Researching
Staff and students are welcome to ask for help locating resources in the library or when researching online. Our library resources can also be searched online at
MacKillop Library Catalogue
Trove
National Library of Australia’s database relating to Australian records and digital content from libraries, museums, galleries, universities, archives and other data collection organisations. Consider obtaining their library card which will give you full access to their eResources databases. Membership is free, however you can still access many of their eResource databases without having a library card. The National Library of Australia also offers a comprehensive collection of Research Guides.
How to use Trove to find History sources
Northern Territory Library
The premier public research library for Northern Territory’s culture and history. Search their digital depository, NT public libraries catalogue or access eResources with your NT public library card.
Free online journal and research databases
A document providing a list with links to current online journal and research databases
Browser searching tools
Narrow down your search to a particular domain
Add site: and a domain name
Educational site eg. ancient Rome site:edu
Government site eg. ancient Rome site:gov
Australian sites only eg. ancient Rome site:edu.au
Examples of domains include | 2 letter domains for countries |
gov – Government go – some countries use .go only edu – Educational org – Organisations (non-profit) mil – Military com – commercial net – Network organisations |
au – Australia uk – United Kingdom cn – China in – India ie – Ireland |
Website analysis
To determine if a website is a credible and valid source, apply CARP principles:
To delve deeper, consider using lateral reading to evaluate whether a website is real, fake or credible.
Fake News Infographic
Using Boolean Searching
Use quotes to minimise results
“Ancient Rome” will return results where those words are side-by-side only
Use AND to limit your results
Air AND pollution “ancient Rome” should return results where both Air and Pollution in ancient Rome are mentioned in the same article
Use NOT to limit results in a different way
Searching for – “Air Pollution” NOT sky – should force Google to return results without any mention of sky pollution
Use OR to expand your results
Searching for – Global OR worldwide “Air pollution” – should force Google to return results for both Global and its synonym, increasing your results.