Welcome Message from the Librarian

Hello Writing and Core students. The purpose of this guide is to assist you with your course assignments. Whenever you are asked to search for sources (books, academic articles, newspaper articles, documentaries, etc.), your professors regard the UCSC library as the main place to get your information. Using Google, Wikipedia or your old high school databases, while helpful for getting started, may compromise your ability to grasp what's actually been assigned. Often, professors are interested that you understand sources that are important to a subject or academic discipline (for example, peer-reviewed journal articles).

The video below includes information on the library, and most importantly how to activate your account. Lesson 1 (see tabs above) includes a tutorial for developing your search terms, a very important skill for searching databases. Make sure Adobe Flash is installed on your computers, without it you won't be able to see the search terms tutorial. Lesson 2 includes two tutorials, which focus on making good use of the two databases featured in the tutorials. Lesson 2 includes links to other tools to assist you as well. To get started, watch the video below and then follow your professor's instructions for completing the tutorials. Please note that you can return to the lessons whenever you need them. Good Luck!

Library Basics Video (select cc for close caption option):