History

For SDSU book holdings check OneSearch. OneSearch is the online tool used for finding books, journal articles, and multimedia. You can also search all CSU library holdings and request books that we don't own.

For items outside the CSU, try Circuit (San Diego libraries) or place a request thru Interlibrary Loan. You can check WorldCat to see what's owned by libraries around the world.

• Use OneSearch to find books, including ebooks. Stick with subject databases to find articles.
• One exception: OneSearch works well when you have a citation to an article and need to know if we have it in full text.
• Use the Advanced Search option for the most control over your search.
• Two of the most helpful ways to "Tweak my results" are limiting by resource type (aka books) and publication date.
• Expand your search by clicking the "Other Collections" radio button. You can request books from other CSU libraries and pick them up at the Circulation Desk.
• Once you've found a book that looks interesting, click the "Cite" icon for the book's citation formatted in any style you choose.
• Logging into "My account" allows you to save records for later or you can email them to yourself.

• Generate keywords to describe your topic, being mindful of synonyms.
• Keep your search simple at first, using only a couple of words. Try different combinations of words.
• Use quotes for phrases such as "new york" to keep the words together. 
• Use the asterisk for truncation, so that photo* will bring up photographs, photographers, etc.
• Limit your search by filters such as date of publication, language, or peer-reviewed articles.
• If you find a source that seems directly on topic, look closely to see what words they use. These can be in the title, table of contents, subjects, or summary.
• Try your search in different databases.

Primary source documents are frequently collected in published books. To find these collections in our OneSearch system, follow these steps.

1. Brainstorm some keywords and phrases about your topic. If you were researching women's suffrage in America, for example, some good keywords and phrases might be "suffrage," "women," "feminis*," "nineteenth amendment," "vote*," or "activis*". (Note: the asterisk is used to truncate a word, so the system will search for all variations).

2. At the Advanced Search, pair your keyword with some of them common words found in subject headings for primary sources. These include:

* sources
* correspondence
* diaries
* speeches
* personal narratives
* documents
* interviews

3. If you want to impose any limits on your search, such as as location or language, choose them in the options box. Then click Submit.

4. Browse your results and click on titles which sound relevant or useful to your topic.