Stauffer Library Resources Exercise for RMC Students This exercise should take about 50 minutes. In the following exercises, take a minute to
look at the other options available at each step, rather than just the items selected for the
exercise. It will take longer than this to become familiar with the library, and to become
efficient in using the resources for research, but that efficiency will come with practice.
Make sure you have your RMC ID and a USB key with you. It may help you to print
these instructions and take them with you; you will be able to access them on the web
site.
1. Register at Stauffer Library Go to Stauffer library (corner of University and Union) with your RMC ID card. At
the Collections desk present your RMC ID and ask to register for borrowing
privileges and a computer login. It takes a few minutes for them to enter your RMC
ID card into their system so that you can use your barcode to withdraw books. You
should receive a piece of paper with your WinID, a password, and an expiry date one
year in the future.
The login will allow you to use electronic resources at Stauffer, but it will not allow
login from outside the library. However, searches (without full access to electronic
materials) can still be done off site using the web site: http://library.queensu.ca
2. Find the Floor Map on the Main Floor Locate the floor map near the foot of the spiral staircase. Note that the library is
organized according to the Library of Congress classification system. Locate the
following sections on the floor plan:
B – philosophy, psychology, religion
D – world history and history of Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, etc.
E, F – history of the Americas (well, it is the US Library of Congress)
G – geography, anthropology, recreation
H – social sciences
J – political science
U – military science
V – naval science
3. Browse the Reference Section on the Main Floor Walk through the reference section shelves on the ground floor and note the location
of the reference resources for subjects of interest.
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4. Login to a Reference Section Computer Use your WinID and password to login to one of the common access computers on
the ground floor.
Open a browser and find the Library home page.
Open Google Scholar in a second window. Sign in to your Google account if you
wish to use the “save to my library” function, or Google docs.
Insert your USB key and open a word document to save your research notes. Use a
format and file naming convention that helps you to keep your papers and research
notes organized and easily accessible. (See example.)
5. Use Summon •
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Go the Library home page.
Select the tab, Summon.
Select advanced search.
In window labelled with these terms, type military leadership (or another term).
Beside show only, select full text and scholarly
Beside exclude select all three boxes - newspaper articles, book reviews, and
dissertation/theses
Expand search to include results outside the library collections.
Glance through the returns, now go back and refine the search to find the ebook,
Military Leadership Handbook, edited by Horn and Walker (or something else
that interests you).
Open this ebook, and download the PDF file to your USB
Use in-text search tool to find a section on building alliance teams. Use the edit
tool to highlight and add a note. Save this to your USB, or cut and paste into your
research notes document. Under the extract in your research notes, type the
reference in a succinct form (e.g. Horn and Walker, 2008). This ensures that you
won’t lose the reference. Sequence is important – don’t get carried away with
taking notes, and then lose the reference for the source you were using.
Now we want to cite the book in the correct format and put that reference into
your research notes. Depending on the index that you used to find it and the form
of the document, you might be able to save the reference to a file on the Queen’s
system, but then you have to worry about how you are going to access or save it.
Google Scholar is a reliable alternative for most sources, and will give you a
consistent format for references if you use it carefully.
Switch to your Google Scholar window and type the title Military Leadership
Handbook into the search window. You can also try typing, [book] Military
Leadership Handbook, and compare the results.
Under the entry for Horn and Walker, note that there is a link for cite. Click it and
select the format you want for your bibliography – usually APA or Chicago.
Copy and paste the reference into your research notes.
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Also note the link save. Click it. If you have not already done so, it will ask you to
sign in to your Google account. Saving references to your library means that have
a growing list of sources you have used or considered, and it can make it easier to
find references for sources that you have looked at.
Use Summon to find another source that interests you, and insert notes or the
abstract into your research notes, noting author and date below it.
Now get the complete reference for the source from Google Scholar, and insert in
your research notes as before at the bottom of the file.
Repeat these steps until you have notes from three or four sources at the top of
your research notes file and the full references for the sources at the bottom of the
file. You can use headings to separate search terms (leadership, command, team,
etc), search tools (Summon, QCAT, Google Scholar, etc), or sections for your
paper (e.g. social psychology theory, sources of behaviour, alliance teams).
Remember to ensure that the author/date or other identifier is beside each entry.
Your research notes file should now include a set of sources organized by
heading, followed by a block of references in a common format at the end of the
file.
We’ll use this file to record the results of subsequent searches.
6. Explore QCAT Library Catalogue •
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Return to the library home page
In your research notes file, type a new heading, Command team
On the library home page select QCAT Catalogue
In the Search window, type “command team”
In the within: window, select Keyword Boolean
Click search
You should find three sources (Figure). Pick one, which is available, and select it.
Figure 1 QCAT Catalogue search - sample results for phrase “command team”
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In the example, the second entry is available. Select it, and you will see a menu of
options on the right. If you log in to the Queen’s network, you can export to
refworks, and the data in the catalogue will automatically populate the refworks
format, which allows you to reprint the reference in any format. It takes some
time to learn how to do this, and you are then tied to the software for all the
references you have stored in it. You can also email the reference to yourself or to
someone else. Alternatively, find the citation in Google Scholar and save it
directly to your research notes, the way we did for your Summon search.
7. Explore Databases available at Stauffer •
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Return to the library homepage.
In your research notes, type a new heading, politics Canadian defence (not
policies).
In the library homepage select the tab, databases.
In the grey box under formats, select social sciences.
On the right, select political studies.
Select CBCA @ proquest or political studies @ proquest.
Search politics Canadian defence using various combinations from the search bar.
Where else might you look for studies of the political aspects of Canadian defence
that are relevant to military leadership?
Go back to the database tab, and find the databases Ebscohost, and JSTOR. How
do they differ? Use the same search term (politics Canadian defence) and settings
in each and compare the results. Add to your research notes and the reference list
using the method of your choice.
8. Explore Journals at Queen’s •
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Return to the library homepage.
Select journals A-Z.
Select political studies.
On the horizontal blue tab, select articles.
Under article indexes, select international political science abstracts. Is this
useful? Why?
Go back to article indexes, and select CIAO Columbia International Affairs
Online. Is this useful? Why?
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9. Explore Queen’s Library Website •
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Return to the library homepage.
Select website.
Select ebook collections.
Select humanities and social sciences.
Find Oxford References Online.
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Select dictionaries and encyclopaedias.
Select Oxford English Dictionary.
Under Quick search, type politics. Look at the range of definitions, and note the
chronological arrangement. Why is this important? How might you use this
information in a paper or in organizing your research?
Take a screen shot of the definition, and paste it into your research notes. Find the
complete reference using the method of your choice, and include it in your
research notes.
Return to the library homepage one last time (for now).
In the grey box on the left side, select All Subjects A-Z.
Find the list on the left, How to and help.
Under research guides, select course guides.
Select POLS110 Finding what you need in the library.
Now you have more exercises to do finding books and journals related to politics!
(save them for later)
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