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Location | Building 4, 2nd Floor, 701 N Econlockhatchee Trl, Orlando, FL 32825
Phone Number | 407-582-2456
Fall 2022 Hours (Aug 22 - Dec 11, 2022) |
Monday - Thursday: 8 am - 9 pm
Friday: 8 am - 5 pm
Saturday: 8 am - 2 pm
Sunday: Closed
1. Log in to Atlas.
2. Click the "Search the Library" link.
3. Know the name of the database you're looking for? Click the red Databases A-Z button.
Note: Don't know the name of the database? Click the red Databases by Subject button to browse.
How to link Google Scholar to Valencia's resources:
Note: Once you search in Google Scholar after completing the above steps, you can identify the resources that Valencia has access to by looking for the "Full Text @Valencia" link. Click this link to view the resource. You might be prompted to log in to Atlas to view it.
Global Issues in Context provides information about topics related to sustainability such as water pollution, waste disposal, famine, and more. Source types include journal articles, newspaper articles, infographics, and statistics.
Points of View Reference Center contains resources that present multiple sides of an issue to help assess and develop persuasive arguments and essays, better understand controversial issues, and develop analytical thinking skills.
Academic Search Complete is known for providing scholarly articles on topics from different disciplines. HINT: To search other databases in addition to Academic Search Complete, click the Choose Databases link beside Academic Search Complete (in green text). Select relevant databases, then press OK.
America's News contains newspaper articles and is a great place to find sources about sustainability happenings in Central Florida. HINT: Click "More Search Options" to access the Advanced Search. Type in your search term, and from the "Select a Field" dropdown choose Headline. When you get your results, sort them by Best Match. You can limit by geographic location and/or newspaper title as well to ensure more Central Florida-specific results.
This link contains information on how to cite your sources in your Works Cited section, create in-text citations, format your paper according to MLA requirements, and more!
Did you know there is a special way to search in the databases? Searching like you would in Google isn't the way to go for databases. Pulling key words from your research question will help you get more precise results. Let's look at an example of a research question with the key words in bold.
What are the effects of daily caffeine consumption?
It's a common part of the research process to do multiple searches with different key words in each search. Brainstorming or using a thesaurus is a great way to come up with more key words. See the chart below for examples of related key words related to the previous research question:
| Original Key Word | Related Key Words |
| Effects | Impacts, consequences, results |
| Caffeine | Stimulant, energy drink, coffee |
| Consume | Ingest, intake |
| Daily | Everyday, regular, frequent |
When searching in databases, there is usually an option to search using AND, OR, and NOT.
As the first diagram shows, using AND will pull up results that mention both search terms (in this case puppy AND kitten). Using OR will pull up results that mention either search terms (puppy OR kitten). NOT will bring up results that mention one search term but do not include the other (just puppy NOT kitten).
