Tips & Tricks

Putting the Research Puzzle Together

Tips for Searching

• Finding Books • Name Search • Finding Articles

Tips for Searching

• Interlibrary Loan • Citations/Citing Sources • Finding Scholarly Sources

Tips for Searching

• Finding Scholarly Internet Sources • Journal Abbreviations • Use Sources to Find More Sources

Traditional books and ebooks

FINDING BOOKS

Finding Books

• Search Solomon • Books with Books and more (Library Catalog)

Finding Books

• Search Solomon Advanced • Books with Books and more (Library Catalog) • Language = English • Publication date

Finding Books

• Specific Title known • Select keywords from title - in the title field • Specific Title unknown • Search main topic in the title field • If that doesn’t work, use the subject field

How to search

NAMES

Name Search • “Author” or “Subject” field  Last name only OR • Use first initial if the last name is very common, (i.e. Adams, Jones, Smith) • Use Last name, space, first name (narrower search) if necessary

Name Search • For Biographies use “Subject” field • Last name biography in Subject • Use Last name biography anywhere in the record to find collective biographies

Full-text online or physically in the library

FINDING ARTICLES

Finding Articles

• Search Solomon/Solomon Advanced • Articles with Articles and more (searches the journals in the Solomon cloud) • Search Databases • Select Category (i.e. Biblical Studies, Education, Communication, Psychology, etc.) • Searches journals in other clouds like EBSCO, ProQuest and Opposing Viewpoints • Best method when a professor recommends specific journals

Finding Articles

• Find Databases • Find Databases again (top right corner) • Search a personally selected database or set of databases.

• Search a database that can only be searched directly through the provider’s portal.

• Discover indexes and databases listed in each category • those searched by Solomon • those that must be searched directly

Finding Articles

• Find Journals • Used when all you have is a citation to a specific article.

• usually discovered in the notes of a book or article • sometimes recommended by a professor, fellow student, etc.

• Search for the journal title from the citation.

• Discover if the library has access to the journal • The article may be online or it may be physically in the library periodical collection.

• It may be the library has the journal but not the specific issue needed to access the article

Traditional Books and Articles

INTERLIBRARY LOAN

Interlibrary Loan

• Use ILL when needed book or article is not available in the library.

• Select “Interlibrary Loan” from main menu • Select “book” or “article” as needed • Fill out form and Submit • ILL will NOT work for • Theses, dissertations • CD’s, DVD, other media

Recognition and Creation

CITATIONS

Citations

• Learn to recognize citation types : • Journal article will have two titles : an Article Title followed by a Journal Title (usually abbreviated); volume and issue numbers often included • Book will have a City and Publisher • Dissertation “thesis” or thesis respectively will say “dissertation” or • Online sources will end with a date accessed.

Citations

• • • • Use the bibliographic record to identify correct citation information gather all necessary bibliographic information See the “Details” tab

Citing Sources

• The

best

way to know how to cite sources is to read the chapter in the style manual that gives instructions for proper citation formatting.

• Reduces confusion • Increases understanding

Citing Sources

• Resist the urge to simply look for an example that seems to fit. • Take a few minutes to read these very valuable pages describing the rules for each element of a citation:

Citing Sources

• APA – chapters 6 and 7 • Chicago/Turabian – chapters 16 and 17 • CSE – chapter 29 (Name/Year) • MLA – chapters 5 and 6

Books, Articles, Web sites

FINDING SCHOLARLY SOURCES

Finding Scholarly Sources

• These Research Guides will help • Identifying Scholarly Resources – Books • Distinguish primary, secondary and tertiary sources • Identifying Scholarly Resources – Periodicals • Distinguish between magazines, journals, scholarly journals and peer reviewed/refereed journals

Finding Scholarly Sources

Internet Searching

Internet Searching

Used in citations, syllabi, conversations

ACRONYMS, INITIALISMS, ABBREVIATIONS

Journal Abbreviations

• Acronyms, Initialisms and Abbreviations • “ acronymfinder.com

” • SBL Handbook (Society of Biblical Literature) (808.027 Sb41a, 1999; chapter 8)

The key to doing research

USE SOURCES TO FIND MORE SOURCES

The Key to Research

• Use Sources to find more sources: the key to doing research • • • Cited References / Bibliographies from books, articles, Web sites, etc.

Authors and Titles from text books, cited references, OPAC records, etc.

Subject Headings / Descriptors from bibliographic references in OPAC and indexes

The Key to Research

• The key to doing research: Use Sources to find more sources • • • Call numbers from OPAC records, browse shelves Persons, Places, Events from readings Related terminology: professional jargon, colloquialisms, broader/narrower terms, variant spellings, common terms, scientific terms, etc. from OPAC records, LC Subject Headings, abstracts, articles, books and other reading, etc.