Welcome DLP students! Roxanne and Christine are your library partners. Please contact us as needed!
This guide focuses on interdisciplinary resources. DLP students work across many disciplines, and subject specific guides and additional subject specialists are available. We can connect you with our colleagues and a wide range of library resources and services!
DLP Cohort XIX
PowerPoint slides introducing library services and resources for DLP research.
Scholar OneSearch provides one-stop searching for books, articles, digital media, government publications, and more. You will be prompted to choose a location (Boston, Oakland, Global) before you enter your search.
Academic Search Complete is a multidisciplinary database useful for searching a broad range of policy issues. Many full-text articles are available; click the PDF or the check for full-text link to locate them!
The Encyclopedia is often a good starting point for research on most social science disciplines. Signed, scholarly articles provide coverage of a variety of topics from theoretical frameworks to foundational essays.
JSTOR archives full-text scholarly articles across the disciplines: social sciences, the humanities, and sciences and technology. The collection now includes books and book chapters.
Most journals include extended historic backfiles and not current issues. The Northeastern Library also purchases individual e-book titles from JSTOR. The books are available chapter-by-chapter as PDFs.
Arts and Sciences IV content is available courtesy of the Northeastern School of Law Library.
NU is a member of Policy Commons! Use this resource to access reports and other materials from IGOs, NGOs, think tanks, government agencies, and academic research centers. Policy Commons is one of our primary sources of grey literature.
Use PolicyFile to locate reports from over 350 public policy think tanks, non-governmental organizations, research institutes, university centers, advocacy groups, and other entities.
A comprehensive source of journal literature in the life sciences and biomedicine from the National Library of Medicine. Includes selected full text from PubMed Central, and NCBI Bookshelf. PubMed is a free web resource, however this version contains links to Northeastern-subscribed journals that require a login.
An AI-powered research platform that analyzes and provides citation context for scientific papers, helping researchers evaluate the credibility and impact of scholarly articles. Account registration is necessary for some features.
Enter a natural language query and receive results from one of the largest multidisciplinary abstract and citation databases, including graphical representations showing connections among keywords, pointers to influential papers, and suggested related queries to further your research.
Scholarly and professional citations and abstracts with full text links in politics and public policy, sociology, social services, anthropology, criminology, linguistics, information sciences and education. Articles, books, book chapters, dissertations, working papers and more.
Social Sciences Premium includes:
Sociology Database
Applied Social Sciences Index & Abstracts
Sociological Abstracts
Worldwide Political Science Abstracts
PAIS Index
Political Science Database
PolicyFile
Criminal Justice Database
National Criminal Justice Reference Service Abstracts
Library Science Database
Library & Information Science Abstracts
Education Database
ERIC
Linguistics & Language Behavior Abstracts
Linguistics Database
Social Science Database
International Bibliography of the Social Sciences
Use for citation tracking, finding seminal literature, data visualizations, author alerts, institutional affiliations, and impact factors. LInks to full text for Northeastern-subscribed journals.
Includes:
Arts and Humanities Citation Index
Science Citation Index
Social Science Citation Index
Book Citation Index (2005-present)
Conference Citation Index
Emerging Sources Citation Index
Current Chemical Reactions Index
Index Chemicus
Search federal and state court cases, statutes, and codes as well as European Union laws and regulations. Secondary sources include the American Law Reports and the American Jurisprudence encyclopedia, law reviews, journals, and newspapers.
The university and library provide several AI resources for your use. That said, it's important to understand the benefits and limitations of these AI programs before relying on them to provide materials for your research projects. One of the tricky features of AI is that you have to know something about the topic to be able to evaluate the AI's tool's performance!
It's also important to know both the DLP's position on AI as well as your individual faculty member's guidance for the use of AI tools in assignments and projects. Check the DLP Guidelines for AI Use on the DLP Resource Center.
Here are a few things to consider: The first six criteria were created/supplied by one of the library's major vendors, Clarivate.
Relevance: Does the AI response directly address the user's query?
Accuracy/Faithfulness: Does the source material support the answer? Are there signs of hallucination?
Clarity and structure: Is the response easy to read and logically organized?
Bias or offensive content: Does the output include offensive or inappropriate content? Are relevant perspectives excluded?
Comprehensiveness: Does the answer consider multiple perspectives or angles, especially in academic contexts?
Behavior when information is lacking: Does the answer acknowledge uncertainty or produce misleading content?
We would add:
Corpus - Do you know what materials the AI tool trained on/draws from? For example, Scite.ai and Scopus AI, two library resources, rely heavily on scholarly journals, and their creators have relationships/contracts with academic publishers. Claude, the university-supported AI program also provides a significant amount of scholarly content.
Check, check, and check again - Use other sources like library databases to determine whether your search results and those of the AI tool are comparable.
Scholar OneSearch provides simple, one-stop searching for books, articles, digital media, government publications, and more. To search the NU library catalogs for books, e-books, and other local resources, select the Library Catalogs option in Scholar OneSearch.
A summary of a research article that appears at the beginning of the document. Reading the abstract may help you decide if you want to read the full article.
A geographic information system (GIS) software developed by Esri. ArcGIS enables you to analyze, visualize, and interpret spatial data for better decision-making.
Written content on a narrow subject and published in a periodical or website. In some contexts, academics may use article as a shortened form of journal article.
A group of libraries in New England that work together to share resources with students, faculty, and staff of member libraries. Northeastern University is a member of this group. Requesting a consortium library card is free to Northeastern students.
A free library available to people who work, live or attend school in Massachusetts. Boston Public Library's collection includes physical and digital access to books, journals, and films.
A label of letters and/or numbers that tell you where the resource can be found in the library. Call numbers are displayed on print books and physical resources and correspond with a topic or subject area.
Catalog
A list of all the items in a library's physical collection. Modern catalogs are searchable databases. Catalogs include information about the item's:
title
creator
publication
subject
availability
location in the library
Also called a catalogue, OPAC. Historically a card catalog.
Software that can help you collect, organize, and cite sources. The library provides training on five specific citation managers: BibTeX, EndNote, Mendeley, RefWorks, and Zotero. Also called citation management software, citation management tool or reference manager.
Physical materials assigned by an instructor and held at the library. These materials are generally restricted to in-building use for a limited period. At faculty discretion, some materials may be checked out overnight or for a few days.
A searchable collection of similar items. Library databases include resources for research. Examples include: a newspaper database, such as Access World News, or a humanities scholarly journal database, such as JSTOR.
A searchable online storage space for video files, images, and documents. Specialized digital repositories collect materials related to a theme or institution.
Northeastern University Library manages the Digital Repository Service (DRS). The DRS collects digital material related to Northeastern University's history and academic work.
A unique number assigned to some digital content. DOIs do not change even if the online location or ownership of the resource changes.
Electronic Thesis or Dissertation (ETD)
A digital version of a thesis or dissertation produced by a master's or Ph.D. student. Most theses and dissertations written by Northeastern University students are ETDs. Interested researchers can find Northeastern ETDs in the Digital Repository Service. Theses and dissertations written before 2007 are only available in print format in the Northeastern University Archives.
A broad category of research in which existing research is reviewed to clarify what is known. Evidence synthesis uses explicit and reproducible methods. Common types of evidence synthesis include systematic reviews, scoping reviews, integrative reviews, and umbrella reviews.
The entirety of an article or book, as opposed to a summary or description. Libraries often provide access to the full text as an attached file or in a web reader.
A computer-based means of storing, analyzing, and displaying geographic data. Researchers use Geographic Information Systems to create maps and charts.
A way of examining and interpreting data about geographic locations, or spatial data. Geospatial analysis examines spatial data to gain insights and identify patterns or trends. Also called geospacial analysis.
A library service that allows you to request resources your library does not have. At Northeastern University, this service is free. Materials are delivered electronically when possible.
A meaningful word or phrase in a source’s database or catalog record. Keywords are often used as search terms to retrieve records that contain the word or phrase.
A search setting that removes search results based on source attributes. Limiters vary by database but often include publication date, material type, and language. Also called: filter or facet.
Marginalia
Notes, comments, annotations, sketches, added to the margins of a text. These can be typed or hand-written. Marginalia can include headers, footnotes, and sidenotes. In some cases, marginalia are written by the author of a text, but is often notes made by a reader.
Metadata
Information associated with a resource, usually organized in a specific way. The word metadata means "data about data".
Metadata varies but often includes title, creator, and format. Descriptive metadata makes it possible to find and identify resources in a collection. When the metadata in a collection is standardized, the predefined structure is called a metadata schema.
Research or data available for free. Open access resources are sometimes labeled with an unlocked padlock symbol. These resources often have permissive licenses that support re-use and sharing.
Words used to connect multiple search terms to bring back targeted results. Operators can be used to reduce or expand the number of search results. Operators include:
Well-regarded review process used by some academic journals. Relevant experts review articles for quality and originality before publication. Articles reviewed using this process are called peer reviewed articles. Less often, these articles are called refereed articles.
A free and open-source Geographic Information System (GIS) application. This tool set enables you to capture, analyze, visualize, and share geographic data. QGIS is a Mac-friendly alternative to ArcGIS.
To transfer information from one format to another. Example: Scanning a paper newspaper to create an online or PDF version. Reformatting includes digitization.
A webpage or pages created by librarians to guide your research in a field or course. Research guides include links to resources, tutorials, and other information.
The removal of a published article from a journal. A journal’s editors or editorial board can decide to retract an article when it has serious errors. Errors that can result in retraction include:
A book or article written by academic researchers and published by an academic press or journal. Scholarly sources contain original research and commentary.
Scholarly articles are published in journals focused on a field of study. also called academic articles.
Scholarly books are in-depth investigations of a topic. They are often written by a single author or group. Alternatively in anthologies, chapters are contributed by different authors.
Common filetype (.shp) for points, lines, or polygons. This filetype is widely used in Geographic Information Systems, specifically ArcGIS. Various free shapefiles are available online.
A library database that searches a broad range of resources. Material in Scholar OneSearch includes:
Scholarly, newspaper and other articles
books & eBooks
streaming music and video
board games
archival material
Scholar OneSearch also includes information about material held at Northeastern’s libraries. Researchers can use ScholarOne Search to organize their research and manage borrowed items. To best serve Northeastern University's widespread community, ScholarOne Search has different views:
The Online / Global network view shows all online material.
The Boston view shows all online material and items held at Snell Library.
The Oakland view shows all online material and items held at the F. W. Olin Library.
Appropriate views for each global campus are included on their Global Campus Portal.
A source focused on sharing news and information of interest to an industry. Trade publications are often published by industry associations. Periodicals related to an industry are called trade journals.
An unrepeated string of numbers and letters used to recognize and differentiate material. Also called an identification number. Examples include American citizen's’ social security numbers or published books' ISBNs. A persistent identifier (PID) is a long-lasting type of unique identifier. Persistent identifiers allow you to locate a resource with a URL. Examples include electronic articles' Digital Object Identifiers (DOI) and digital materials' handles.