Welcome to Reed Library

COMP 250 – Spring 2017

If you took COMP 150, you might remember…

Don’t worry:You’re going to learn

something new.

Let’s talk about• Topic selection• Search strategy•Credibility •Managing your citations

www.library.fortlewis.edu

Go to the library

website

EndNote

Picking your topic

Refine as you go.

search

refine

search

refine

Let’s start with goal settingas our topic.

Search the LibraryEngine for that phrase and we will review the results.

You have a topic. It’s time to e x p l o r e information.

BEFORE you search, consider… “goal setting”

“college students”motivation

Keywords Boolean Operators

(connectors) Nesting Truncation

Keywords: Words or concepts of great

significance to your topic“goal setting”

“college students”motivation

1. Goal setting2. Motivation3. Achievement4. College students5. College6. Academic success7. Higher education

Boolean Operators connect and define the relationship between

keywords

AND – all search terms must be present. Use for narrowing your search.

Goal setting College students

Boolean Operators connect and define the relationship between

keywords

OR – any of the search terms can be present. Use with synonyms to broaden your search.

success achievement

Boolean Operators connect and define the relationship between

keywords

NOT – excludes search terms.

college high school

Nesting groups keywords when you have multiple operators

“goal setting”

achievementsuccess

“goal setting” AND

(success OR achievement)

Truncation searches a keyword stem

EducateEducatedEducationEducatingEducatorEducates

Educat*

Search Strategy

“goal setting”

“college students”motivation

“goal setting” AND

MotivationAND

“College students”

Use the limiters.

Many databases, including the LibraryEngine, offer limiters. Use them to refine your search results.

Now YOU try.Find one article about your topic that interests you and put it in your folder.

Where will you search? The Library Engine, the catalog, another database, or the open web? Why did you make that choice?

LibraryEngine doesn’t search everything. Google only gives you 5% of what we have in our databases.

• If you use LibraryEngine, you need to use limiters and a good search strategy with multiple keywords.• Try a subject database.

Some feed into LibraryEngine but not all.

If the book or article you want isn’t available,

we can get it for you.

What sources are credible?How do you decide?

Helpful indicators:• The author’s credentials•What references (if any) are given• The type of publication• The currency of the source

(if applicable to your topic)

Does the information fit your need?

Relevance Purpose

Once you’ve found a few good sources, save them in EndNote.

1. Put them in your folder. Note: the folder will be empty once you leave the database. Use it or loose it.

2. Open the folder from the toolbar at the top of the database.

3. Export the folder’s contents to EndNote.

Putting your bibliography togetherWhy should you cite?• Knowledge is advanced

through scholarly writing and citations.• Citations lend credibility to

your work.• Readers can read your

sources for themselves and draw their own conclusions.

How do you do it?• EndNote• Citation tools built into library

databases• Reed Library’s citation guide• Ask a reference librarian for help

Need more help?Schedule an appointmentStop by the reference desk

Give us a call at 970-247-7551Email us at library@fortlewis.edu

Chat with us

Citations available upon requestghwilliams@fortlewis.edu