RAMAT 110: Race Matters, First-Year Seminar

Search All St. Olaf Databases

Rolvaag Memorial Library is part of the Bridge Consortium, which includes the libraries of both St. Olaf College and Carleton College. Items from all member libraries can be searched via the library catalog, Catalyst, which is accessible from the library homepage: https://wp.stolaf.edu/library/. If you want to see all resources available to you via the library, you can conduct either a Simple or Advanced search in Catalyst. However, in most cases, this will produce far too many results for your needs and will make identifying useful results challenging.

Search General Article Databases

Alternatively, you can perform more targeted searches by means of specific databases. For example, if you know that your instructor requires you to use only articles for your research assignment, you might want to start with databases which specialize in those publication types, such as ProQuest Research Library or Academic Search Premier. You can find a list of all databases accessible via your St. Olaf account by clicking the "Databases" button located below the Simple Search box on the library homepage. 

Search Subject-specific Databases

In many cases, you can access subject-specific databases which contain resources related to a specific field or subject. For example, if you are looking for medical research, you might use PubMed or CINAHL Ultimate. If you are seeking information about a specific population, you could try databases which specialize in that subject; for example, African American Experience, Latino American Experience, or Ethnic NewsWatch.

Search Reference Databases

If you are in the early stages of your research project and are looking to gather additional background information on a general topic to help you select a more specific research topic, you might benefit from searching in a reference database. Rather than connecting you to scholarly journal articles, reference databases focus on summary information from dictionaries or encyclopedias. Examples of reference databases include Oxford Reference Online and Credo Reference.

A-Z Database List

For a list of all databases accessible via the library, please visit the A-Z Database List: https://libraryguides.stolaf.edu/az.php?.