Go to Search Strategies

Cincinnati/Hamilton County Public Library

• Library Website: http://www.cincinnatilibrary.org


• Library Location Information: http://www.cincinnatilibrary.org/info/locations.asp


• Obtaining items from Public Documents and Patents CLOSED STACKS: Call (513) 369-6971 or e-mail at pubdocs@cincinnatilibrary.org and request to view the item you are interested in.

Fernald Public Environmental Information Center (PEIC)

• For more information on this collection, go the the PEIC section

Miami University Libraries

• Library Website: http://www.lib.muohio.edu


• Library Location Information: http://www.lib.muohio.edu/hours


• Obtaining items from Science Storage: Go to the circulation desk at Brill Science Library at fill out the gold science storage request form.


• Obtaining items from SW Depository: Go to any library service desk and ask for information on how to request these items.

• Library Website: http://www.lanepl.org


• Library Location Information: http://www.lanepl.org/smith.html

University of Cincinnati Libraries

• Library Website: http://www.libraries.uc.edu/


• Library Location Information: http://www.libraries.uc.edu/information/hours_maps/index.html


• Obtaining items from SW Depository: Go to any library service desk and ask for information on how to request these items.

Search a library catalog of your choice

• Perform a search for Fernald, or any other related term (A list of search terms).


• If searching for the term "Fernald", keep this is in mind: using a keyword search will also obtain all the items that have been written by persons with the last name of Fernald. You may want to consider using a subject serach instead.

Search for more newspapers, journal articles, and/or technical reports

• If searching a certain term does not work, use similar terms or a combination of terms (Terms List)


• When combining terms use boolean logic. For instance, if you wanted items about Fernald's uranium releases...


• If you want to have an article with both the terms (uranium releases at Fernald), use the AND operator: fernald AND uranium releases


• IF you want article about either topic (articles about Fernald; articles about uranium releases from Fernald or elsewhere), use the OR operator: Fernald OR uranium releases


• If you want to search for works that have plurals (effect, effects) or a word with multiple endings (environment, environmental), try truncation...


• Performing a search of environ* will find the following terms: environment, environmental, environment, environ, environs. ***Be sure to check documentation of the database, search engine you are using to see how to truncate properly.


• Choose your stem carefully. Using too short a stem will retrieve many items you do not want. For instance Fern* would obtain Fernald, fern, ferns, etc.


• Remember that the databases often do not give you access to the item. You must check the catalog of your home library to see if they own it. Often if your library does not own it, you can request it from another library (contact your library for details).

Look at the Sources You've Already Found

• Many of the sources in this guide have reference lists. Use the reference lists to find other items on similar topics.

Evaluate Your Sources

• Evaluate the source to make sure that it is a quality source and relevant to your resource. For some guidelines, go to this site from Cornell University: http://www.library.cornell.edu/olinuris/ref/research/skill26.htm