The Basics
Academic Integrity, Search Strategy, Selected Resources
Academic Integrity
For an overview of academic integrity, the principles by which scholars work, see
http://libresos.pbwiki.com/academic-integrity-and-conventions
Search Strategy: Think, Plan, Find, Evaluate, Cite
and Remember to ASK if you need help.
Library home page: http://www.library.csueastbay.edu
Librarians by subject: http://www.library.csueastbay.edu/librarians.htm
Ask a Librarian: http://www.library.csueastbay.edu/staff/ask_main.htm (the "space" in the URL is an underline)
Think and Plan
University of Minnesota assignment calculator: http://www.lib.umn.edu/help/calculator
Owl at Purdue: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/
Find and Evaluate
Questions to help you evaluate: http://libresos.pbwiki.com/Evaluation
There are two key places on the library home page:
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"HAYSTAC catalog" is a database of materials available through the University Libraries - books, media, some journal titles - that you can access on campus or from home
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the "A to Z list of databases" provides a list of our subscription databases, to which you have access in the building and, if you are a member of the CSUEB community, also from home. From home, you will need to "authenticate," that is, enter your net ID and last name each time you want to use one of the subscription databases. The catalog is free and open.
Need an overview? Try reference sources, which you can find through the library catalog or through various databases.
Online encyclopedias: Britannica Online, CQ Researcher, wikipedia
A word about wikipedia: as anyone can change wikipedia, this is NOT an authoritative source,
no matter how useful it is. Whatever you find there, you need to verify in another source.
Subject encyclopedias in politics, medicine, education, etc. - search the library catalog
Other reference sources: Opposing Viewpoints series, statistical sources, bibliographies, dictionaries, handbooks, etc.
The Catalog (http://libcat.csueastbay.edu)
You can search by the various options on the library catalog screen, but if you're not sure how to approach a topic, start with "words." As an example, if we wanted to find an "opposing viewpoints" book on a topic, we'd enter those two words. We could "limit" the search to the collection or to more current dates. We could use some of the other limiters on the screen.
Some of your searches will result in a mix of formats - print books, e-books, audio-visual materials.
For e-books, you can click and "connect." At home, you may need to download a plug-in to access e-books.
For print books, you can look on the shelves. You read the call number "line by line" and you need to know that the period is a decimal point, so that .S45 falls between .S4 and .S5.
If the book is not in the catalog, you can "repeat search in LINK+" and see if one of our partner libraries has the book.
Databases
What is a "database"?
a comprehensive collection of related data organized for convenient access, nowadays, usually in a computer.
What is an "index"?
a list, usually a sequential arrangement of material, especially in alphabetical or numerical order.
Some databases are indexes, some are full text, and some are a "mix."
Some databases are general in content, e.g., Academic Search Premier;
some are specific to a discipline or set of disciplines, e.g. Web of Science, Sociology Abstracts
If you don't know which database to pick, you can either click on the "description" or you can choose the "Subject Guide to Resources and Databases" and check the discipline where you need to search. Remember that the discipline you want to pick is the discipline of your topic, not your class. If you are in an English class, but writing about the Civil War, you need to use a history database.
An example of a newspaper database is "ProQuest Newspapers." It has current information, which may be more or less important for your topic.
An example of a general database is "Academic Search Premier."
Examples of subject databases are ERIC (Education), America: history and life (History), Sport Discus (Kinesiology).
Some items on your results list have links to full text. If not, SFX is a tool that searches across the resources of the library to see if there is full text for other items, so click on "check SFX for full text" or whatever wording is in the particular database you're searching.
Once you get results that are useful, look around the screen for other clues, such as "Find More Like This" or "Subjects" or terms in the titles of the results that you think might give you better results. Then, you can use them to refine your search.
The Web
Most of you know Google, but there is iGoogle, Google Books, Google Scholar, and other Google search engines.
There are also other search engines like Yahoo or Ask Jeeves or Dogpile. Dogpile searches a number of search engines at once.
Like wikipedia, things can change in an instant and many sites are not reliable, so verify data in authoritative sources.
Citing your sources
From the library home page, click on "site map."
Click "citing resource and style guides."
These tools are wonderful for getting you started, but the official sources for MLA and APA citation are the manuals at the reference desk. Bring your ID card because if you want to use them, the librarian will keep your card until you return the book.
Contact information:
Don't forget to "Ask a Librarian"
If you have questions about this session or I can help you, contact me as follows:
Aline Soules
aline.soules@csueastbay.edu
510-885-4596
copyright Aline Soules 2008
under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/us/
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