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Lakehead University and LU Library

Research Guide for High School Students

Searching Lakehead Library

OMNI is a search tool created by the Ontario Council of University Libraries (OCUL). This is where you can put your search statement in and find articles, e-books and other resources you may need to complete your projects.

To get to OMNI, you are going to start on the library homepage and then navigate to either the basic search or advanced search where you will be able to input your search statement.

Basic Search Screen

Advanced Search Screen

After clicking on advanced search on the main library page you will be brought to the following screen where you can input your search and dictate the search criteria.

After you Hit Search

Once you have entered your search you will be able to modify your results through the use of filters. Filters allow you to narrow down your results showing you results that better suit your projects needs.

Filters can be applied during an advanced search such as selecting a date range or type of resource. They can also be applied after a search in by using the Modify you Results section on the left hand side of the screen. Below are a couple filter options that you may find useful;

  • Peer-reviewed - this means that the work has been reviewed by other members of the field and is considered credible information
  • Open Access - this will only show results that you have access to and will not require signing in
  • Selecting the type of resource - journal articles, newspaper articles 
  • Available Online
  • Language
  • Date

Now that you have a page of results, you have to decide which articles are helpful for your project, so here are some tips to figure it out;

  1. The ones at the top will be the ones the database thinks are the most relevant to your search so I recommend starting with these, although you can change how the results are listed under the Sort by tab

 

  1. Read the title and read the abstract which is a summary of the article, if you feel based on these it would be a good fit, read the article

  2. Still not sure, read the table of contents to see if it covers the topic you are looking for

  3. Remember to save the article - write (type) down title and author so you can find it again later or email it to yourself

  4. If you need more articles or you couldn't find any, then its time to go back to the search and ask yourself

    • What am I looking for that I couldn't find, then add it to the search

    • Do I need to broaden (get more) or narrow (get less) my search - what Booleans or keywords can I add/remove