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UGS 302: Brazilian Studies - Afolabi

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Find Articles on a Topic

Searching databases is different than searching Google. Distil what you're looking for into a few key terms or phrases, rather than whole sentences.

  1. Write down your topic and underline the main concepts (ex. favelas' impact on creative culture in Brazil)
  2. For each main concept, brainstorm a few synonyms and related terms (broader or narrower) that get at that concept:
    • Key Concepts 

      Favelas Brazil Creative culture
      Related Terms

       

      favella

      favelados

      urban slums

       

      Dance

      Music

      samba 

      carnival

  3. Combine key terms using AND and OR:​​
    • AND narrows your search by looking for articles with all of the words (your two or three key concepts should be connected with AND, because you need all of them represented in useful articles). 
    • OR broadens your search by looking for articles with any of the words (synonyms and related terms should be separated by OR - they get at the same key concepts, so any of them are useful).
  4. Try different combinations of your keywords to get better results as you search:

 

For this assignment, you might need several types of sources:

Source Type Start Here

Scholarly Articles

The Library Databases, see recommendations below

Background Information (definitions, short explanations of a topic)

Gale eBooks (for encyclopedias that were published and often written by experts) - see background information tab

Wikipedia - as a jumping off point to other materials

Journalism/News Google or the UT Libraries NexisUni database. Make sure to evaluate unfamiliar publications. 

Databases

Multidisciplinary Databases

Subject-Specific Databases

News Databases

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What are databases?

This video, from RMIT University, explains what a database is...

Where's the Article?

If you don’t see a .pdf of the article you want, click FIND IT AT UT to find it in another database or in print in the Libraries.

If it is only in print in the Libraries or we don’t own the article, click GET A SCAN to have the article emailed to you. This option will take a few days.

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