Before the library session, use the modules in this guide to:

• Practice using 1Search
• Practice creating a citation in APA style
• Take a quiz based on what you learned (in your Canvas site)
  • Note: The quiz points are set by your course instructor and must be completed by the due date determined by your instructor.

Use the tips below to practice using 1Search, the search box on the upper right-hand corner of the library's homepage. Open up 1Search in another tab or browser and try it out as you walk through this guide.

*Make sure to login to access more content and to use the saving features.*

What is included in 1 Search?

• Sources such as books, videos, government documents, maps, sound recordings, music scores, etc. These items are part of the OSU Libraries catalog.
• Scholarly journal articles, magazine articles (non-scholarly), and newspaper articles. Many, but not all, of these articles are available full-text online.
• Sources that are part of OSU Libraries' digital collections such as theses and dissertations, available via ScholarsArchive@OSU

When should you use 1 Search?

• When you are beginning research on a topic and need to do some broad exploration.
• When you have a topic that spans multiple subject areas (e.g. sports injuries and media coverage).
• When you want to retrieve articles along with books or multimedia sources or government documents.

Start by entering some keywords. Because 1Search searches so much stuff, you can try more targeted searches. The results of your search are displayed in the left column. Options for refining your search are on the right side. Refining your search gives you the best results. Learn more about refining in the next module (below).

Because 1Search has so much content, you may find that your search results are very large and you’ll want to narrow down your search. You can do this in a number of ways including by resource type, topic and publication date (these options are starred in the image below). If are are lots of options in each section, you can expand the section by using the Show more link (highlighted with the arrow in the image below).

The options for refining your search are shown on the right side of the screen. The callout box tells how to refine by topic.

Looking at the list of topics shows you:

• what the main ideas are in your results,
• what language people are using to describe your topic,
• if you're on the right track.

NOTE: You may want, or need, to select closely related terms (even if they don't mean the exact same thing) to give you best chance of discovering sources that use different terms to describe the topic.

When looking for articles, you will see that some articles are available immediately online from our library in full text. First, click on the Full text available link, then choose a full text link in the View It section of the page to get the article online.

You may need to get articles or books that our library doesn't have.

If you see results that say Check holdings  (usually in grey text), check the Get It section for the link to Request from Interlibrary Loan.  When you complete this rquest, library staff will work to get this article for you for free. 

You will receive an email from the Interlibrary Loan department when your article is ready. It usually takes 1-3 days to get an article.

As you search, you have the option to email and format your citations*. Look at your options in the Send To section. Choose email or citation depending on what you want to do.

*Note Remember to check citations for accuracy before including them in your work!!