Help for Statewide Campus/Online Students
As a USU Statewide or Online student, you can access all of the library's databases, articles, and e-books from home or anywhere with Internet. To access library resources from the USU Libraries website, a research guide (like this!), or your Canvas course, you will be prompted to enter your A number and password. For more information on how to order physical books, get research help, and other time-saving tips, visit the Library Services for Statewide and Online Users website.
Building Searches
Before searching for articles and other sources, you'll want to spend some time thinking about how to build an effective search.
Begin by exploring these two guides:
Sample Searches
For Dr. Arungwa's prevention science project, here is a sample to try:
- "prevention science" AND poverty
For Dr. Arungwa's Z-degree project, here are some sample searches to try:
- “z-degree” OR “zero-cost-degree” OR “zero-textbook-cost-degree” OR “zero textbook cost degree"
- (OER OR “Open Educational Resources” OR “open textbook”) AND degree AND cost
Questions? Ask your librarian (contact information on the right side of this page).
Database Tutorials
Next, you'll want to try these searches in a research database to find articles on your topic. Recommended databases are on the second tab of this guide.
Each database has a tutorial to show you how to use it effectively. Click on the blue arrow icon to open the tutorial.
Using Article Linker
1. When are searching in databases you will likely encounter an icon or link that says "Article Linker" or "Check for Full-Text." This will search for the article in one of USU's other subscriptions - so click it!
2. If the library has the article, you'll then be taken to a page where you'll be asked to either log-in with your A# and password or click to open the article in a new tab.
3. You'll probably need to hunt down the PDF from this new page - they can be tricky to find sometimes.
4. If the library does not have the article you'll be directed to a page where you can request the article, free to you, through Interlibrary Loan. Just login to ILL and then come back to the request page and click Request PDF and the system will fill out the request for you. You will get a PDF within 24-48 business hours.
Lean Library Extension
Tip:
The Merrill-Cazier Library at USU subscribes to Lean Library, a browser plug-in that alerts you when online content is available through the library while you are doing your research both on and off-campus. Lean Library works no matter how you do your research.
If you want to learn more about how Lean Library works, check out this guide.
