| Fall 2008 EH 102 Class Schedule or http://tinyurl.com/libraryeh102
Background
Information
Assignment
Calculator
Research Log Form in Word
Before you begin any research project--Understand Your Assignment READ THIS! It is the most important step in securing a good grade!
A.
Finding a controversial topic:
B.
Thinking about it BEFORE you do anything else:
The
words you use to find information are important--computers only respond
to words, NOT ideas. Pick out the main concepts involved in your topics.
Think of words that professionals [writers, teachers, researchers]
use for that topic. Write them down. Organize them. These are the
words you are going to use on the databases. While doing initial research
you'll find more you hadn't thought about before. Write them down
too. Keep a journal! SEE ALSO: E (below.)
C/D.
Making your topic into an interesting
and answerable question will help you focus.
Make
sure it is something you think you can answer.
-
Not too broad: e.g. How does Title IX affect women
athletes?
- Not
too focused: e.g. How does Title IX affect the attitudes
of African American basketball players at the University of South
Alabama?
- Good focus: To what extent is race a factor in the success of Title IX?
D/C.
Finding Your Question/ Finding Background Information:
- Use encyclopedias
and reference books to get more background
info: more and better vocabulary, specific events, people involved,
related issues, court cases. 2nd Floor North. Keyword search on the
Catalog, e.g. encyclop? and anthrop?; encyclop? and ethic?; diction?
and genetic?(Library of Congress often uses the word "dictionaries"
as a subject heading for "encyclopedias."
- A good source
of background information is called CQ Researcher.
It gives an overview, background, current situation, chronology of
events related to the issues, as well as a brief pro and con debate
and a bibliography for further information. (Only 5 at a time allowed
in)
- Another fruitful
background source for controversial topics is the Opposing
Viewpoints series. Both are online under "Articles,
Indexes, Databases" on the Library
homepage.
- Should you use Wikipedia? If it is not prohibited by your instructor, use it cautiously! It is quick and easy, but if you check what is going on behind the scenes with the "Discussion" tab at the top you will find that "the facts" are not always the facts. See this YouTube video.
E.
Selecting the KEY concepts from your question.
Our
databases don't answer questions. They only retrieve
good information if you use good words. Examples: One, Two and Three
Look at the Online
Tutorials to learn the specifics of searching the SOUTHcat Catalog
Searching Strategies:
- keyword
searching--Use "quotation
marks" to hold phrases
together.
- Truncation--Use
? -in the CATALOG the question mark after the root of a word to get the variety of
endings it might have. e.g. child? will find child, children, childhood, Childriss
- Browsing
the Subject Heading field for the right words (examples
of database records: a, b,
c,)
- Revising
your search using the "right" words
- Watching
for repeating call numbers and browse the stacks in that area (examples
of lc
call numbers1)
- Using electronic
books from NetLibrary (register the first time you enter)
- Checking
the "Location"
[Some "STATUS" words]
Step-by-step
process for finding articles.
Good
places to start: Multi-Disciplinary
databases to start. (here)
- Ebsco's Academic
Search Premier (more scholarly);
- MasterFILE Premier(more
magazines, less scholarly)
- Gale/InfoTrac's Expanded Academic ASAP(more
scholarly)
- Ms Leatherwood's
classes add: JSTOR, Project Muse, Literature Resource
Center, Literary Reference Center and MLA for
articles specifically on literature topics
Newspaper
Articles
Legal
Info--(use legal language e.g. capital punishment not death penalty)
- Gale/InfoTrac's
LegalTrac--law reviews and journals
- LexisNexis'
Legal Research --court cases, law reviews, U.S. and state codes &
regs, patents
- government
Documents and Google
Advanced for .gov domain
H.
Locating Actual Full-text Articles:
I.
Finding Statistics
J.
Finding Reliable Internet Sources
Evaluating
Internet Sites
Smart and Efficient
Searching
K.
Citing and Formatting Your Sources
pdf
has page numbers| html/text does not
usually
When using the EBSCO databases; set your preferences for the citation style you need. Citations will print or be saved with a fairly close approximation of this format. Check citations carefully against your manual. You are ultimately responsible for the format being correct!
L.
Plagiarism
SOUTHcat
Plus
University Homepage
Comments or suggestions
8/15/2008. js
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