Finding Books in the Library Catalog
Use the Catalog search box located in the center of the library's homepage to search for books. To search for books on your topic, use the default Keyword search option and enter your search terms in the For box.
If you have a specific book or author in mind, before you enter your search terms in the For box, change the Search type from Keyword to:
- Title - to look for a specific book.
- Author - to look for books by a specific author.
To look for ebooks only, select Ebooks in the Limits field.
Finding Articles
You can use these databases or any others listed on the database pages; this list is only a suggestion of places to start your research. If the full-text is not available for the article you want to see, click the 
button or the "Find Text" link to see if the full-text is available in another database.
- Multi-subject databases like General OneFile or Academic Search Elite
- Newspaper databases like Proquest Newspapers or LexisNexis Academic.
- Pick your topic area from the Databases by Subject page to see the list of recommended databases for that topic.
MLA Style
- MLA handbook for writers of research papers (print version)
- MLA Style - Quick Guide by Eric Garcia
- Sample MLA-Style Annotated Bibliography (PDF) by Dr. Karin Durán
- MLA Style Guide (PDF) by Eric Garcia
- MLA - Frequently Asked Questions
- EasyBib MLA style bibliography composer
Narrow or Broaden Your Search (Boolean Searching)
Use AND between terms to narrow your search
Use OR and/or truncate (*, ?) words to broaden your search
example: comput* (will find computer, computers, computing, etc.)
example: wom?n (will find woman or women)
Note: check online help for the correct truncation symbol
Evaluating Websites
Using Google Scholar
You can find items the Oviatt Library owns using Google Scholar's 
capabilities. To activate the capabilities for your browser:
- Select Settings in the upper right, then Library links from the left menu.
- In the search box, type "CSUN" and select Find Library.
- Check the box next to "CSU, Northridge (SFX Find It)"
- Then select Save.
Select the SFX Find It at CSUN link (to the right of the article) or the SFX: Additional Options link (located below the article description) for access to online full text, Oviatt Library holdings information, and Interlibrary Loan.