Getting Help
Hi, I'm
Krista Knapp,
your friendly reference/instructional librarian, and I'm here
to help you!
How to get in touch with me:
Other sources of help:
Background Information
Reference sources are a good
place to start your research. What is a reference source?
A reference source is something you consult for a specific piece
of information, not something you read from cover to cover.
Reference sources include encyclopedias, dictionaries,
handbooks, thesauri, atlases, almanacs, directories, etc.
Blackwell Library's reference collection is located on the main
floor. Consult the
Library of
Congress Classification outline to see the call number area
for your topic.
Why can't I just use Wikipedia, you ask? Well, anybody and
their brother can get on Wikipedia and write whatever they want,
for starters! Plus, there are tons of more reliable,
authoritative sources out there for you to use. And, I just
can't resist sharing my favorite Colbert Report clip about the
downfalls of Wikipedia. View it here (and please ignore the
brief commercial at the beginning!):
http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/72347/july-31-2006/the-word---wikiality
Finding Books
Find books in Blackwell Library
using our
online library catalog.
Books in our library are arranged using
Library of Congress Classification.
The books you can check out are located on the second floor of
the library. If you ever have trouble finding a book you want,
PLEASE ask for help at the Research Desk!
You can also find books
in other USMAI Libraries
by selecting the "choose campus" link at the top of the catalog
page and then selecting "USMAI All Campuses." When you find a
book you want that is not in Blackwell, click the "request"
button and use your ID number to login. You can have the book
delivered to Blackwell within 3 or 4 days.
This tutorial shows you how it's done!
Finding Articles
Why should you
use the library databases and not Google
to find articles?
Most of the time,
scholarly publications are not
available to the general public, nor are they
available for free on the internet. Individuals or
organizations (such as a library) subscribe to these
publications. Because subscriptions are expensive, many
choose to access this content through libraries.
Often, content from
scholarly journals is indexed in databases that
the library subscribes
to. The content is on the web, but it is not accessible unless
you are affiliated with the institution that
is subscribing. It isn’t the same thing as just finding a
website through a regular Google search.
Sometimes the full text of the article is available
through the database; other times it is only a citation to the
article and you will need to find the print version of the
article in the library or order the article through interlibrary
loan if we don’t subscribe to it.
So, basically what
I'm saying is that the only way you can access this scholarly
information for free is by using the library databases!
Here are some
databases that should be useful for finding scholarly articles:
(Note:
You will be asked to log in with your Gull Card barcode number
if you are off campus.)
-
Academic Search Complete
- a
multidisciplinary database containing both scholarly and
popular sources, many of which have full-text available.
ASP is a good place to start your research. Use the
FindIt button to locate articles that are not available
full-text.
-
Communication & Mass Media Complete - our new database
for Communication and Media studies! An EBSCO database
like Academic Search Complete, you will find both scholarly,
popular and trade sources as well as full text and
citations.
-
JSTOR
- a huge, wonderful database of scholarly communication from
a wide variety of disciplines. Almost all of the
articles are full text, but the newest full text documents are 3-5 years old.
WHAT DOES THAT CUTE LITTLE FIND IT BUTTON DO, ANYWAY?
It's a bit like magic,
really. The Find It button does three things:
-
Looks in all of our
databases to see if the document you want is available
full-text in another of our databases. If so, it links you
to it!
-
Links you to the library
catalog when we have the item you want in print or
microform.
-
Links you to ILLiad
(interlibrary loan) so you can borrow the item from another
library if we don't have access electronically or in print.
The Find It button is YOUR
FRIEND!!!
This
tutorial lets you see the FIND IT BUTTON in action!
AND,
this tutorial gives you a little insight about Interlibrary
Loan!
Scholarly V. Popular Sources: A Showdown!
Here are the basics:
(Check out this
handy dandy
chart for more information!)
Popular Magazines/Newspapers:
-
glossy, pretty pages
with lots of advertisements and pictures
-
written by hired
reporters for a general audience
-
short, easily read
articles
Scholarly Journals:
-
somewhat dull
looking - very few pictures or advertisements
-
written by experts
in the field and reviewed by other scholars before
publication
-
long articles with
citations and bibliographies at the end
And about literature reviews!
Some links for you to check out:
Evaluating Websites
Always make
sure that internet resources are appropriate for your project.
Look at the criteria listed on this
website. If you
have questions about the appropriateness of a website, please
check with your professor or a librarian.
Citing your work
Plagiarism
is not cool. Of course you want to make
sure you give proper credit to any source that you use to write
your papers, whether you directly quote or paraphrase.
This
guide helps students understand what plagiarism is and how to
avoid it:
This guide should help you cite your work.
I also
really like the guide by the
OWL
at Purdue.
