Finding the best articles on your topic requires these steps.

• Select an appropriate database.
• Enter and combine terms appropriate to your topic
• Scan the best items on the results list and look for new subject terms or keywords. Then revise your search using these new terms.
• Save the journal title, volume, date, and page numbers.  This is all part of the "citation". 
• Explore other databases and subject terms (which vary between databases) for more information.

When you do research for an assignment, you must cite the sources you used. Citation is a way of giving credit to the source that created the idea you are using. It allows others to follow the intellectual path you took to reach your conclusions. If you do not cite your sources, you are plagiarizing. When in doubt, cite your resources! Here are some citation sites to help you:

• Citation and Writing Guides

  Information for APA, MLA, and other citation styles as well as general writing help.

• Online Writing Lab (OWL) at Purdue University

• ZoteroBib

  A quick and generally very accurate citation generator. Be sure to change the format to APA and check for capitalization errors.

• KnightCite (Calvin College)

  Creates citation for MLA (default), APA or Chicago styles

Once you find the citation, try the   button to see if Penn State has the electronic version of the article you need. If the electronic version is available, you should get right to it. If the article is not available electronically, use the Request via InterLibrary Loan (ILL) button to request it from another library.  ILL will get a copy of the article for you, typically at no cost; articles usually arrive within a week, often in as few as 2-3 days. Watch your PSU email for notification and further instructions. You can also click on the Search the library catalog for this item (by title) link to automatically search our catalog and see if Penn State has a print copy.