DIY: Research Help

From the Library's homepage (library.fitchburgstate.edu), enter your search terms in the Resource Search box. (Ex. Shakespeare AND women)

From the results page, under Content Type click on the More... link. In the pop-up box click on the green check mark next to Streaming Audio and/or Streaming Video then click on Apply at the top of the box. Click on Available Online to access the streaming audio or video. 

Resource Search:

Resource Search checks for the keywords you entered in the search box not only in the titles and abstracts but in some cases the full transcript. This can be helpful when trying to locate relevant sections of an audio or video item. Sometimes your results may list titles that are not relevant to your search because one of the keywords appeared in the description or transcript, but not in the context for what you were seeking.

Search Tips for locating streaming media in Resource Search. 

1. If looking for a specific title, put the title of the audio or video in quotes.  (e.g. "Shakespeare's Women")

2. To see a list of current streaming media on your topic, use the date facet along the left side of the screen to narrow to the last 5 or 10 years. We do not recommend sorting by date at the top of the screen as you will lose the relevance rankings.

Within Databases:

Some databases contain only one source type such as videos while other databases provide access to more than one source type.

• Streaming Media only Databases - The library subscribes to several streaming media databases. Resource Search searches all of the streaming media databases simultaneously. You can also search streaming media databases individually on their native platform by going to the library's A-Z Database list, set the Database Types filter to Streaming Media, and click on the Streaming Media database you want to search. 
   
• Databases with More than One Source Type - When searching within a database that contains more than one source type there will usually be a limit option where it lists the type of sources available. If video, audio, or streaming media are listed as an option, you can select it to so that you only see those items. Here is an example from the Proquest Central database:

On the results page look in the left-side column, under Source Type. It displays the source types that have content available related to your search terms. Click on a specific source type to see only those items. Click on the Video link under the item to access the video. (Note: Click on the More link to get a pop-up box to see the full list of available source types - here you can check to either only include or exclude specific source types.)