Getting Help
Hi, I'm
Krista Knapp,
your friendly research/instructional librarian, and I'm here to
help you!
The best way to get ahold of me is probably email:
kmknapp@salisbury.edu.
My office number is
Blackwell Library 128. It's
best to make an appointment before dropping by.
You can visit the Research
Services Desk for help most days between 10am and 10pm. You can also
reach us virtually by sending an
instant message.
You
can also get help 24 hours a day/7 days a week through the
Maryland AskUsNow chat reference service:
http://askusnow.info/
Finding Books and Background Info
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!
Books from other USMAI
Libraries
You can also borrow books from any of the USMAI affiliations 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. Watch this
tutorial to see the process!
Finding Articles
Ask yourself if you need
scholarly sources or popular sources for your assignment.
Many times, your professor will insist on scholarly sources.
What does that mean? Find out using this
handy-dandy chart.
Note: If you are off campus, you will
be prompted to log in with the 14 digit barcode on the back of
your Gull Card.
-
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.
-
Business Source Premier - Full
text coverage in all disciplines of business, including
marketing, management, MIS, POM, accounting, finance and
economics.
-
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.
-
Lexis-Nexis Academic - a great source
for full-text world news and legal information.
-
National Newspapers - a source of
U.S. news from major papers including The New York Times
and The Washington Post
Pay
close attention to the keywords you use to search! Here
are some tips:
-
Avoid long phrases and articles/prepositions
-
Separate terms into multiple search boxes
-
Brainstorm synonyms for your terms
-
Keep it simple!
Find It Button
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!
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.
Some potentially useful
websites for data and statistics:
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 have a fondness for
the
Online Writing Lab from Purdue University.
