lbst280

LBST 280

Florence Tang

Liaison to the Penfield

College for the Atlanta

Campus

678-547-6261

tang_fy@mercer.edu

Cornell University Library definition

of a reference librarianhttp://www.library.cornell.edu/olinuris/ref/research/vocab.html

Reference LibrarianReference librarians are

specialists in the field of

information retrieval. Generally

they have a Masters degree in

library science… They are

available at reference desks to

help you find the information

you are looking for.

Florence’s office

10:00 AM -7:00 PM

May be working weekends or nights.

Questions? Ask Reference!

(678) 547-6282 (Atlanta)

swilley_ref@mercer.edu

Reference Hours

M - Th 9AM-9PM

F 9AM-6PM

Sat 10AM-6PM

Sun 1PM-9PM

Add askmercer as your buddy!

Remember to start your research

early. Not everything can be found

full-text online or at all hours.

o Interlibrary Loan

o Interlibrary Use

o Print copies of books and

journals

o Databases unavailable from

off-campus

o Reference Librarian

Research Plan

•

Encyclopedias

• Background Reading & Brainstorming

• Develop the topic

• Focus the topic

Finding InformationWhat’s out there

• Books

• Newspapers/Magazines

• Journals

• Websites

Information Timeline

Books Reference Books Scholarly Journals Popular Magazine Newspapers Web

Years Months Week Day Present

Books

Good for background

Comprehensive

Information may not be as current as what you would find in journal articles or web sites.

That might or might not be important.

“Scholarly” Journals• Periodicals used by researchers

to share their findings with one

another and the public.

• They contain articles describing

new research or ideas written

in a formal manner that

includes background

information, methods used,

results/interpretation and

significance.

• Research articles are peer-

reviewed

Scholarly Journals

How do I tell?

• May contain graphs and charts.

• Written by a scholar in the field or

by someone who has done

research in the field. Degrees

attained and institutional

affiliations are often included by

the authors’ names.

• Always cite their sources in the

form of footnotes or

bibliographies

• No glossy pages or pictures

Examples of Scholarly Journals

Popular Magazines

How do I tell?

• Slick, glossy and attractive in

appearance.

• Lots of graphics (photographs,

drawings, etc.).

• Articles are usually very short,

written in simple language .

• Generally little depth to the

content of these articles.

Examples of Popular Magazines

Both are

considered

scholarly

Web vs. Libraries

• When you use a research

or academic library, the

books, journals and other

resources have already

been evaluated by

scholars, publishers and

librarians.

• When you are using the

freely available World

Wide Web, none of this

applies.

Finding Books

Use the CATALOG to find books

http://library.mercer.edu

When you search the catalog, you will find books that are located in the SwilleyLibrary or another Mercer Library.

Subject Headings Exercise

What is inside all three cans?

A long keyword search

(soft drink) or pop or soda or cola or (carbonated beverage)

Search

AND

A AND B

OR

A OR B

NOT

A NOT B

Number of books (or government

documents) found with this keyword

Is this book here now?

Links to other books

about your topic.

Finding Articles

To find Articles, use a database or index

• A database is a collection of citations for articles or similar information

• Some databases will contain full texts of articles

• Some databases are specific (such as Education or Business) and some cover many subjects

Finding Articles

• Find full-text articles OR

– Find a citation

– Check to see if your library

has the journal in another

database – If not, we can

order it for you via

InterLibrary Loan.

To find articles, choose a database.

This shows a list of general databases.

These are called multi-disciplinary, which means you can find

information about many subjects.

Sign in to My Research to save

searches, and marked articles.

Limit your search to

scholarly journals and…

Limit the date range by

sliding this tab.

Full text is available.

Click on this link

Full text is not

available here, but

maybe we can get it

another way.

Full text is available.

Click on this link.

Sign in to My EBSCOhost to save

searches, and marked articles.

Limit your search to scholarly journals

and/or a specific date range.

Limit the date range by

sliding this tab.

SUITABILITY

• Scope.

Is this a general work that provides an overview of the topic or is it specifically focused on only one aspect of your topic? Is it relevant?

Does the resource cover the right time period that you are interested in?

• Audience. Who is the intended audience for this source? Is the material too technical or too clinical?

• Timeliness. When was the source published?

Objectivity

• What point of view does

the author represent?

• Is the article an editorial

that is trying to argue a

position?

• Is the article published in a

magazine that has a

particular editorial

position?

Do not

• Share your MUID and

password with others.

• Upload an article to a

webpage that others can

access.

• Copy and paste sections

of an article into your

paper without using

quotations.

END