Composition 100

Professor Fiske

Research Resources, Milne Library, SUNY College at Oneonta, Spring 2008

Steps in library research: Overview

• Background information on a topic can often be found in encyclopedias, dictionaries, and other reference sources. There are encyclopedias in the reference area on the first floor of Milne Library that cover most topics.  In addition, you can try the Gale Virtual Reference Library .
• Find books. Books often treat a topic more comprehensively than journal articles. Books can be a good place to find an overview of a topic. References to additional articles and books can often be found in a bibliography at the end of a chapter.
• Find articles.  Since journal articles are often more focused than books, they may provide more specific information than books. References to additional articles and books can often be found in a bibliography at the end of an article. Information in journal articles is usually more current than information in books. Journal articles are often peer-reviewed  (Peer-review is the process by which journal articles are reviewed by experts in the field before publication. An example of a peer-reviewed journal is Journal of the American Medical Association;  an example of a popular magazine is Time. )
• Consider supplementary materials such as internet sites. Since articles found on the internet have rarely gone through the peer-review process, they must be carefully evaluated.  It may be possible to find peer-reviewed journal articles by using Google Scholar; however, some of these articles may be author preprints and therefore may not be exactly the same as the final version.
• Organize the findings.
• Use the information to address the research topic.

Finding books

• Library Catalog

Find books, videos, compact discs, reserves, and other materials. It does NOT have information about individual journal articles. The Advanced Search feature allows limiting by language, collection, document type, year.

 

To view detailed information about an item, click on the number link on the left of the entry.

Availability is shown by numbers to the right  (e. g. 1/0). The first number is the number owned by the library; the last number is how many are checked out.

Subjects are listed at the bottom of the detailed entry. These subjects will link to other materials on the same exact subject.

 

A BASIC KEYWORD search allows you to search by fields such as author, subject, words in title, exact title.

 

Keyword or 'All fields' searches are useful if you do not know the precise subject, title or author. If you are unsure of the ending of a word or wish to search the stem of a word, use the wildcard symbol  * .

 

comput* (finds computer, computing, computation. etc.)

 

Keywords can be linked by the search operators “and”, “or”, and “not” to broaden or narrow searches:

 

baseball and japan (use of “and” narrows a search)

baseball or basketball (use of “or” broadens a search)

advertising not television (“not” eliminates records with the second term)

 

A BASIC BROWSE search displays an alphabetical list of entries. This is particularly useful when you don't know the exact author, title, or subject heading.

 

Baseball -- History

Ruth, Babe, 1895-1948

Baseball history from outside the lines: a reader

 

• Hartwick College (link on the Milne Library  home page)
  • SUNY Oneonta students may borrow materials with a valid SUNY ID card.
• WorldCat (link on the Milne Library home page)
  • Catalog of books owned by libraries worldwide. A good source to consult after you try both Milne Library and the Hartwick College Library.  Books can usually be borrowed on Interlibrary Loan (ILLIAD). Be sure to allow plenty of time to write your paper.

Finding articles:

Finding the full-text of the article:

When the full text is not in the database, follow these steps, beginning with number one, until you are able to obtain a copy of the article.

1.      Find It! Look for Find It! button. This links to a menu that indicates other databases where the full text of the article might be found. Often there is a direct link to the full text of the article. If not, search the indicated database by the title of the article. If the full text isn’t available, go to step 2.

2.      Serials Solutions. Open a new browser window. From the library home page select Serials Solutions. Type in the title of the periodical (NOT the title of the article) you’re looking for. This will bring up a screen listing databases that have full text for the periodical you want. Once in a databases, search by the title of the article. If one of the listed databases doesn’t have the full text of the article you want, go to step 3.

3.      Library Subscription. From the library home page select Search the Catalog. Click on Reserves or Journals in the top bar, then choose Journal Titles in Milne Library, then type in the title of the journal. This will tell you if the library subscribes to the journal in print. If the library does not subscribe to the periodical, the article can be borrowed through Interlibrary Loan.

Citations

Microsoft Office Word 2007 has a tab for managing references including endnotes, footnotes, and bibliographic citations. Not all types of citation are included. Also, take care to make sure the formatting is correct.

 

How to Write a Bibliography. Covers both APA (American Psychological Association) and MLA (Modern Language Association) styles.

 

Citation Machine

Machine generated citations.  A time-saving start, but the citations should be checked for accuracy.

Evaluating Internet sites

Evaluating Internet Sites:

*Anyone* can publish on the Internet. Therefore, it is important to learn to evaluate any information found on the net.

Five points to consider in the evaluation of a web site:

1. AUTHORITY: Who is responsible for creating the page? Does the URL contain .edu (education), .gov (US government), .org (organization) .int (international organization)? Or does the URL contain  .com (commercial) or .biz (business)? Is it a personal site (.name)? (Country codes also may be part of a URL. See Domain name registries around the world for a listing of country codes that can be used with a search engine such as Google: Advanced Search.)

2. CURRENCY   : Is there a date indicating when the page was created or updated? Is the information up to date?

3. COVERAGE: What is the purpose of the site? Does it address your research topic? Is it detailed or broad? 

4. OBJECTIVITY: Is the site expressing a slanted point of view or trying to sway your opinion?

5. ACCURACY: Can you verify that the information is correct? Are the facts consistent within the page?

Examine these web sites. Which information is accurate?

FDA approves new high-intensity sweetener Sucralose

Splenda/Sucralose Homepage

Sucralose Toxicity Information Center

Need more help?

Research/Information specialists are available to help you with your research most hours the library is open.  Reference librarians can also be reached by email ( libref@oneonta.edu. or  http://www.oneonta.edu/library/reference/ask.asp ) or telephone (607-436-2722).  In addition, Research Consultations  (a link on the Milne Library home page) are available for in-depth research assistance.

Nancy Cannon

OFFICE HOURS by appointment

Milne Library, SUNY College at Oneonta

Top of page

Lift Assistive is a UsableNet product. Lift Assistive Main Page.