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This document provides information about reference librarians and research resources at Mercer University's libraries. It includes contact information for Florence Tang, a reference librarian, as well as reference hours. It also outlines steps for developing a research plan and describes various information sources like books, journals, magazines, and websites. It provides guidance on evaluating sources and finding articles using library databases.
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- 1. COMM 270 Florence Tang Liaison to the Penfield College for the Atlanta Campus 678-547-6261 [email protected]
- 2. Cornell University Library definition of a reference librarian http://www.library.cornell.edu/olinuris/ref/research/vocab.html Reference Librarian Reference librarians are specialists in the field of information retrieval. Generally they have a Masters degree in library science… They are available at reference desks to help you find the information you are looking for.
- 3. Florence’s office 10:00 AM -7:00 PM May be working weekends or nights.
- 4. Questions? Ask Reference! (678) 547-6282 (Atlanta) http://libraries.mercer.edu/research-tools- help/ask-a-librarian/swilley/email-reference Reference Hours M - Th 9AM-9PM F 9AM-6PM Sat 10AM-6PM Sun 1PM-9PM Add askmercer as your buddy!
- 6. Remember to start your research early. Not everything can be found full-text online or at all hours. o Interlibrary Loan o Interlibrary Use o Print copies of books and journals o Databases unavailable from off-campus o Reference Librarian
- 8. • Background Reading & Brainstorming • Develop the topic • Focus the topic Encyclopedias
- 9. Finding Information What’s out there • Books • Newspapers/Magazines • Journals • Websites
- 10. Books Good for background Comprehensive Information may not be as current as what you would find in journal articles or web sites. That might or might not be important.
- 11. “Scholarly” Journals • Periodicals used by researchers to share their findings with one another and the public. • They contain articles describing new research or ideas written in a formal manner that includes background information, methods used, results/interpretation and significance. • Research articles are peer-reviewed
- 12. Scholarly Journals How do I tell? • May contain graphs and charts. • Written by a scholar in the field or by someone who has done research in the field. Degrees attained and institutional affiliations are often included by the authors’ names. • Always cite their sources in the form of footnotes or bibliographies • No glossy pages or pictures
- 13. Examples of Scholarly Journals
- 14. Popular Magazines How do I tell? • Slick, glossy and attractive in appearance. • Lots of graphics (photographs, drawings, etc.). • Articles are usually very short, written in simple language . • Generally little depth to the content of these articles.
- 15. Examples of Popular Magazines
- 16. Both are considered scholarly
- 17. Web vs. Libraries • When you use a research or academic library, the books, journals and other resources have already been evaluated by scholars, publishers and librarians. • When you are using the freely available Internet, none of this applies.
- 18. Finding Books Use the CATALOG to find books http://library.mercer.edu When you search the catalog, you will find books that are located in the Swilley Library or another Mercer Library.
- 20. Subject Headings Exercise What is inside all three cans?
- 21. A long keyword search (soft drink) or pop or soda or cola or (carbonated beverage) Search
- 23. AND A AND B
- 24. OR A OR B
- 25. NOT A NOT B
- 27. Number of books (or government documents) found with this keyword
- 28. Is this book here now?
- 30. Links to other books about your topic.
- 36. Finding Articles To find Articles, use a database or index • A database is a collection of citations for articles or similar information • Some databases will contain full texts of articles • Some databases are specific (such as Education or Business) and some cover many subjects
- 37. Finding Articles • Find full-text articles OR – Find a citation – Check to see if your library has the journal in another database – If not, we can order it for you via InterLibrary Loan.
- 38. To find articles, choose a database.
- 40. Sign in to My Research to save searches, and marked articles.
- 41. Limit your search to scholarly journals and…
- 43. Limit the date range by sliding this tab.
- 44. Full text is available. Click on this link Full text is not available here, but maybe we can get it another way.
- 49. Full text is available. Click on this link.
- 51. Sign in to My EBSCOhost to save searches, and marked articles. Limit your search to scholarly journals and/or a specific date range.
- 52. Limit the date range by sliding this tab.
- 53. SUITABILITY • Scope. Is this a general work that provides an overview of the topic or is it specifically focused on only one aspect of your topic? Is it relevant? Does the resource cover the right time period that you are interested in? • Audience. Who is the intended audience for this source? Is the material too technical or too clinical? • Timeliness. When was the source published?
- 54. Objectivity • What point of view does the author represent? • Is the article an editorial that is trying to argue a position? • Is the article published in a magazine that has a particular editorial position?
- 55. Do not • Share your MUID and password with others. • Upload an article to a webpage that others can access. • Copy and paste sections of an article into your paper without using quotations.
- 63. END