Graduate Students' Resource Guide

Did you know that in addition to our print collection, the library also has many thousands of e-books, including scholarly books, on a wide range of topics? You can find both e-books and print books via searching the Novanet catalogue. All of our e-books are listed in the catalogue. You can also search for e-books directly in one of our e-book databases. There are several options for accessing and downloading e-books. As a SMU student, staff, or faculty member, you have complete access to e-books on and off campus.

If you are searching Google Scholar off-campus, set your preferences in Google Scholar Settings to link to the Saint Mary's online collections.

Traditional research allows you to track back in time to review works used by an author. Citation searching allows you to go forward in time as well, to locate works that come after a particular author's work.

Use the Web of Science database to conduct a citation search in any field or discipline. ISI Web of Science covers sciences, social sciences, arts and humanities, as well as international proceedings for over 120,000 conferences. Once you are in the database:

1. From the "All databases" drop-down box, click Web of ScienceTM Core Collection
2. From the "Basic Search" drop-down box, click "Cited Reference Search."  This search engine will analyze citations across all disciplines: the physical and natural sciences, the humanities, social sciences and commerce.

For more information on citation searching, visit the library's Research Help Desk or e-mail research@smu.ca.

Most databases allow you to set up a personal account where you can save your searches. Many journals allow you to receive alerts of new issues or new articles that match your research criteria. Look for RSS, Save as Search Alert, TOC Alert, e-alerts, etc. The following guide shows you how to set up alerts: