hands is to pull it from the shelf yourself. (If you have difficulty fully accessing the book shelves, we're happy to assist you.) These videos help you understand the overall process -- from looking up a book to navigating the stacks to pull your book.

The Overall Process for Finding a Book

Quick overview of the process, from searching in the catalog to checking out the book. This video has captions. For a transcript  go to the NYU Stream viewer: The 5 Steps to Finding a Book

Navigating the Stacks to Pull a Book from the Shelf

A more focused look at how to use a call number, navigate the book stacks (floors where the books are shelved), and locate your book on the shelf. To view this video with a transcript, go to Stream viewer: Bobst Library: Locating a Book in the Stacks.

There are a few ways to find articles, and this list of videos help you understand your options.

• Use NYU Libraries' updated search system, which searches across a variety of databases
• Use an individual database
  • What are databases and why use them?
  • Multidisciplinary databases
  • Subject-specific databases
  • Tips for searching within databases
• Use Google Scholar

What are Databases and Why Use Them?

NYU Libraries subscribes to 1,400+ databases -- accessible on the "Articles & Databases" page -- that provide articles in publications like newspapers, magazines, and scholarly journals. This video explains how the databases are organized and how to choose one(s) relevant to your research topic.

This video has captions. For  a transcript go to the NYU Stream viewer: What are Databases?

Multidisciplinary Databases

Multidisciplinary databases are good for any topic and tend to include a variety of publications types, including news sources, general interest magazines, trade magazines, scholarly journals, and more.

This video has captions. For a transcript go to NYU Stream viewer: Multidisciplinary Databases.

Subject-Specific Databases

Subject-specific databases are focused and specialized, providing the most scholarly information available on a topic, such as articles featuring conceptual or theoretical analysis, empirical studies, case studies, systematic reviews, and other scholarly approaches. Other sources typically covered are conference papers, chapters from edited books, and theses.

This video has captions. For a transcript go to NYU Stream viewer: Subject-Specific Databases.

Tips for Searching within Databases

When you search on your keywords within a database, it helps to provide an explicit, straightforward "search statement" using the tips shown here. 

Text-based version of the above infographic:

This is a sample search statement:  "emotional intelligence" AND (success OR achieve*)

The statement contains three tips for searching within databases:  

• Tip 1: Put quotes around  compound search terms. In this example, putting quotes around "emotional intelligence" directs the database to search for instances where these words appear adjacent to each other (also known as phrase searching).
• Tip 2: Use Boolean operators between search terms.   Boolean algebra is a fundamental aspect of online searching.  Boolean operators (also known as logical operators) specify the relationship between search terms and the order of operations executed in the search. There are three Boolean operators:
  • AND narrows a search.  Both search terms will be present in search results.
  • OR broadens a search.  Either or both search terms will be present in search results. Use this operator when you want to supplement a search term with one or more synonyms that convey the same concept.  Always enclose OR search terms in parenthesis, which instructs the database to perform this operation first.  Without the parenthesis, the operation will be performed last, which will result in inaccurate search results.
  • NOT eliminates any results where the search term is present.
• Tip 3: Consider using truncation. When you truncate a word, you prompt the database to find all variant endings of a word stem. Otherwise, the database searches for the literal, exact search term you entered, letter for letter. (Note that the database will automatically find the plural, so no need to use truncation just for that.) In most databases the truncation symbol is an asterisk (*).  
  • In the example above, we truncated the word stem achiev* so that -- in addition to finding “achieve” and “achieves” -- the database will also find “achieving,” “achievement,” and “achievements.”

Google Scholar

Google Scholar is a useful tool for finding articles. View this video to learn more. This video has captions. For a transcript go to NYU Stream View: Google Scholar.