iGreek Workshop:
10 Quick and Easy
Research Tips
Rachael Muszkiewicz
Librarian and Assistant Professor
Christopher Center Office 266
x5464
1) Wikipedia
1) It’s okay to use Wikipedia?
Trick statement: only okay for certain, specific
things.
Why? Example of Gross Misuse of Power
So, what can I use Wikipedia for?
 Becoming familiar with your topic: preliminary research
which will make you more at ease with what you’re writing
about.
 Linked references at the end of the article.
So, what can I use Wikipedia for?
 External links at the end of the article.
 In the future: Stable articles by experts in the field which
cannot be edited.
2) Use “old fashioned” books!
Yes, the antiquated, paper-based tomes aren’t ready for the pasture quite yet.
When you are getting yourself familiar with a topic, and have exhausted
Wikipedia, your best shot is to get your hands on a book!
Why? Well, books have:
 Background information
 Detailed analysis of a topic, much more detailed than short, possibly
biased websites.
 In depth overview of larger issues
 Bibliographies that can be used to find other sources
 Instructors may give more weight to these resources
3) Bibliographies/References/Works Cited:
The cheat sheet that won’t get you failed
Have an article that is about your topic or
an aspect of your topic? Need more
information but aren’t sure where to get it?
Easy!
Just check the references the author used!
4) Make the Thesaurus your Friend
Physical Book
Online
thesaurus.com
Merriam-Webster
Visuwords
Make the Thesaurus your Friend
Can’t find anything searching “sedimentary
rock” on a database for that geology paper?
If you used a thesaurus you could be searching for:
arenacecus rock
shale
argillite
rudaceous rock
argillaceous rock
limestone
rockstone
slate
5) Boolean Operators:
Not an Eastern European Metal Band
Boolean operators are your key to narrowing down an internet search, whether
it be in a database or Google.
You can search for
How does climate change effect the endangered birds of the Pacific
Northwest?
if that’s your topic, but your results will be a tangled mess that you don’t want
to waste time burrowing into.
The main Boolean operators are three simple words which just might change
your researching life: AND, OR and NOT.
Boolean Machine by Rockwell Schrock
Boolean Machine by Rockwell Schrock
Boolean Machine by Rockwell Schrock
Boolean Operators: Truncation and
other cool stuff
 “exact phrase ” means that it will search for that exact phrase, and will show those
words only when they are in this exact phrase.
 Use (parentheses) to group words; this forces the database to group the terms the
way you want, not the way the database wants. This is somewhat like a math
problem (topic OR topic) and (topic AND topic).
 Throw in a * when you want to search for multiple forms of a term. For example,
searching for Librar* would find Library, Libraries, Librarian, Librarians.
Put them all together for a science paper:
(“Global warming” OR “Climate change”) AND (“Pacific Coast*” NOT California)
6) The Great and Powerful Google
6) The Great and Powerful Google::
Filter Bubbles
“A squirrel dying in front of
your house may be more
relevant to your interests right
now than people dying in
Africa.”
- Mark Zuckerberg
http://www.ted.com/talks/eli_pariser_beware_online_filter_bubbles.html
The Great and Powerful Google: Filter Bubbles
6)The Great and Powerful Google:
Google Scholar: Like Google, but Smarter!
Google Scholar searches:
 Articles
 Theses
 Books
 abstracts
 court opinions
from
 academic publishers
 professional societies
 online repositories
 universities
Then it finds the location of the complete document through
Valpo’s library or on the web.
Google Scholar: Like Google, but Smarter!
Why is it important to use Google
Scholar from the Valpo Library
webpage?
1. Access
2. ILL
7) ILL: When you just can’t find it
The Valpo Library does not have nearly the funds to subscribe to
every known periodical there is. The Harvard Library does not
have that kind of funds.
What we have is a consortium of libraries that can share
resources.
Sometimes, it’s easy:
Many
times,
it’s not:
8) Citation Tools: Why do it when something else can?
Son of Citation Machine
Citation Builder
KnightCite Citation Service
NoodleBib Express
However, Machines are NOT PERFECT:
Purdue OWL
9) LibGuides: The Crème of the Crop
LibGuides are called many things: Class Help Guides,
Research Help, Research Tools, but they all lead to one
thing: customized help for your specific major and topic.
Each guide has tips for searching for books, articles and
other resources in your subject/topic and also links to
relevant outside sources.
There is even a LibGuide for the iGreek sessions!
LibGuides: The Crème of the Crop
10) Librarians are trained to help YOU!
You can find your librarian by subject area and contact them by…
Phone!
Email!
Chat!
Appointments!
Walk-ins!
Just please, please, please, let us help you!