Gale Virtual Reference - Academically approved background information on your topic
Reference sources are designed to provide background information and history of a topic or to provide access to more specific sources. Reference materials can be very general or can be discipline-specific (like specialized subject encyclopedias). Researchers use encyclopedic and reference sources to establish a fuller picture of the players, conditions, perspectives and events related to their topics.
When you search in Gale Virtual Reference, be careful to use only one or two keywords, and use the word AND between them, like this: coffee AND culture. If you get very few results, try just one main idea, like: coffee, and peruse your results list for more detail. Because you are searching for background information, you need to choose more general terms.
- Gale Virtual Reference Library [UW restricted]Search inside nearly 1,000 volumes of specialized subject encyclopedias (encyclopedias with more in-depth coverage) to find background information on your topic, an overview of your topic, and often, suggested sources for more information on your topic.
Search UW WorldCat for Books
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UW Worldcat is especially useful when you want to search as broadly as possible for a topic or when you are seeking a relatively rare item that isn't likely to be available at the UW. It also facilitates borrowing books from other libraries. |
Tips for searching UW WorldCat for Books:
- Try a keyword search and add disciplinary phrases to your search: E.g., for Sociology, you might try adding "social aspects" or "sociological aspects"
- Getting too many results? Don't want to wait for interlibrary loan? Try searching the UW-only Catalog for items *only* in our system.
- See more info on UW WorldCat >>
Academic Search Complete
As you progress in college, you'll learn more about the nature of scholarly communication, and what it means that an article is "peer reviewed" or "scholarly." Academic Search Complete offers a way to limit your search to "Scholarly (peer reviewed) journals." Just check the box, and Academic Search Complete will skip over news and magazine articles that aren't peer reviewed, and give you only results from "scholarly journals."
- Academic Search Complete [UW restricted]Scholarly and general interest sources in business, medicine, humanities, social sciences, and science and technology.
Google Scholar & Google News - Better Ways to Find Quality Information Online
- Google ScholarFind scholarly articles on the Internet available through UW.
Learn More! What is Google Scholar?
Watch this tutorial! "How do I use Google Scholar to search for UW Materials?"
UWB / CCC Reference & Instruction Librarian |
 Beth Sanderson |
UW NetID
To search from off-campus for things that are [UW restricted], log in via the upper-right corner of this page: 
To locate the full text of an article in a database, use the purple button: 
How do I find a book using UW WorldCat?
Short tutorial demonstrating how to find a book in University of Washington Libraries. Walks through the process from searching in UW WorldCat to locating a book on the shelf. Time- 1:37 | Transcript | Play Video
Note: One important thing to note is that when and item is located at the Campus Library, the "location" will start with the letters "UWB/CCC." There are 23 "locations" in the Campus Library alone, however. Here's a page that explains which floor to go to for each location.
What is a scholarly journal article?
Chances are you’ll need to find a scholarly journal article for a research paper or project in the near future. But, wait, what is a "scholarly journal article?" How is it different from a popular source like a newspaper or magazine article? Let's reduce the confusion on scholarly journal articles. | Time - 3:00 | Transcript | Play Video
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