College Success Session
What are we talking about today?
- Why evaluation matters.
- Where to search when we use the library website.
- How to search efficiently in library resources (and how that's different from what we might be used to).
- How to read articles once we find them.
- And how to get help with all this!
Let's talk about why evaluation matters.
What characteristics do you look for when you determine if you'll use something or ignore it? How do you determine what you want to use for your assignments, and is that different than what you use when researching outside of school? Would you consider something like this to be "scholarly"? How about this?
Let's talk about where to search when we use the library website.
There's a lot of information on the library homepage. What's the first thing you notice on this page?
Click here to view the library homepage live.
To see a road map for information that will help you make decisions about where to click on this page, click on the arrows in the image below:
Click here to view the library homepage live.
To see a road map for information that will help you make decisions about where to click on this page, click on the arrows in the image below:
There's a lot of information there, even with our road map! You know who's great at helping you sift through a lot of information? Librarians! Always feel comfortable asking for help in selecting where to search!
Let's practice picking places to search on the library website by playing a game! Click here to get started.
Let's practice picking places to search on the library website by playing a game! Click here to get started.
Let's talk about how to search efficiently.
When you search in a database you want to search only the most important words--I call it Hulkspeak, but you can call it whatever you want! The good news is, you already know how to search in a database if you've used a database like Netflix or Hulu before!
If I type in "I want to watch cooking shows" into Hulu, I get a bunch of stuff--but none of it is relevant to what I want to watch!
If I type in "I want to watch cooking shows" into Hulu, I get a bunch of stuff--but none of it is relevant to what I want to watch!
But if I just type in the most important word, "cooking," I get stuff that's a lot more relevant to what I want to watch!
So let's find articles together! Starting from the beginning, we need to find a tool to start searching. Where would you click on the library homepage to get started searching for topics on study skills strategies or career planning?
Now that we have selected our tool, we have to think of our keywords...I like to start broad so something like career planning or study strategy. How might we combine these words that make sense to databases? How might our searches change if we put career planning in quotations like this: "career planning"
Now that we have selected our tool, we have to think of our keywords...I like to start broad so something like career planning or study strategy. How might we combine these words that make sense to databases? How might our searches change if we put career planning in quotations like this: "career planning"
Sometimes you'll find an article--the *perfect* article--but it will have this link rather than a link to the full text. What would you do?
Regardless if we have full text, you'll find a lot of helpful tools available in the library databases. Look for these tools, they are your friends!
Let's talk about how to read articles once we find them.
To get started, let's consider the different sections you might find in academic articles.
Protip: all articles are not created equal so this is not an exhaustive list. You may see some of the following, all of the following, references to sections similar to the following, etc., etc. You need to use your best judgement and context when using academic articles for research.
Protip: all articles are not created equal so this is not an exhaustive list. You may see some of the following, all of the following, references to sections similar to the following, etc., etc. You need to use your best judgement and context when using academic articles for research.
- Title
- Abstract
- Introduction
- Literature Review
- Methods
- Results
- Discussion/Conclusion
- References
Now that we know each section, how do we get started reading? To begin, you want to answer two questions: What is the article about? And what is the point/main argument of the author(s)?
You can answer these two questions by skimming the title, journal, author credentials, abstract, introduction, and/or discussion/conclusion.
After skimming, read the whole article and summarize each paragraph or section with a few words/sentences in the margin. After you're done reading, number three or four of the most important points, making it easier to identify later.
Tips for note taking:
You can answer these two questions by skimming the title, journal, author credentials, abstract, introduction, and/or discussion/conclusion.
After skimming, read the whole article and summarize each paragraph or section with a few words/sentences in the margin. After you're done reading, number three or four of the most important points, making it easier to identify later.
Tips for note taking:
- Circle jargon or technical terms you don't understand so you can look them up/incorporate them into your keywords later;
- Highlight quotes you can't paraphrase so you can distinguish between your own words and direct quotes;
- Put a check mark next to references relevant to your topic you might want to look up later;
- When you're done, make a note of how this article could be useful to you.
Let's talk about how to get help with all of this!
All of this works really well on campus AND at home! All you need to do to access these resources from any computer with Internet access is to sign in with your email address and email password.
But let's say that doesn't work. Or that when you start your search, you find yourself getting stumped. That's totally normal, there's a lot to this whole research thing! To help you, the library offers a wide range of services. We'll help even if you're not using library resources, you just have to ask!