Gabrielle Carraccio
Winesett Awards
April 22, 2015
I am very grateful for the resources the McConnell Library provides for the students of
Radford University. I am currently working on my honors capstone project, researching and
completing my own research on therapeutic horseback riding, and the library’s database has
helped immensely. When I began searching the library’s database, I started with the
“SuperSearch” option. This helped me see the broad range of scholarly articles that were
available on my topic. As I dove deeper into the research, I realized that my topic needed to be
narrowed down to more specifics. I went to the library’s database finder and browsed through the
education databases. I decided on using ERIC and Education Research Complete. Since I was
researching articles that dealt with disabilities and therapy, these databases provided the most
articles that fit my topic. I was able to find articles directly relating to autism, the specific
disability I am focusing on, and the treatment methods available. I also was able to specifically
search therapeutic horseback riding studies to add to my literature review.
The library is such a wonderful tool that I am very thankful for. Not only the databases,
which allowed me to find all my scholarly articles for my research, but also the resources the
library has. Specifically, the APA citation guide helps so much while writing my papers. It is a
great reference to have to ensure that I am properly citing my sources and giving credit where it
is deserved. I will admit that before coming to Radford and learning about all the wonderful
resources available, I used Google quite often in my research. I am glad that my views have been
broadened so that I am able to find the best, most credible, research on my topic. In addition to
the McConnell Library resources, which were very useful, the library itself helped me so much
in my research. Every time I walked into the library, there were people available to help with
whatever I needed. I was able to be in a quiet and supportive environment which really helped
Gabrielle Carraccio
Winesett Awards
April 22, 2015
me tackle this paper. McConnell Library has helped me greatly in my research techniques and
habits.
Using the library to complete my research has taught me a lot about what a good
researcher has to do in order to get the best information available. One cannot simply type
“therapeutic horseback riding” into the search bar and be content with the first source that
becomes available. In my research I had to narrow down the time period of the information I was
looking for, make sure that my articles were peer reviewed and coming from academic journals,
and ensure that the articles had to do with specific disabilities. I learned a great deal about how to
distinguish between a credible source and a non-credible source, as well as an intervention
versus an opinion article. The McConnell library made my research for my honors capstone class
possible, and I am very grateful for the resources available.