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English 3600: Literary Theory: Backward Searching

A research guide designed to help you successfully navigate your literary research for the course assignments.

Step 1 - Choose a citation from the bibliography

Step 2 - Look for the resource in the library

If the resource is a book or a chapter from a book, check the library catalog at www.library.dixie.edu

If the resource is an article from an academic journal...

Type in the title of the journal, NOT the title of the article

If DSU Library has electronic access to the journal, a link to the database will be provided

Step 3 - Look for the resource on Google Scholar

Google Scholar Search

How to make Google Scholar work for you

Go to Settings ⇒ Library Links ⇒ Search for “Dixie State” ⇒ Check the box next to “Dixie State University – Full-Text @ Dixie” ⇒ Save

Blue links out to the right of an article indicate if/where you can find that article. The above step lets you see what we have available right here at the DSU Library.

Google Scholar doesn't allow you to narrow searches like a database does, but it does give you access to scholarly articles that may be available online for free or at another college or university. It's also a good way to scan for available research on extremely focused topics or find articles to request on Interlibrary Loan.

  • Google Scholar works best for the sciences and social sciences.
  • The more narrow your topic and focused your keywords, the better your results
  • Blue links to the right of the article titles give you access to DSU databases or other websites

Step 4 - Request using Interlibrary Loan

It may take at least 48 hours for a journal article and at least 10 days for a book to arrive via ILL

You will need to register for ILL services if you have never used ILL before