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Agriculture

Guide to Agriculture Research in the Cal Poly Library: covers Animal Science, Agribusiness & Food Industry Management, Agricultural Education, Food Science, Human Nutrition and Plant Science.

OneSearch - Find Books, Articles, Journals, and more

OneSearch is the Library's search engine

With a single search you can find books, articles, and other materials on any research topic. If you have any questions, please ask us!

 

 

Helpful links:

OneSearch - Find a Journal, Magazine, or Newspaper

Looking for a specific Journal, Magazine, or Newspaper?

Here are two ways to check if we have access to a certain periodical (journal, magazine, or newspaper).

Method 1:

Try OneSearch's JOURNAL SEARCH button in the menu bar:

Journal Search button in OneSearch

Method 2:

Type the title in the OneSearch bar. Then, from your search results, use the RESOURCE TYPE filter to choose JOURNALS. The filtered results will include journal, magazine, and newspaper titles that contain your search terms:

Journals filter in OneSearch

OneSearch - Find Authoritative Factual Summaries and More for Background Information

Library reference sources include general and subject-specific dictionaries, encyclopedias, and handbooks. These are useful starting points for learning authoritative summary information or brief explanations on a topic. Use reference sources to find concise factual information, look up definitions or timelines, form a mental picture, and develop questions. Be sure to note specific keywords and concepts. Then use those questions and keywords to focus your searches in the Library's OneSearch, databases, and on the open Web.

From your OneSearch results, use the RESOURCE TYPE filter to choose REFERENCE ENTRIES. The filtered results will be entries, articles, and chapters from encyclopedias, handbooks, and other library reference sources that contain your search terms:

Resource Type filter in OneSearch, for Reference Entries

How can you tell if a source will be good for your assignment?

This CPP Library video illustrates how to evaluate Information with the CRAAP Test.

What Is a Scholarly Journal, versus a Newspaper or a Magazine?

Two examples of popular text and two examples of scholarly text

What is a scholarly journal and how is it different from a magazine or newspaper? All three are called periodicals because they are published at periodic intervals throughout the year.

  • Newspapers are the first draft of history, but are not scholarly. However, some newspaper articles can point you to scholarly research.
  • Magazines are good sources of information, opinions, or up-to-date information about popular culture, current events, or a subject.They are not scholarly but can mention scholarly research.
  • Scholarly journals have collections of refereed/peer-reviewed articles written by experts in academic or professional fields.
    Scholarly journals are excellent for finding out what has been studied or researched on a topic, and to find bibliographies that point to other relevant sources of information. Please note: the word "journal" is not necessarily in the title of a scholarly publication.

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