For new-to-UTA students, this page is designed to familiarize yourself with staff and resources available to you through the UTA Libraries, as well as share basic information about navigating databases. If you are already confident in all of that information, I would encourage you to navigate to either the Contract or Capstone page to get more detailed support for specific Honors Research needs.
UTA Libraries embraces the idea that research is a collaborative journey shared between professors, library staff, and students. If you ever feel overwhelmed by a research task, you have people here who can help you make the research process easier and more accessible!
The box below will allow you to search the UTA Libraries Summons search. This will allow you to search our physical and digital collections simultaneously. While not every database is available through Summons, this is an excellent place to search broadly through UTA's 500+ databases
Boolean searching is the traditional way to search for information in most online databases and on the Internet. Boolean operators are connector words (AND, OR, and NOT) used to create phrases and concepts based on specific rules of search logic.
AND and NOT will both narrow your results, while OR will broaden your results. These operators can be used in a longer string to refine your results.
| Operator | Examples | Results |
| AND |
|
Retrieves records that contain ALL of the search terms. |
| OR |
|
Retrieves records that contain ANY of the search terms, but does not necessarily include all of them. |
| NOT |
|
Excludes records containing the second search term. |
| Combined | tea AND (coffee OR espresso) NOT mocha |
Tea must appear in the results with either coffee or espresso, or both. Any results with mocha will be excluded. |
Once you find a search that seems give a lot of sources and is fairly relevant, we will apply filters. You can apply these either from the advanced search page before a search or from the left-hand side of the screen after searching. See the chart below to get a better understanding of common filter options:
|
Filter |
Best Use |
|
Publication Date |
When recency is a factor; For scientific topics, information should be from the last 5 years; when current events may inform you of audience considerations; Or inversely, when you specifically need historical information! |
|
Peer-Reviewed |
When high accuracy is essential; for data- and research-driven articles (not books, and not newspapers) |
|
Content Type |
When you want to control the publication venue (important for annotated bibliographies!)
|
|
Discipline |
Can be used to filter out overlapping results (For example, “COVID” may be studied biologically, economically, or sociologically. Filtering to “Sociology” will clarify your results to only be relevant to your subject area.)
|
The Research Mavs are a team of current UTA students who work in the libraries, with librarians, to support you in your research. Whether you're just beginning your research and you want to know more about how to be successful at UTA, or you're on the hunt for that one specific article that would solidify your thesis, the Research Mavs are a great service for you. They are currently trained by the Honors College Liaison Librarian to help ensure they can support you.
You can get in touch with the Research Mavs in one of three ways:
1. The Live Chat service on the UTA Libraries Website: https://libraries.uta.edu/
2. Make an in-person or online consultation with a Research Mav through their website: https://libraries.uta.edu/about/dept/rss/researchmavs
3. Drop in for help in Central Library Room 308. They are visible from the stairwell entrance for ease-of-access.
The Research Mavs are available 7 days a week, with the sole responsibility of helping you be successful, so they are the most accessible human help within the library!
Every area of study at UTA has a librarian representative who is there to provide a greater level of expertise in research strategies for your content, including the Honors College. Your Honors College Librarian can help you develop your capstone and contract research at every step of the process, from proposal to citation. You can find contact information and the option to schedule an appointment at this link: https://libraries.uta.edu/about/people/stephenson-collin
For subject-specific research support, see the next tab.
If your research is going to require a significant amount of research that is specific to a field, or if you have been referred by a Research Mav or the Honors College Librarian, you will want to schedule a time with your subject librarian. UTA Libraries has a representative librarian for every content area who is the resident expert on research strategies for your area of research. You can find your subject librarian at this link: https://libraries.uta.edu/research/librarians
If your research projects end up either requiring a significant amount of data to support, or if you need to present data in an appealing way, the UTA Libraries Data Team is there to help. Data-driven research can be more time consuming, but with their help, you will have the tools and resources you need to efficiently navigate the numbers. The full breakdown of their support and their contact information can be found at this page: https://libraries.uta.edu/dataportal/
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