Writing Across the Professions
Library Resources: A Review
Frederic Murray
Assistant Professor
MLIS, University of British Columbia
BA, Political Science, University of Iowa
Instructional Services Librarian
Al Harris Library
frederic.murray@swosu.edu
Today’s Goal
• Deepen your research skills using
library resources.
The universe (which others call the Library) is composed of an indefinite
and perhaps infinite number of hexagonal galleries…
- Jorge Luis Borges The Library of Babel 1941
Outline of Session
• Evaluation of Sources
• Planning your
search/Keywords/Boolean
• Library Tool: Catalog
•
•
•
•
– Al Harris/WorldCat/Ebrary
Library Tool: Periodical List
Snowballing/Tracking Citations
Library Tool: Databases
Sample searches/Putting it all together
Institute For Historical Review
Outline of Session
• Evaluation of Sources
• Planning your
search/Keywords/Boolean
• Library Tool: Catalog
•
•
•
•
•
– Al Harris/WorldCat/Ebrary
Library Tool: Periodical List
Snowballing/Tracking Citations
Library Tool: Databases
Sample searches
Information Literary
Planning Your Search:
Major Concerns
• Right keywords to search
– Language, language, language
• Narrowing the search
–
Too much information running through my brain
Too much information driving me insane - Sting
• Navigating the Library Web Page
– Do you know the neighborhood?
Identifying Keywords
• Identify the significant terms and
concepts that describe your topic from
your thesis statement or research
question.
• These terms become the key for
searching catalogs, databases and
search engines for information about
your subject.
Boolean
• AND = Narrow
• OR = Expand
• NOT = Exclude
Boolean Operators
• Connect keywords only
• Must be placed between keywords
• AND
– Narrows your search
• OR
– Expands your search with synonymous terms
• NOT
– Excludes words from your search
– If used too much, it can work against you!
Library Tool: Catalogs
Catalogs
Al Harris Library
- Local Holdings
- Boolean
- Subject Headings
- Add Limiter
- 2nd Floor
Open WorldCat
- Global
- Boolean
- Related Subjects
- Refine Your Search
- Interlibrary Loan
- Last 5 years
Keywords
E-Books: Ebrary/Netbook
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
24/7
Full Text Searching*
Chapter Results
Highlight Markup
Note Taking
Changeable Font Size
Online Bookshelf
• Multiplicity of Use
Library Tool: Periodical List
We think of citation patterns as the
flow of information," says Carl
Bergstrom, a biologist at the University
of Washington. "That's what a citation
is — the trace that an idea flowed
from one place to another."
Snowballing
• Building on the works of others
• A scholarly article will always have
References/Bibliography…
…and a bibliography is always ripe for
the picking.
Tracking Citations
Wild, D. (2003, March). GOING TO WAR:
A LITERATURE REVIEW. Emergency
Nurse, 10 (10), 18. Retrieved June 4,
2009, from Academic Search Complete
database
Tracking Citations
Wild, D. (2003, March). GOING TO WAR:
A LITERATURE REVIEW. Emergency
Nurse, 10 (10), 18. Retrieved June 4,
2009, from Academic Search Complete
database
The Citation Video
Class Exercise
• Periodicals List Worksheet
• Do we have access to the Journal?
• If so, do we have access to the specific
article?
Library Tool: Databases
Choose Appropriate Databases
• Google is not (usually) the answer
• Start with Library Resources for your
Subject First
• Search a range of databases
• Think about the range of sources:
books, journal articles, statistics,
websites, conference reports…
JSTOR
• Includes archives of over one
thousand leading academic journals
across the humanities, social sciences,
and sciences.
• Search by discipline: Sociology
Project Muse
• Project Muse contains the full text of
over 40 Johns Hopkins Press scholarly
journals in the humanities and social
sciences
EBSCOhost Databases:
• Academic Search Complete
• PsycARTICLES
• SocINDEX with Full Text
• TOPICsearch
Working with EBSCOhost
• Create a Folder
• Narrow Your Search
– Scholarly (Peer Reviewed) Journals
– Filter by Publication Date
– Filter by Subject:Thesaurus Term
– Filter by Publication
• Cited References
The Citation Video: Advanced
Class Exercise
• Academic Search Complete Worksheet
• Work with your topic
• Work together
• Get familiar with narrowing your results
Recommendations
• Subject Headings
– Catalogs/PL/Database
• Discipline Specific Dictionaries
• Bibliographies
– Citation Research
Writing Your Paper
• Writing Center
– Located in the basement of the library
– Call for appointment #774-7083
• MLA Style
– Style Sheets
– MLA Handbook at Reference & Circulation
Desk
– http://www.dianahacker.com/resdoc/
Questions?
• Contact me:
• Frederic Murray
• 774-7113
• frederic.murray@swosu.edu
Thanks!