HONORS WRITING SEMINAR:

RESEARCH STRATEGIES USING

LIBRARY RESOURCES

Professor Jenny Donley

Cataloging and Knowledge Architect Librarian

Heterick Memorial Library

WELCOME TO THE LIBRARY

Professor Jenny Donley, j-donley.1@onu.edu

Reference Email, reference@onu.edu

Reference librarians on duty:

Monday – Friday

8:00 AM – 4:30 PM

Monday – Wednesday

6:00 PM – 9:00 PM

One-on-one sessions available by appointment, or

fee free to stop by or send us an email.

HETERICK

LIBRARIANS

KathleenB

aril

Jenny

Donley

Kelly

Kobiela

WHAT THE LIBRARY OFFERS:

~400,000 items in POLAR, the ONU library catalog

~20,000,000 items in OhioLink

260 Databases

400+ print periodicals

Tens of thousands of electronic journal titles

Juvenile, Young Adult, and Graphic Novel

collections

DVDs, CDs, streaming audiovisuals, and streaming

music

LIBRARIES AT ONU

Heterick Memorial Library

Undergraduate library and accessible to all students

Taggart Law Library

Library for law school and accessible to all students

ONU ID CARD = LIBRARY ID CARD

Use the entire 11 digit number

LIBRARY ID CARD MY LIBRARY ACCOUNT

Use your full name (as it

appears on the ID) and the

entire 11 digit number

RED PHONES = REFERENCE HELP!

WHAT THESE SESSIONS ARE ALL ABOUT

Constructing/developing a research strategy for

finding resources

Finding available resources in the library’s catalog

and databases

Tools for managing the resources that you have

found

UH…I’M NOT GOING TO REMEMBER ALL OF

THIS…

UH…I’M NOT GOING TO REMEMBER ALL OF

THIS…

HOW TO DO RESEARCH:

SEVEN STEPS OF THE RESEARCH PROCESS

Step 1: Identify and develop your topic

Step 2: Find background information

Step 3: Use catalogs to find books and media for a general understanding of the topic

Step 4: Find internet resources (if appropriate for the assignment)

Step 5: Use databases to find periodical articles for a specific approach to the topic

Step 6: Evaluate what you find

Step 7: Cite what you find

Amended with permission by the Librarians at the Olin and Uris Libraries of Cornell University

IDENTIFY AND DEVELOP YOUR TOPIC:

WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A TOPIC AND

A THESIS STATEMENT?

Definitions from Google definition searches

IDENTIFY AND DEVELOP YOUR TOPIC:

ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY

An annotated bibliography is a list of sources that

includes a summary and/or evaluation of the source

What an annotated bibliography does:

Allows you to see what is out there

Helps you narrow your topic and discard any irrelevant

materials

Aids in developing the thesis

Makes you a better scholar

IDENTIFY AND DEVELOP YOUR TOPIC:

HOW TO START YOUR RESEARCH

State your topic as a question

Identify main concepts or keywords

Test the topic to figure out how others might refer to it –

look for keywords and synonyms and related terms for the

information sought:

Subject headings in catalogs

Built-in thesauri in many databases

Reference sources

Textbooks, lecture notes, readings

Internet

Librarians, instructors

IDENTIFY AND DEVELOP YOUR TOPIC:

EXAMPLE OF A CONCEPT MAP

IDENTIFY AND DEVELOP YOUR TOPIC:

CONCEPT MAPPING

FIND BACKGROUND INFORMATION:

BACKGROUND RESEARCH

The library catalog is full of resources that can help.

Background research can include reference books and encyclopedias as well as general books and internet resources. (Steps 3 & 4 cover general books and internet searches.)

Look at the Databases tab in the Honors Writing Seminar research guide for a list of electronic reference sources.

USE CATALOGS TO FIND BOOKS AND MEDIA:

POLAR CATALOG

POLAR Catalog – Search for physical and electronic items

(ebooks and ejournals) that are available from Heterick

Memorial Library and Taggart Law Library

USE CATALOGS TO FIND BOOKS AND MEDIA:

POLAR CATALOG: KEYWORD SEARCH

Looks in several locations

Subject

Article title

Abstracts

Table of contents

Does not require an exact match

Generates comparatively large number of hits

Good if you are not familiar with terminology

Good for a beginning search

USE CATALOGS TO FIND BOOKS AND MEDIA:

POLAR CATALOG: SUBJECT SEARCH

Looks at the subject headings in the records

Requires an exact match

Provides a results list with related headings to use

for broader and narrower searches

Generates comparatively smaller number of hits

Good if you are familiar with terminology

Good for a next step after a keyword search

USE CATALOGS TO FIND BOOKS AND MEDIA:

POLAR CATALOG: RESULTS

ebook

Law Library

Heterick Library

USE CATALOGS TO FIND BOOKS AND MEDIA:

OHIOLINK CATALOG

Materials owned by 90+ other libraries in Ohio:

colleges, universities, public libraries

Can submit request for an item to be delivered to

Heterick Memorial Library

Most requests arrive in 2-3 working days

No charge to request items (unless they become

overdue)

Maximum of 25 requests at a time

Items can usually be renewed

USE CATALOGS TO FIND BOOKS AND MEDIA:

OHIOLINK CATALOG

From POLAR results list:

Button will recreate the POLAR search in OhioLINK

From an item record:

Button will go directly to the same item

Use if the copy in POLAR is checked out

Direct link to the OhioLINK catalog:

http://olc1.ohiolink.edu/search

USE CATALOGS TO FIND BOOKS AND MEDIA: OHIOLINK

CATALOG

1. 2. Select Ohio

Northern from the

dropdown list.

3. Enter your full name and all 11 digits from

your student ID.

4. Select “Heterick – Circulation Desk for the

pickup location and hit the submit button.

USE CATALOGS TO FIND BOOKS AND MEDIA:

SEARCHOHIO CATALOG

1.

SearchOhio:

Your next step if

all of the POLAR

and OhioLINK

copies are

unavailable.

2.

3. Select Ohio Northern

from the dropdown list.

4. Enter your full name and all 11 digits from your

student ID.

5. Select “Heterick – Circulation Desk for the pickup

location and hit the submit button.

FINDING INTERNET RESOURCES

(IF APPROPRIATE FOR THE ASSIGNMENT)

Helpful for identifying additional keywords and

subjects for your concept map

Google

Wikipedia

Does the information located satisfy the research

need?

Is the information factual and unbiased?

Refer to the CRAAP Test for critically analyzing web

sources

FINDING INTERNET RESOURCES:

CRITICALLY ANALYZING WEB SOURCES USING THE

CRAAP TEST

Currency

Timeliness of the information

Relevance/Coverage

Depth and importance of the information

Authority

Source of the information

Accuracy

Reliability of the information

Purpose/Objectivity

Possible bias present in the information

WEB RESEARCH VS. LIBRARY DATABASES

Internet

Material from numerous

sources, individuals,

government, etc.

Search engines must work

with material prepared

without regard for specific

software

Quality of material varies

Generally do not access for-

profit information

Content often anonymous

and undated

Databases

Usually created by a single publisher

Content pre-arranged for easy searching

Quality-controlled by editorial staff

Most are available only to subscribers

Sources are usually identified and dated

Databases often focus on a specific subject or discipline, but some cover several areas

USE DATABASES TO FIND PERIODICAL ARTICLES:

OVERVIEW OF DATABASES

What is the basic definition of a library database?

A library database is an electronic (online) catalog or index

Library databases contain information about published items

Library databases are searchable

The library subscribes to many databases so the ONU community has

access to these resources. When you’re searching a database, you

are not searching “the web.”

What types of items are indexed by library databases?

Articles in Journals/Magazines/Newspapers

Reference Information (i.e. entries from Encyclopedias, Dictionaries,

etc.)

Books & other documents

Source: http://web.calstatela.edu/library/whatisadatabase.htm

USE DATABASES TO FIND PERIODICAL ARTICLES:

FINDING DATABASES

USE DATABASES TO FIND PERIODICAL ARTICLES:

CHOOSING A DATABASE

Helpful Databases

Academic Search

Complete

Business Source

Complete

JSTOR

Lexis-Nexis

MasterFILE Premier

MEDLINE with Full

Text

Databases by Subject

USE DATABASES TO FIND PERIODICAL ARTICLES:

POPULAR VS. SCHOLARLY PERIODICALS

Popular = Magazine

Scholarly = Journal

Magazines are periodicals that contain more popularcontent. They tend to have glossy pages, lots of pictures, and can be read and understood by the general public. They contain shorter articles written by a staff of journalists.

Journals are periodicals that contain scholarly and peer-reviewed articles, written by scholars and researchers, that are aimed at professionals in the field. The articles are longer and have extensive bibliographies at the ends of the articles.

USE DATABASES TO FIND PERIODICAL ARTICLES:

FULL TEXT ARTICLES

USE DATABASES TO FIND PERIODICAL ARTICLES:

FIND IT @ ONU

Find It @ ONU takes you from a database where

you don’t have full text access to a database where

you do have full text access

USE DATABASES TO FIND PERIODICAL ARTICLES:

SEARCH DISCOVERY LAYER

What it is:

A discovery layer sits on top of the majority of the library

resources and allows users to access most of the information

available on one topic with one search

Think of it as the roof on a house

What it isn’t:

An index to ALL database content.

While all EBSCO databases are

included, ProQuest databases, among a few others, are not

included in SEARCH.

A “Googlization” of library resources, although it may seem

like it at first.

USE DATABASES TO FIND PERIODICAL ARTICLES:

SEARCH DISCOVERY LAYER

What it includes:

POLAR

Article-level searching for all EBSCO databases

Article-level searching for a variety of other databases:

JSTOR, Hoover’s, AccessPharmacy, etc.

Title-level searching for most other databases: IEEE,

CIAO, Proquest Nursing & Allied Health

OhioLINK Central Catalog

USE DATABASES TO FIND PERIODICAL ARTICLES:

SEARCHING PRIOR TO SEARCH

Reference

resources

Databases Others…

• Newspapers

• ebooks

• Websites

• Government

publications

Catalog

USE DATABASES TO FIND PERIODICAL ARTICLES:

SEARCH

USE DATABASES TO FIND PERIODICAL ARTICLES:

SEARCH RESULTS FOR FULL TEXT & POLAR

USE DATABASES TO FIND PERIODICAL ARTICLES:

SEARCH RESULTS FOR OHIOLINK

USE DATABASES TO FIND PERIODICAL ARTICLES:

SEARCH RESULTS FOR FIND IT @ ONU

USE DATABASES TO FIND PERIODICAL ARTICLES:

SEARCH RESULTS FOR ILL

When in doubt, email: ill@onu.edu

USE DATABASES TO FIND PERIODICAL ARTICLES:

FACETS: LIMIT YOUR RESULTS

EVALUATE WHAT YOU FIND:

REVIEW YOU FINDINGS

To make it easier to review the articles that you have found, create a My EBSCOhost account to use across all EBSCO databases, including SEARCH.

1. Add to folder

directly from the

results list

2. Add to folder from

an item’s detailed

view screen

CITE WHAT YOU FIND:

ONLINE ASSISTANCE

Refer to the “Writing & Research Guides” and “Citations” tabs for tips and resources.

OWL: The Purdue Online Writing Lab

http://owl.english.purdue.edu

AND FINALLY…DON’T FORGET THAT THE

LIBRARIANS ARE HERE TO HELP!

Librarians on reference duty:

Monday – Friday

8:00 AM – 4:30 PM

Monday – Wednesday

6:00 PM – 9:00 PM