Research material can be found in lots of ways, depending on your information need.  Here are some suggestions to get you started.  All databases and catalogs can be accessed through the Library's homepage.

If you need any help or advice on your research, feel free to contact a subject librarian.  They are happy to meet with you about your assignment.  Alternately, you can contact the reference desk.

Griffin:  Use the WSU library catalog to find books and journals owned by WSU.  If a book is at another WSU campus, you can "Request" it be sent to our library for you.

Summit:  This is a joint catalog of college and university libraries in the Pacific Northwest.  If the item you are searching for is not in Griffin, search Summit.  You can "Request" items be sent here for you.

Network IDs:  You will need your WSU Network ID and password to "request" materials in Griffin and Summit.

WSU ID cards:  You will need your WSU ID card in order to check out items from the library.

The Library provides access to many databases.  These databases contain citations/abstracts about materials and many also include fulltext articles.  Some databases are subject-specific; others deal with multiple disciplines. 

Here are a few suggestions for getting started on research for this class:

Multidisciplinary: 

• Academic Search Complete
• Jstor

Business: 

• Business Source Complete
• Global Market Information Database
• Academic Lexis-Nexis
• More Business databases

Computer Science / Engineering:

• ACM Digital Library
• ASTM Standards and Engineering Digital Library
• IEEE / IEE Electronic Library (IEL)
• Inspec

Humanities: 

• America: History and Life
• Humanities International Index
• MLA Bibliography

Sciences:

• BIOSIS
• Environmental Sciences and Pollution Management
• Science Citation Index (Web of Science)

Social Sciences:

• Education Fulltext
• PsycInfo
• Sociological Abstracts

The databases are listed on the library's homepage either by an alphabetical list or by subject.

Books and other items not available through Griffin and Summit can be ordered from other libraries using ILLiad, an online interlibrary loan system. Journal articles that cannot be found full-text or in the Library should be ordered as well.

Ordering:  To order something, create an account in ILLiad and fill out a request form.

Delivery time:  Books can take several days to arrive, depending on where they come from (e.g. Pullman vs. Oregon).  Journal articles are delivered electronically in about 48 hours.

To access the library’s databases from off campus, you will be asked to authenticate after you choose a database. You will be prompted to enter your network ID and password. (This is the same user-name and password used in zzusis.)

If you are having difficulty authenticating, try a different database. If the system still does not allow you in, give us a call.