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LIBRARY AND INFORMATION RESEARCH TUTORIAL
Clifton Fowler Library
Phone: 303-963-3250
Toll-Free: 1-877-777-6132
Fax: 303-963-3251
E-mail:
cculibrary@ccu.edu
QUESTION: Are there other Information Tutorials to try with self-quizzing?
Both the LEAP Information Literacy Tutorial and the TILT Tutorial are good ones.
QUESTION: How long does it take to do research for a paper?
There are a number of variants: the person, how long the paper has to be, and the availability of resources on a particular topic. It takes considerably more time to select, gather, and evaluate resources than one might imagine. If you will be using resources from off-campus sources you should factor in a week or more of additional time.
Some subjects are inherently more time consuming to research than others. For example, if the searcher is inexperienced, finding literary criticism may take longer than expected. Also, some topics have quite a lot written about them and others have very little. Controversial topics may have copious resources from one point of view, but it may take a while to gather background in the opposing view.
If the topic is extremely narrow, it may be difficult to find enough information. Focusing too narrowly is a common failure point. On the other hand if the topic is very broad, then it may be hard for the researcher to focus on enough specifics to make an interesting paper.
To keep your stress level down, plan for sufficient time to identify and gather material, time to take notes, time to think about synthesis and organization of thoughts, and plenty of writing time. If you had to write a review of an article or two on a topic, starting the process one hour before the assignment is due, would not be a reasonable amount of time for success. GIVE YOURSELF THE LEAD TIME YOU NEED. Start early whenever possible.
QUESTION: How do I go about brainstorming for a topic, organizing my materials, writing a paper in the appropriate style, and citing sources?
Your professor, a librarian, and the CCU Writing Center in Beckman are all helpful resources to consult. Also, go to the Library Web and choose Writing Guides. There are many useful writing guidelines at various Web sites and several citation guide Web sites. See the example tutorials that follow. Some offer tips on getting started in the process of writing and others give guidelines for citing sources. Note that today’s electronic journal and other databases need to be cited in new ways.
Online Writing Lab OWL Handouts for Students & Teachers (Purdue)
Citing Sources and Avoiding Plagiarism (Duke; APA, MLA, Chicago, and Turabian)
Citing Electronic Resources: APA Style (UMUC)
Citing Electronic Resources: MLA Style (UMUC)
While taking notes, it is crucial, as you go along, to record the author, title, publication, and date, and pages consulted of any book that you are using. The same is true for the author, title of article, journal name, issue number, date, and pages of any journal article used. This saves you considerable time when you begin your bibliography and in-text citations. When you are ready to record citations, it is very hard to recreate the information after the fact.
When using the work of others in your paper, It is important to understand what constitutes plagiarism. Refer to the Web site below for a good overview of how to avoid plagiarism and for when and how to give the proper credit where due.
Synthesis: Using the Work of Others (UMF)
QUESTION: What materials are in the CCU Library, where should I look, and what are the policies for checkout? What services do you offer and how can I get help?
Refer to the Collections and Services sections of the Library Web. If you need assistance with your research, the Library offers Ask a Librarian E-Mail and Ask Colorado, a 24/7 chat reference.
QUESTION: What are the types of information I could utilize for my research topic?
INFORMATION LITERACY: in brief is competency in identifying and finding appropriate information sources, understanding their nature, and evaluating them with regard to their authority, currency, validity, and relevance to the topic being researched. This Library, Information, & Research Tutorial aims to help you to become more aware of these aspects.
You may want to select resources from any one or all of five areas:
- Books, Videos, Theses, Curriculum Materials, etc.
- Reference
- Journal Articles
- Internet Web Resources
- Newspaper Articles
You may or may not be required to use all five types of information, however, you should plan a minimum of an hour for each type just to start.
TIP: USE THE SUBJECT GUIDES TO SPECIAL TOPICS AS A TEMPLATE TO SEARCHING FOR INFORMATION FOR YOUR RESEARCH TOPIC. THE INFORMATION SEARCH PROCESS IS THE SAME.
QUESTION: Which of the types of information should I start with?
Reference Books (2.) are an excellent place to start for quick compilation or overview of a given topic. The overview article often lists other resources at the end.
Consult these five types of resources in the order of broadest to most specific. Reference works and books are the broadest and journal articles and Internet web resources are the most specific.
To find CCU books and other materials (reference, videos, theses, curriculum materials), search the CCU Library Catalog.
CCU LIBRARY CATALOG
Go to the Library Web and click on Library Catalog, or go directly to Library Catalog.
Search via Title starts with, Author starts with, or Subject starts with. As a second choice, use the keyword searches. In searching it is very important to try as many synonyms as possible. For example: multicultural, diversity, racial, ethnicity, Hispanic American, Asian.
For Biblical searching, try a subject starts with in the following manner: Bible. Commentaries; Bible. O.T. Commentaries; Bible. O.T. Amos; Bible. O.T. Ruth; Bible. N.T. Commentaries, and Bible. N.T. Acts. Also do title, subject, or general keyword searches with the name Ruth, Obadiah, Minor Prophets, etc.
Each record gives the LC call number. LC call numbers have alphabet letters followed by a whole number. Call numbers group like items together. If you find one call number, you can browse the general area fin the stacks for other books on the same topic. See also Collections (Book Collection) for details.
Library of Congress Classification Scheme Outline
Library of Congress Call Number System Overview & Practice (Pitt)All books are on the lower level of the Beckman Center Clifton Fowler Library and circulate for 3 weeks. Books can be renewed twice by phone at 303-963-3250. Each record indicates if the book is available for checkout.
CATALOGS OF OTHER LIBRARIES
To find books and materials in other libraries, go to the Library Web and choose Other Libraries.
Other Libraries are other local libraries and what books/materials they have. One can click on the individual library or one can search many at one time (World Cat, a national list; Prospector, a local list).
Prospector is especially useful (http://prospector.coalliance.org) since it searches twenty three libraries in Colorado and Wyoming with one search.
If you have a Denver or Jeffco public library card you are an individual member of Prospector and can get Prospector items delivered to your local branch within 2-3 days. Make Jeffco card requests at http://info.jefferson.lib.co.us/app_online.html.
Interlibrary Borrowing Services are also an option for CCU researchers, but take more lead time. See Services.
It is highly recommended that you use a reference work as a starting point to get a quick view of the topic and to see major works on it.
Reference works often are compilations where experts give a broad overview of a given topic. Usually there is also a bibliography at the end of the article of other high-quality book and Web sources.
These works may be called encyclopedias, handbooks, directories, dictionaries, and atlases. They may also be statistical in nature. Bible commentaries are heavily used in the CCU Reference Collection.
In the Library Catalog, find this type of material by doing a Subject Starts With Search in the following pattern: psychology – encyclopedias, inventions – encyclopedias, music – dictionaries, education - handbooks.
You can also do a keyword search combining the subject and the type, such as art AND dictionaries, disabilities AND encyclopedias.
Reference books from the Reference Room on the main level are non-circulating, but can be photocopied at the copiers within the room.
GENERAL ENCYCLOPEDIAS:
- Encyclopedia Britannica: Any person or topic could be searched here. CCU has this work in both print and online form. In print = REF AE 5 .E363; Online = go to Reference Works. Many of the specialized encyclopedias are now also online in the Gale Virtual Library. For the passwords, go to the Library Web or contact a Librarian.
SPECIALIZED SUBJECT ENCYCLOPEDIAS/DICTIONARIES/HANDBOOKS:
- Encyclopedia of Philosophy: REF B 41 .E5
- Encyclopedia of Psychology: REF BF 31 .E52
- Encyclopedia of Human Intelligence: REF BF 431 .E59
- Encyclopedia of Religion: REF BL 31 .E46
- Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East: REF DS 43 .E53
- St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture: REF E 169.1 .S764
- Encyclopedia of U.S. Foreign Relations: REF E 183.7 .E53
- Encyclopedia of Marriage and the Family: REF HQ 9 .E52
- Adolescence in America, an Encyclopedia: REF HQ 796 .A33247
- Encyclopedia of Crime & Justice: REF HV 6017 .E52
- International Encyclopedia of Education: REF LB 15 .I569
- New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians: REF ML100 .N48
- The Dictionary of Art: REF N31 .D5
- McGraw-H Encyclopedia of Science & Technology: REF Q 121 .M3
- World of Invention: REF T 15 .W82
OTHER REFERENCE MATERIALS
Material that is so crucial to research that it is needed at all times the Library is open, is housed in Reference. Examples are: almanacs with facts and statistics, atlases, Bible commentaries, biographies, business and company directories.
- World Almanac & Book of Facts: REF AY .N5 W7
- Interpreter’s Bible: REF BS 491.2 .I55
- Historic World Leaders: REF D 412 .H57
- Dictionary of Life in Bible Times: REF DS 111 .P4
- D & B Million Dollar Directory: REF HC 102 .D8
- Hoover’s Handbook of American Business REF HG 4057 .A28617
- Dun & Bradstreet…Industry Handbook: REF HG 4907 .D86
- Great American Court Cases: REF KF 385 .A4 G68
- CLEP Study Guide: REF LB 2353.68 .C65
- DSST: Dantes Subject Standard…Tests: REF LB 2353.7 .R84 D77
- College Blue Book: REF LA 226 .C685
- Countries and Their Cultures: REF GN 307 .C68
- Contemporary Literary Criticism: REF PN 771 .C59
- American Writers: REF PS 129 .A58
- The Riverside Shakespeare: REF PR 2754 .E9
****EVALUATION OF BOOKS AND REFERENCE MATERIALS****
Reference materials are created by experts in the field who work hard to provide a balanced, unbiased, comprehensive overview of a topic, even controversial ones.
Books, however, can be written with a viewpoint so the reader must always be aware of the point of view of the author. Some topics are hot topics that have pros and cons and have had books written on both sides of the issue or the controversy/debate. If one is researching a topic with several sides to the issue, try searching the keywords: “opposing viewpoints,” “at issue,” “issues in,” “controversy” or “controversies,” “debate,” "taking sides," etc.
To find full-text journal articles online, go to the Library Web, choose Journal Indexes and Full-Text Articles, and use a CCU-Licensed Full-Text Database, such as Academic Search Premier, Business Source Premier, ProQuest, ATLA/S Religion, Lexis-Nexis Academic Universe, or others on the page.
A. CCU-LICENSED ONLINE JOURNAL ARTICLE DATABASES AND INDEXES
CCU Library has more than 20,000 online full-text journals available 24/7. For access, registered students/faculty should consult the authorization/passwords handout at the Circulation Desk or call 303-963-3250 and request. The Library Web also has them. Lexis-Lexis is available via your personal CU ID and password. Each database is described in brief with information on how to access.
ProQuest: ProQuest is comprehensive, covering all subjects including psychology and religion. Drop down menus show the date range. Normally one leaves the default as all databases and all dates. One can select only full-text and one can request only peer-reviewed or scholarly journals. One can also select Publication Search to limit to a specific journal.
Academic Search Premier or Business Source Premier: Excellent for full-text in all subject areas from more than 7,500 journals. Select Publications to limit to a specific journal.
Lexis-Nexis Academic Universe: This database has hundreds of U.S. and international newspapers, as well as trade magazines. The New York Times, other major papers, ethnic papers, and AP wires are here with extensive back holdings. It also has a reference component.
ATLA/S Religion: Choose “list all databases” at the left, middle side of the page in the gray area, check ATLAReligion, and at the bottom or top of the list click Select.
International Index to Music Periodicals: Full-text to over sixty major music journals and indexing for significant numbers of others.
The Library purchases databases of thousands of journal articles as a subscription package licensed to to current CCU individuals. These journal articles are accessed via a URL linking to the subscription agent's database, and the journals are not considered to be on the Web. They are offered online via the database, but they are not freely available or searchable through a Web search engine . This is a concept that is somewhat difficult and a fine distinction that is not always obvious.
One is not searching the World Wide Web, but is merely utilizing the Internet as an access mechanism to a purchased database of journals that is an equivalent to multiple subscriptions in print. When a professor says you may not use the Web in your research or journal articles found on the World Wide Web, this statement does not refer or apply to Databases of journal articles for which the Library pays and is licensed to use.
Magazines, journals, scholarly journals, peer-reviewed journals.
Magazines contain popular articles, are written by staff or non-scholars, have a lot of advertising, and do not cite studies, research or other works in footnotes or bibliographies.
Example: Prevention
Journals are more scholarly, written by experts in the field. They may be published by an Association. Articles may have charts, graphs, and cite other scholars in footnotes and bibliographies.
Example: Journal of Sports Medicine
Scholarly/Peer-reviewed (also called refereed) journals accept articles by experts only after rigorous review by other colleagues and authorities in the field. They are the most scholarly in nature and have extensive footnotes, graphs, charts, and bibliographies. Many prospective contributors are turned down and only the best articles are selected for publication. ProQuest, Academic Search Premier, and Business Source Premier allow you to limit to only peer-reviewed or "scholarly" articles.
Example: JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association)
****EVALUATION OF JOURNAL ARTICLES****
Most journal articles are not freely available on the Internet, although some may be. On the Web content may be limited to the latest issue or just selected articles or be of unknown quality, authority (written by untrained individuals, high school students, etc.), bias, or unknown currency. It is highly recommended that one search for journal articles in an online database first since, the database evaluates the quality of the articles before inclusion in the database.
INDEXES OF JOURNAL CITATIONS
For journal citations use an Index. An Index does NOT provide the article itself, but gives enough information about a journal article to find it either within a CCU-Licencsed Database of Journal Articles (See A) or within a Hard Copy Printed Journal on the shelf of a library (See B).
Examples of Indexes to Journal Citations:
Christian Periodicals Index - Religion
ERIC – Education (EJ 000 000 is not useful; write down the journal citation)
(ED 000 000 is helpful; use to select fiche in the Document Collection)
Definition of a Journal Citation: Information sufficient to identify the journal article.
Title of the article, author, JOURNAL TITLE, place of publication (optional), date of journal issue, volume and issue number, page(s) of the article.
Example - Academic Search Premier: Treat Students Right by Valuing Their Diversity, AUTHOR: Meuleners, Matthew. SOURCE: The Education Digest v.67 no4 (Dec. 2001) p.46-51.
Example - ProQuest: Should Charity be Mandatory? Scholastic Choices; New York; May 2000, vol.15, no.8; Jonathan Fox, p.4.
In these examples, look for The Education Digest and Scholastic Choices.
Before you can find the journal article, you must FIRST FIND THE JOURNAL ITSELF (sometimes called the SOURCE). Use the Journals List Notebook for Hard Copy Printed Journals (See B), OR Use a portion of the Title of the article as a search phrase in a CCU-Licensed Journal Article Database, such as ProQuest (See A).
Definition of an Abstract: Sometimes a journal citation is accompanied by a very brief summary of what is contained in the full journal article. This gives you enough information to know if you want to find and read the full article.
Example: Two teenagers respond to the question of whether charity in the form of community service should be a mandatory requirement for graduation from high school. (Abstract for “Should Charity be Mandatory?”)
B. LOCATION OF CCU HARD COPY PRINTED JOURNAL TITLES AND ISSUES
CCU Library does subscribe to some journal titles in printed hard copy, even though the vast majority of CCU’s journals are in Online CCU-Licensed Journal Databases. The blue Journals List Notebook at the Reference Desk gives close to 400 print hard copy journal and newspaper titles and the holdings.
Issues are alphabetically arranged by journal title in the Current Journals Room. Issues are non-circulating, but may be copied on the Reference Room student copier. Back issues are alphabetically arranged in the Back Journals Room just beyond Current Journals.
For any journal article that CCU does not own, Interlibrary Borrowing is an option with sufficient lead time.
Go to the Library Web and choose Web Search for searching the Web. Google.com is often the first choice for its cutting-edge search capabilities and extremely high relevance for general searching.
****EVALUATION OF WEB SOURCES****
Organizations, educational entities, the government, and individuals offer vast quantities of information via the Internet. It is important to evaluate sources for apparent validity, authority, bias, accuracy, and currency. Look carefully at the Web address (URL) to see if it is:
gov = government
org = organization
edu = education
or other (~ = tilde indicates a personal Web page)
Evaluating Web Sites (BRCC)
Evaluating Sources of Information (JMU)(Choose Module 6)
Evaluating Web Pages: Techniques to Apply & Questions to Ask (Berkeley)(thorough)
Internet Tutorial (Web Search Basics, Basic Internet Concepts, Vocabulary & Web Search Skills)
The Library has purchased some quality Web sites from InetLibrary under Reference Works and has selected some that are relevant to the curriculum at Research Links.
Lexis-Nexis Academic Universe: Choose “news,” and then a “News Category” and a “News Source.” This database has hundreds of U.S. and international newspapers. The New York Times, other major papers, ethnic papers, and AP wire services are included with extensive back holdings.
****EVALUATION OF NEWSPAPER ARTICLES****
Newspaper articles can be written from a particular point of view. It may be valuable to examine articles from newspapers in other countries of the world, particularly on political, foreign relations, or hot topic issues.
