Book Research

Go to webs.purduecal.edu/library to begin your search

From the main library website, you can search for books and view the library hours of operation

Narrow and focus your search to reflect specific media and availability

You will see the location of material in the physical library based on Library of Congress Call Numbers

Searching the library’s physical contents will give you:

◦ Academic sources and their availability

◦ Non-academic sources

You will still need to evaluate any books or media before using to make sure they’re academic

Academic databases (EBSCOhost, ERIC, PubMed, etc.) will also provide you with academic sources

Google will not necessarily provide academic sources but will provide electronic sources (i.e. websites)

Academic Databases

To use PULSE or search databases, scroll down on the library’s main website to view additional options

To look for databases by name, select “Alphabetically” under the Databases section

To access databases from an off-campus location, enter your login and password when prompted

This login and password is the same you use to access campus computers

Select the “A” for Academic Search Premiere

Select “Academic Search Premiere”

Type in your search terms like with Google & PULSE

Before you begin searching, limit your searches to:

◦ Full-text

◦ Peer-reviewed articles

◦ Published within the past 5 years

The period of time may vary depending on instructor/course, but is generally from 5-10 years

After you have set your search limits,you may begin your search.

Search Terms and Limitations

Peer-reviewed – others within the field have reviewed the article and its information and have vouched for its accuracy

◦ Using peer-reviewed sources means you’re not spreading what may be false information. These are the best sources

Full text – you’ll only receive results that have the full text article available

◦ You may get abstracts or summaries, which aren’t helpful, if you don’t choose this option.

Limiting your dates to the past 5 years helps assure you the research is current

With some topics, going back 10 years can be helpful for historical context

More scientific topics require more recent research

◦ Ex: Cell-based research has grown exponentially since the 1980s, and any information beyond 5 years may not be accurate.

Using Boolean operators with your search terms will help you

◦ Narrow your search

◦ Find more relevant, useful resources

◦ Ex: AND, OR, NOT, etc.

AND narrows your search

◦ Cookies AND milk will retrieve records which contain both the words cookies and milk

NOT narrows your search

◦ Chocolate NOT cake will retrieve records which contain the term chocolate but not cake

OR broadens your search:

◦ Caffeine OR coffee will retrieve records which contain either caffeine or coffee

“Nesting” – the use of parentheses to put your search terms into sets.

Ex: success AND (education OR employment) will retrieve records with the word “success” and the word “education” or the word “employment.”

In other words, for a result to be returned, it MUST contain the word “success.” It MUST also contain either the word “education” OR the word “employment.”

Nesting is often used when search terms have similar meanings

◦ Ex: education AND (employment OR jobs)

You can also create nesting within nesting

◦ EX: (driving AND (texting OR distraction OR distracted)) NOT (alcohol OR “drunk driving”)

◦ Ex:(teenager OR adolescent) AND (media OR movie OR TV) AND ((“eating disorder” OR bulimia OR anorexia) NOT (“drug use” OR “substance abuse”))

Stop words – commonly used words that will stop a keyword search because they occur too frequently in records.

◦ Common stop words: the, an, at, for, from, then.

When constructing a keyword search, choose the most important words.

Research question: “What are the effects of Global Warming on agriculture?”

Keywords: global warming, effects, agriculture.

◦ The words “what,” “is,” “of,” and “the” are not descriptive of your topic.

Search phrase: global warming AND (effects AND agriculture)

When constructing a keyword search, choose the most important words.

Research question “How can we prevent teen suicide?”

Keywords: prevent, teen, suicide.

◦ The words “how,” “can,” and “we” are not descriptive of your topic.

Search phrase: “suicide prevention” AND (teenager OR adolescent)

Identifying Sources

Academic sources - peer-reviewed journals and articles found in academic databases

Books written by professionals within their respective fields may also be academic

◦ If the author has “Dr.” or “Ph.D.” attached to her or his name, the source is probably academic.

Many books compiled by an editor (except fiction anthologies) can also be academic sources

Writers of pseudo-academic articles rarely have academic credentials or a degree in the subject they’re reporting but usually have a background in writing.

The sources generally make an effort to do their fact-checking, but articles are not peer-reviewed and can make mistakes or misinform.

Pseudo-academic sources can be:

◦ Respectable news periodicals

◦ Government and some organization websites

◦ best used for information on recent events

These can show up on academic databases, so limit your search to peer-reviewed, scholarly journals.

Use pseudo-academic sources sparing, if ever, in academic papers, and only when inserting real-time news on current events.

The New York Times and Wall Street Journalnewspapers

Time, U. S. News and World Report, and Newsweek magazines

Websites such as inhalants.org, norml.org, and www.uhcan.org are examples.

Be wary of most websites unless you can prove the site’s credible authorship

Websites with .com, .net, and .org can be purchased by anyone

Websites with .gov are exclusively published by the government and often offer useful statistical and legal information

Websites, regardless of how reliable the information, should never take the place of academic articles/books

Articles found in popular periodicals

◦ Ex.: People magazine, the Northwest Indiana Timesnewspaper

Sacred or religious texts: The Bible, the Qur’an, etc.

Abstracts

Book reviews (even if the review is of an academic book)

Most introductions to fictional works (regardless of where they are published)

Movies and TV shows

Wikipedia

Indiana residents may register for inspire.net, which will provide a password (for free) to access many full-text articles from home.

INSPIRE offers the use of EbscoHost (the same as Academic Search Premiere).

Thanks and Good Luck!