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ENG 102: "The Alchemist" Prof. Saxena's classes: Tips for Searching Databases

A guide to library resources covering Paulo Coelho's novel The Alchemist

Tips for Finding Articles

You should always use keywords to search the databases, not sentences. Databases do not understand sentences, and therefore, will not give you the best search results.The example below is from Humanities Source.

 You can click on Advanced Search in any database to open up multiple boxes to enter your keywords into.  To simply browse a range of articles on The Alchemist, type the title in one box and the author's name in the next.  

Limit your results to Full Text and Academic Journals.

 

Search the Results list for articles about the novel.  Limit these to "Academic Journals" with the Source Types selection box on the left (to get literary criticism).  Select any article by clicking on the title and view the full article, print, email, or access the citation tool by using the tools on the side.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Full-Text

Look for full-text limiters when you begin your search- if available.

If you find an article and the full-text is not available, click on the "Full-text options" to see if it may be in another database.

 

If not, use the Interlibrary Loan (in the additional help tab above) to request the item from another library.

Search All

You can use the Search All feature on the library home page to look through multiple resources at once.

 You can search for articles on the novel here, or search for articles on the major themes in The Alchemist. Many topics have a "Research Starter" with important background information and summaries of the topic.

 

 

Searching Literature Databases

Literature databases such as Literature Sources Through Artemis and Literature Criticism Online will have criticism, topic overviews, and biographies pertaining to The Alchemist and Coelho's work in general.

In Literature Sources Through Artemis, do a "Works Search" for The Alchemist (you can leave out the word "the" at the beginning):

 

Then from the results, choose the correct record (The Alchemist, novel, by Paulo Coelho):

 

Clicking the highlighted record above will bring up a list of articles.  You can choose Criticism, Topic Overviews, or Biographies: