WR65 Instructional Session
What are we talking about today?
- Different source types (journals, newspapers, advertisements, websites, etc.).
- Where those different sources are more likely to appear.
- How to search efficiently in different locations.
- And then we'll actually search!
Let's talk about different source types.
To share some source types you're familiar with, click this link and add your example.
Let's talk about where those source types are more likely to appear.
To share where you're already searching, click this link and add a location (it's OK if there are duplicate locations listed here).
Let's see what different source types we find when we search in different places.
If my topic is COCC needs to improve its social media strategy, what source types do I get when searching Google?
What source types do I get when searching Google Scholar?
How about a library database?
Where do I get started when searching on the library website?
If my topic is COCC needs to improve its social media strategy, what source types do I get when searching Google?
What source types do I get when searching Google Scholar?
How about a library database?
Where do I get started when searching on the library website?
Let's talk about searching efficiently in different locations.
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!
Once you have your keywords and you know where you want to start searching, you can type your keywords into your selected database and start working with a results page.
Sometimes you get too many results, or results that aren't relevant to your search. If you did a search in Amazon, to the left below, to find a phone cover, you might start by typing in "phone cover" as your keywords. From you results, you might then filter your results to only show phone covers for a certain brand, or in a certain price range or color. This allows you to take your results from a lot to a more relevant little.
Same principle in library databases. This may look different depending on where you search, but you will always have filter options by date, source type, language, etc.
Sometimes you get too many results, or results that aren't relevant to your search. If you did a search in Amazon, to the left below, to find a phone cover, you might start by typing in "phone cover" as your keywords. From you results, you might then filter your results to only show phone covers for a certain brand, or in a certain price range or color. This allows you to take your results from a lot to a more relevant little.
Same principle in library databases. This may look different depending on where you search, but you will always have filter options by date, source type, language, etc.
Let's start searching!
There are a lot of places out there to start searching. What would I recommend? From the Barber Library homepage (since I'm recommending specific databases), we want the A to Z list, so we click on Articles & Databases.
From there we can select:
From the web, here are some additional recommendations:When you search, you might 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!
From there we can select:
- Credo Reference
- Gale Virtual Reference Library
From the web, here are some additional recommendations:When you search, you might 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!