Mrs. Beaty’s English Class Search Strategies & Resource Selection Phillip Fitzsimmons Reference and Digitization Librarian Al Harris Library

Do you feel like this guy when deciding what resources to use in an assignment? The purpose of today’s presentation is to help you to discover what resources to use.

Why Should You Use These Resources? These are the resources your professors will want for you to use (and your teacher). The habit of using these resources will contribute to your success as a student and enrich your education. Using the best information resources available to you will make you look smarter and more professional throughout your life. Because it is fun and it feels good. If you need more, see number one.

Remember: Make sure you understand your assignment completely. Plan ahead so that you satisfy all it its requirements. Get most of the information for your assignment through the Library Home Page. Use this session wisely. You will not be able to access most of the resources remotely until you are a SWOSU student, staff, or faculty. Use Web sites mostly for getting ideas, not as sources for your assignment. When in doubt ask your Teacher.

Search Technique Number One: Keywords

Identifying Keywords: Identify the significant terms and concepts that describe your topic from your thesis statement or research question. These terms will become the key for searching catalogs, databases, and search engines for information about your subject.

Keyword Phrases: Single concept, multiple words Some electronic resources require keyword phrases be enclosed with punctuation –Quotation marks – SWOSU Catalog –Parentheses

Examples of Keyword Phrases: “Dental Hygienist” “Information Security Analyst” “Game Design” “Robot Competitions” “Military Robots” “Cheetah Extinction”

Search Technique Number Two: Basic Boolean

Boolean AND = Narrow OR = Expand NOT = Exclude

Boolean Operators Connect keywords only Must be placed between keywords --AND Narrows your search --OR Expands your search with synonymous terms --NOT –Excludes words from your search –If used too much, it can work against you!

Breaking Search Down: If you can’t find what you are looking for break search phrases down: Baby Mammoth Mummy Frozen in Time can be broken into Baby Mammoth Mummy then Mammoth in separate searches. You combine the information from the two sources when you write your paper. Try substituting terms that mean the same thing.

The Resources:

Three Places for Resources: Place Resources CatalogsBooks a.Print books on 2 nd Floor. b.Print reference books on 1 st Floor. c.Ebooks have links in the catalog. DatabasesArticles InternetWeb Pages

Resource I: Books Al Harris Library holds 300,000 volumes. Use the library catalog to find print and ebooks. We have more than 70,000 ebooks. They are exactly like print books except they don’t have to be checked out and can be read on your computer. Many are about current scientific topics. Books will provide information for the scientific and social aspects of your topic.

Three Book Sources: Print books are found on the 2 nd Floor. Ebooks are linked to catalog records. Books not owned by the library can be gotten through interlibrary loan.

SWOSU Libraries Homepage: Books Articles

Use keyword and Boolean strategies when searching the catalog:

Databases Ebsco: Academic Search Complete Biography Reference Center Consumer Health Complete Credo Reference Environment Complete Issues and Controversies JSTOR Journal Archive Military and Government Collection Points of View Reference Center Project Muse PsycARTICLES PsycINFO SocINDEX with Full Text

Source III: Web sites Domain Names are the last letters at the end of web addresses such as.org,.com,.edu,.gov. Including.edu or.gov in your Web search will improve the quality of your search results by retrieving only educational and government Web sites. Examples: Biofuels.gov, Biofuels.edu Consider the following Domain Names:.edu — education,.gov —government,.biz — business,.eu — European country,.in – India,.cn – China. For a dictionary of Domain Names go to:

Source III: Web sites Google Site Search: 1.Use keyword and Site search strategies for finding credible information on the Web. 2.Always be aware of the bias of each site. Government sites 1.Use USA.gov to find information in sites you do not know about. 2.Use the bureau of labor statistics site at for information about careers Use the Smithsonian site at And the USGS site at For science information.

APA Citation Guides: Digital Citing Sources in MLA Style : Al Harris Library (SWOSU) OWL: Purdue Online Writing Lab You can access these remotely without being a SWOSU student.

Expectations When You are a College Student You will be responsible for knowing the requirements of each of your classes and of fulfilling those requirements as scheduled. If you have difficulties with school work you will be responsible for seeking help from your instructor, labs, and tutors. You will need to be extremely conscientious about not plagiarizing when writing papers and doing homework. Most colleges and Universities use Turnitin to catch cheating. You will need to know how to find reliable guides to help you with writing citations.

Recap: 1.The assignment: Know your assignment and cover all of its requirements. 2.Search strategies: Keywords/Boolean 3.Apply strategies to resources 4.Places of resources: Catalogs, for Books Databases, for Articles Web, for Web sites 5.Contact me or any of the other librarians for future help.

Questions? Contact me: –Phillip Fitzsimmons –