Chambers Library

Affirming Diversity:Multiculturalism in Early Childhood

Tonya Holt Reference & Instruction Librarian

Library Resources

Databases Search for articles in periodicals

UCO Library Catalog Search for materials located in our library

WorldCat Search for materials in 54,000 libraries

worldwide Internet searching and website evaluation

Databases

Search for articles in periodicals Paid subscriptions not available on the

internet Accessible on and off campus

Login ScreenLogin Screen:: Appears when you click on a database off campus

Jane Student’s UCOnnect ID is jstudent

Jane’s birth date is June 17th, 1987. Her default PIN is 061787.

Asterisks (*) will appear when you type your PIN

Remote Access

Magazines

Written for the general public

Written by staff reporters or free lance writers

No or minimal documentation

No original research – secondary literature

Trade Journals

Written for professionals in a specific field

Written by staff, free lance or contributing professional

Little documentation No original research –

secondary literature

Scholarly Journals

Written for academia Written by an expert or

credentialed researcher Full documentation Original or primary research

Peer Reviewed vs. Non-peer reviewed

Peer-reviewed or refereed journals articles have been reviewed by other experts

in the field before publication Non-peer reviewed

Articles have NOT been reviewed by experts

ERIC (Educational Resource Information Center)

Articles from education related journals

ERIC documents – non-journal resources such as lesson plans, technical reports, case studies and conference proceedings

Subject Guides >Education > Databases

Effective Searching

Have a topic in mind Cultural issues unique to Chinese Americans

to consider in education Think of keywords to describe your topic

Culture – family - community Chinese Americans

Find additional keywords Descriptors on citation page Narrow by subject on results page ERIC – utilize ERIC’s thesaurus

Boolean Operators

Combine keywords using and to narrow your search Chinese Americans and culture Chinese Americans and community

Combine synonyms using or to broaden your search Culture or community or family

Nest terms in parentheses for specific results culture or community or family) and Chinese Americans

Truncation

Truncate keywords with an asterisk * for alternate endings

cultur* -e -es -al

famil* -y -ies

Ulrich’s Periodical Directory Find Articles (Databases) > Ulrich’s

Publishing information on serials Does not have articles Check for type of publication Type in journal name not article name

Journal Academic/Scholarly Trade

Newsletters, magazines, proceedings, etc.

Additional Databases

Professional Development Collection Full-text of 500 journals in education, 300 peer reviewed

PsychInfo Full-text, citations and abstracts to articles, books, and other

materials related to psychology

SocIndex Full-text and citations to articles, books, and conference

papers in sociology

Subject Guides > Education > Databases Subject Guides> Family & Child Development >

Databases

Catalogs

Catalog does not search for articles UCO Library Catalog

Search for materials located in our library (books, government documents, DVD’s, CD’s etc.)

WorldCat Search for materials in 54,000 libraries worldwide

(books, government documents, DVD’s, CD’s etc.)

Things to consider when using the Internet for your research…

Anyone can publish anything on the Internet, whether it’s accurate or not.

There is a lot of junk on the Internet. Sometimes it can be difficult to tell what’s

good and what’s not. So……

Evaluation Criteria to Consider

Domain Authority Content / Depth Documentation Currency

Domains: What are they?

.com = commercial site .edu = educational institution .gov = government site .mil = military site .org = organization site

Authority

Who produced the information? Does the author have credentials or special

knowledge of the subject? Is this site being backed by a reputable

publisher? Is the information consistent or, is it

contradictory?

Content / Depth

Is the information scholarly or popular? What is the tone of the site? Is the information broad or detailed? Is the source saying anything new or simply

repeating other sources?

Documentation

Are the facts on the site supported? Is there enough information provided to

properly cite it as a source in your paper? Author? Title? Place of publication? Publisher? Date?

Currency

When was the website last updated or, can you even tell?

Have there been any recent events that might change the relevance of this information?

Is there more recent information available that might be more useful?

Warning Signs!

Bias Are they trying to sell something, either a point-of-view

or a product? Generalizations

Are they drawing inappropriate conclusions? Logical errors

Does the information make good logical sense? Poor presentation

Is the site unorganized with grammatical and/or spelling errors?

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