Gather information (Library & Writing Centre orientation, Stage 2)

The Library has many tools to help you search for resources. This page will give you a high-level overview of what each tool does the basics of searching. To dig deeper into the process of conducting a literature search, check out our Get started with research guide.

Ready for more advanced search techniques? Stage 3 of this orientation offers additional tips and suggestions.

Image by Ted Erski from Pixabay

Finding information on the RRU Library website: searching for information, support, books, articles, and research topics

RRU Library has many different kinds of information available for you, as well as a wide range of resources. This short video provides an overview of how to find what you're looking for.

Getting started with searching for books and articles

Are you ready to start searching for information on a research topic? We recommend two places to start your search: 

Discovery is RRU Library's main search tool to find our collection of print books, ebooks, peer-reviewed articles, theses, dissertations, videos, films and more. Learn more.

Google Scholar is a version of Google for finding academic articles. It provides a way to broadly search for scholarly literature across many disciplines and sources, and find full-text articles to which the RRU Library subscribes. Learn more.

Digging into databases

You will probably be able to find most of what you need through Discovery and Google scholar. However, we also subscribe to a wide range of databases that can be searched individually. These databases have a range of uses: some deal with specific types of resources (for example, we have several film databases and a database of theses and dissertations), some are discipline-specific (such as the ABI/Inform database which focuses on business & leadership content), and some are general databases containing articles and ebooks on a wide range of topics. 

If you'd like to explore our databases on your own, you can find the full list on the Library homepage: click "Access the A-Z Database List" link under the main search box. However, the world of databases can be a bit overwhelming and it's very understandable if you'd like some help! We encourage you to book an appointment with a librarian if you'd like to learn more about searching using Discovery, Google Scholar, or our databases. 

A helpful tool

Lean Library is a browser extension (add-on) that enhances your searching experience, wherever you choose to search. It can help you:

• Get quick "pop-up" access to materials licensed by RRU Library – including articles, ebooks, and specialty research databases – wherever you happen to find them
• Automatically search the Library's catalogue and the JSTOR database simultaneously whenever you run a search in Google or Google Scholar
• Enrich your learning about research methods with contextual keyword definitions in Wikipedia
• Get point-of-need support from RRU Library on Google, Google Scholar, and many other websites: view relevant tutorial content from the Library, browse our FAQs, or quickly ask us a question

We strongly recommend installing the Lean Library browser extension as soon as possible. Installing the extension takes about 30 seconds and it can really enrich your literature searching throughout your program. The extension does not require any personal information; just tell it you're associated with Royal Roads and you're all set!

Learn more and download the extension here.

There are many ways to search, some more formal than others, and all of them are valid. The way you approach using a search engine will depend on a combination of your personal preferences and the requirements of that particular system. 

Most search engines these days -- including Discovery and Google Scholar -- are quite flexible about the kinds of searches they allow. Here are three different approaches you might consider:

• Simple keyword searching: This is the basic type of searching that most search engines throughout 2000s were built on. You put in a word or two, see what comes back, and then try a different word if that doesn't work. This is a core search technique that will work in any search engine. It works well for general searches on a single (broad or narrow) concept. For example:
  • leadership styles
  • customer acquisition cost
• Natural language searching: Search engines throughout the 2010s (famously Google, but others too) were increasingly designed to recognize "natural language" questions: questions phrased the way you'd say them to a human. This is how generative AI systems work as well. This approach can have a varying degree of effectiveness in academic search engines, but it's getting better all the time. If you're feeling stuck coming up with keywords, it never hurts to stick your whole research question into the search box and see what happens. You'll have better success with this strategy in Google and Google Scholar than in Discovery. For example:
  • How can I calculate the customer acquisition cost for a new start-up?
  • How can a servant leadership style increase workplace resilience?
• Advanced search techniques / Boolean searching: More complex research topics call for more complex search strategies. There are a variety of advanced search techniques you can use to broaden your search (e.g., by using the operator OR to search for multiple ways of describing the same concept at the same time) or narrow your search (e.g., by using quotation marks to search for specific phrases, or by using the operator AND to search for multiple concepts at the same time). For example:
  • ("servant leadership" OR "transformational leadership") AND resilience​​​​​​

Boolean search techniques don't work in all databases, and they aren't always necessary. However, they can be very helpful for targeting your search when a simple keyword search just isn't cutting it. If you'd like to learn more about Boolean operators, check out this FAQ: How do Boolean operators work?