Research Tools
To find sources for your research and literature review, you will have some powerful library tools at your disposal. It is important to understand the different types of platforms:
| Tool | Example | Content |
|---|---|---|
| Library Catalog | Primo | Records of everything that the library has access to, including books, journals, gov docs, articles, physical and digital |
| Library “Database” | IEEE Xplore | Curated sets of materials with enhanced metadata to aid in discovery |
| Citation Index | Web of Science | Curated records and citation information about wide ranges of published literature |
Library Catalog (Primo)
The search box on library’s home page goes to our Primo Discovery Service, i.e. the library’s full online catalog. The catalog contains records for everything that the library has access to, including physical and digital formats, books, journals, government documents, videos, and more. This includes resources from our consortium, the Orbis Cascade Alliance, 35+ academic libraries in the Northwest.
Usage notes:
- Always sign in to ensure you have proxy access to resources.
- scopes (UI Library, Summit, E-Resources)
- filters (date, resource type, etc)
- record features (citation, permalink, “View It”)
- “personalize” (weights search results in your discipline)
- account (check loan status, saved items/searches/history, requests)
Primo Practice
- Search for
Palouse Groundwater Management - Make sure you are signed in
- Review catalog results
- Use filters to find “articles” or “books”
- View a catalog record to find access
- “View It” section - click to view electronic resource in database, or to see print location
- “Details” section - click author or LCSH subject headings to explore related content
Library “Databases”
The library subscribes to “databases” which contain curated content and metadata to support research. Browse the A-Z Databases List for descriptions and access links.
Example Engineering databases:
- IEEE Xplore (standards, personalized account)
- American Society of Civil Engineers Library
- ProQuest SciTech Premium
- Safari: O’Reilly Learning Platform (handy tech learning resources)
Database Practice
- Visit American Society of Civil Engineers Library
- click on Journals to browse scholarly journals
- browse to Journal of Bridge Engineering, Volume 26, Issue 1 and choose an article
- Try to find the same article in Primo
- Compare the records
Citation Indexes
Indexes provide metadata about scholarly literature, but don’t necessarily provide access to the content. They are useful for exploring research areas and discovering new content, especially for “citation chaining”.
- Web of Science
- Content: wide coverage of science scholarly/peer-reviewed articles from the most important journals and conference proceedings. Index only (metadata, not full text), contains items that the Library might not have access to.
- Curated by humans.
- Excellent citation tracking, enables in depth citation chaining
- Filter by highly cited, “hot in the field”, to explore subject area
- Export data, citation lists
- WoS Search intro video, quick ref, Citation Network Guide
- Google Scholar
- Content: good content coverage of academic literature, but not all peer-reviewed and sources are not always clearly labeled.
- Not human curated, quality can be suspect or confusing.
- Familiar / easy to search
- Good citation tracking
- Connect to UI Library:
- If you connect U of I Library to your Scholar account, search results will show a link “Univ of Idaho - Get it” to access full text items in our subscriptions.
- How to connect to UI Library