Empire State College Library

Introduction to the

Library Web Site Yes, we have a library! It’s entirely online The librarians are real people (We do not have textbooks)

Subject Guides “One stop shopping” for your research

and study needs in a broad subject area Organized into tabs

Journal Articles, ebooks, reference materials, selected web sites, etc.

Ask A Librarian chat box

Databases Database (in library terms) = container

and search tool for digital articles, books, videos, etc.

The database lists them and sometimes has full-text.

We don’t have everything No print resources Not all resources have made it online

yet We’re not big enough to afford to

subscribe to everything that is online

Getting stuff elsewhere Any SUNY or NY community college

library Take your college photo ID Monroe CC, Erie CC, Geneseo, UB, Buff

State Regional borrower’s card

Get it from your local public library Use it at local college libraries

How to get help

Ask A Librarian Phone or email

If you leave a message after hours, we will get back to you the next business day

Live chat (now 24/7!) If you chat after hours, you may be

speaking to a librarian who’s not from ESC, but is a member of a consortium we belong to

Self Help Video or text and image tutorials

Research concepts Technical how tos

Research Skills Tutorial self-paced, ungraded mini-course in how

to do research

Workshops Live webinars Taught by a librarian Take from home

You need a computer with internet, speakers/headphones, and preferably a microphone

How information is organizedWHY IS THIS NOT EASY???

Information “packages” Books

Take a long time to write and even longer to publish Tend to be about a broader view of a bigger topic.

Articles They’re shorter so they take less time to write and publish Tiny slice of a topic, but very in-depth.

Reference books Information is not original. (Synthesis and summary.) Information is typically years old.

Gray literature Not formally published Documents, reports, and data sets - different kinds used

in different subject areas Other – News, entertainment, etc.

Economics It costs to publish

Printing is the smallest part Quality control (peer review, editing) Organizing and making available online in database form

Publishers and vendors take on those costs They pass the costs on to the library in subscription fees They also control HOW we access the content

Bundling it together like cable channels Requiring a password Limiting how we can use it Not playing nice with their competitors

That’s why it’s not all in one place with one easy search box.

Searching/Researching

Getting an idea Get ideas about possible research topics

from what you’ve been studying in your course: Textbooks Assigned readings Mini-lectures, videos, etc. in your course

What makes a good research question? NOT a question with a quick and

straightforward answer Enough to write about… But not too much!

Use the library’s reference materials Expand your knowledge Explanations Definitions of vocabulary

Don’t cite reference resources! They’re synthesis and summary, not

original research. Your next step is to search for the

original research sources you can cite in your paper.

Databases v. Google Databases are a closed system – they

don’t try to index “everything,” just the content that’s selected to be put in them

More powerful searching Field search means you can search for

“William Shakespeare” in either SU for works about him or AU for works by him

Narrow by date, document type, etc.

Databases can’t understand English It just matches what you type in with

what it finds in the documents it contains, and the metadata of those documents.

If you type in dog, it’s not going to bring up canine or poodle.

You have to do all that work for the database.

Step 1: Concepts First break your search down into pieces

– each concept is one piece. Relationship between autism and

digestive problems

Step 2: Synonyms Autism and also Asperger’s, Autism

Spectrum Disorder, Pervasive Developmental Disorder

Digestive Problems and also Digestive Disorders, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, GERD, Reflux Disease, Inflamatory Bowel Disorder, Crohns Disease

Step 3: Boolean Operators We will talk about these in a minute.

Which database(s) to search in? OneSearch is always a good starting

place. Check the Journal Articles tab of your

subject guide for other ideas. Or look for relevant databases in

Article Databases

Searching in a database DEMO TIME!

Regroup Take notes while you research. As soon as you find a document you

think you might use, get the citation information and permalink.

This way you’ll know what source and page number (!!!) you took a piece of information from.

Ask, what have I learned so far? Do you have a clearer idea of your thesis? Of how you will back up your thesis with

arguments? Of what kinds of information you will need to cite

to prove and illustrate your points? Of what authors are important in this subject area? Of what theories, models, or frameworks might

apply? Of major disagreements, controversies, or gaps in

our collective knowledge?

Search for the rest of the articles and books you will need Boolean search for your topic. Don’t forget to follow the citation trail!

Look in the References section of a relevant article to find more (older) articles on that topic!

Special business document types Tabs on the BME Subject Guide for

SWOT Analysis, Company Profile, Annual Reports, Case Studies, etc.

Get help searching The

Search section of the Research Skills Tutorial covers all of this.

Or use your handout! Or Ask A Librarian!

Evaluating information

First: Is it relevant? Skim the abstract or table of contents

to decide if an information source is worth further attention.

As soon as you find a source that you think you might use, get the citation information and the permalink.

Next, for each relevant source, ask yourself: Who put this information out there? Do they know what they’re talking

about? Do they have a vested interest or an

agenda? Is there a money trail to follow?

Is it scholarly? By experts, for experts Peer reviewed Journal articles and some books Some of our databases have all scholarly

content; others let you limit your search to it Research paper sources should be scholarly But scholarly is not a guarantee of quality or

objectivity – peer reviewers make mistakes too

Sections of a research article: Literature review: Background and context –

what other authors have said about this topic. Methods: How they conducted the study.

Check to see if methodology and stats are kosher.

Findings/Conclusions/Results: Did it turn out the way they hypothesized? What was learned?

Discussion: More of that, plus implications.

Get help evaluating The

Evaluate section of the Research Skills Tutorial covers all of this.

Or Ask A Librarian! We can’t tell you if it’s good, but we can

help you with the questions you need to ask to make a judgment call.

Using and citing information

DO NOT Don’t gather facts

and quotes and string them together.

Don’t write your paper and then go find facts and quotes to back up what you said.

DO! Build YOUR

argument and back it up with facts and some quotes

Research some more to back up those points, but be open to adjusting what you were going to say.

Citing Guide APA citation style Tutorials on how to format papers and

do your in-text citations and References list

Citing Your Sources online workshop

When to cite: Every time you quote. Every time you paraphrase. Every time you use a fact that is not

common knowledge. You need both in-text citations and a

references list.

Citation Tools Save your citation information online –

access it anywhere Organize your citation information,

along with the notes you take! Insert properly formatted citations into

your document Fair warning: garbage in = garbage out

Make sure you have a handout!It has lots of useful reminders and links.

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