WR227 Instructional Session
When using the Barber Library site (and conducting research in general), it's important to have a strategy. Let's start off with a scenario....
Imagine you just received a research assignment.....
You were assigned an 8-10 formal report that requires scholarly sources. What do you do:
- Where do you start searching?
Protip: if you would start with Google, that's OK, but ask yourself is Google a "source"? Is the Library webpage a "source"? - What words (also known as keywords) would you use to start searching? Do you use any filtering options?
- What type of materials are you finding? How do you determine what you'll use and what you'll ignore?
- How do you determine if a source meets the definition of "scholarly" that your instructor expects? How do you define "scholarly"?
- How long does this process take for you? Do you only do it once or do you come back to it as you write?
Information Literacy
What you just did--building a strategy, making the most effective use of your time to search, and critically evaluating the source you choose--is called information literacy. Why is this important to you?
A lot of this takes practice (and sometimes you have to ask for help!), but a quick cheat sheet to help evaluate sources is available by asking yourself, is this source CRAAP?
A lot of this takes practice (and sometimes you have to ask for help!), but a quick cheat sheet to help evaluate sources is available by asking yourself, is this source CRAAP?
Google Sources
One way of assisting your Google Scholar search is linking your account to the Barber Library. That way, you can get around those pesky journals that ask you to pay for resources. NEVER PAY FOR SOURCES! Ask your librarian before whipping out your credit card!
- Search quotations or exact phrases using quotation marks “”
example: “personal bubble” - Ignore words that aren’t relevant to your topic by using -
example: twins -Minnesota -movie - If you find a website you really like and want to see other websites that are related, type related:URL to find similar websites
example: related:finaid.org - If you only want websites that are educational or published by the government, you can limit your search to certain domains by typing site:.domain
example: fluoride site:.gov
Basic Library Search Resources
Let's look at the Barber Library webpage, there are several ways to access resources:
Have you used Academic Search Premier before? Why would you use it? When would it be a good idea to use other databases?
Library Search Strategies
Protip: Think of a library database like Netflix or Hulu (which both happen to also be databases!) You should avoid combining more than four concepts in one search so that you don't get too specific and narrow your results to 0. For example: I want to watch cooking shows? I would only search for the following: cooking
Protip: You should avoid combining more than four concepts in one search so that you don't get too specific and narrow your results to 0. For example: What are the benefits of offering sex education to LGBTQIA students? My keywords might include the following: sex education, LGBTQIA, students.
Protip: Avoid using relationship words like benefits, pro, con, best practice, negative, positive, etc.
But how do you combine those concepts in a library database? Use advanced search techniques, of course!
Boolean operators: Limit your results using AND, expand your results using OR, eliminate unnecessary results using NOT
Protip: make sure to use all caps when using Boolean operators.
example: (LGBTQ OR LGBTQIA) AND "sex education*" AND student NOT middle
Phrase Searching: If you want your keywords to appear in a specific order, like a phrase, try using quotation marks ""
example: "sex education"
Title Searches: Too many results? Using the drop-down menu next to the search bar, limit your search keywords to only appearing in article titles.
Protip: Avoid using relationship words like benefits, pro, con, best practice, negative, positive, etc.
But how do you combine those concepts in a library database? Use advanced search techniques, of course!
Boolean operators: Limit your results using AND, expand your results using OR, eliminate unnecessary results using NOT
Protip: make sure to use all caps when using Boolean operators.
example: (LGBTQ OR LGBTQIA) AND "sex education*" AND student NOT middle
Phrase Searching: If you want your keywords to appear in a specific order, like a phrase, try using quotation marks ""
example: "sex education"
Title Searches: Too many results? Using the drop-down menu next to the search bar, limit your search keywords to only appearing in article titles.
Using Library resources you can filter your search even further, evaluate the author and--oh yeah--you can even create a fully-formed citation!
Too much? Ask for help!
I know that there's a lot of information here, and you might still have questions, even after this session. That's what librarians are for! You can always contact me, but there are also several other options for you to contact any Barber Library librarian.
Just look for this icon or go directly to Help page and you'll be connected to someone who can help you come up with keywords, cite your sources, choose databases, and help with your general library needs! |