HIS231 - Tools & Resources for Finding Useful Info Martin Crabtree – MCCC Library February 9, 2009

Martin J. Crabtree - MCCC Library Agenda Finding books Periodicals Inter-library Loan (aka getting stuff from other libraries) Review electronic searching –Keywords, Boolean searching, truncations, & field limiters Accessing electronic databases from the library Searching the Web –A few things to consider when using search engines –Thinking about the quality of the web info you find

Martin J. Crabtree - MCCC Library Finding Books Using The Card Catalog The catalog is available online. Used to find books, videos and other material in the MCCC collection (not periodicals). You will also find items available at the Mercer County Public (MCL) libraries. You can request that materials from MCL be brought to the college. Deliveries arrive Tuesday and Friday afternoons. (DVD’s not available from MCL) Link to the catalog is on the library’s web pages. library’s web pages.

Martin J. Crabtree - MCCC Library Periodicals Periodicals include: –scholarly journals –newspapers –Magazines Periodicals represent the bulk of published scholarly information. The library has a number of periodicals available in print, on microfilm, and especially via electronic databases. The library staff can help determine if a specific periodical is available from the library.

PANIC! The library doesn’t have what I want! OR Getting things from other libraries

If the library doesn’t have what you need, we will get it for you.

Martin J. Crabtree - MCCC Library Using interlibrary (ILL) loan Three steps to ILL 1.Search the Mercer County [public] Library holdings via the college’s online catalog & place a hold. 2.Search Jersey Cat to find & request materials statewide online.Jersey Cat 3.Place an ILL request in person or online. The library will search internationally for the item you want. Note: This ILL request form is only for a specific book or article.ILL request ILL requests do take time, allow 2-3 weeks for materials to arrive, though they often come in sooner (especially true for articles).

Martin J. Crabtree - MCCC Library Using interlibrary loan Supply as much information as you can for needed items. For books: Title, Author, publisher, publish date, edition number, ISBN # For periodicals: periodical name, article title & date, volume & issue number, pagination (pages the article is on/pagination)* * - Pagination is required by JerseyCat

So why can’t I just go to another library and get the stuff myself?

Martin J. Crabtree - MCCC Library In some cases you can… At The College of New Jersey, you just have to show your MCCC ID. As a MCCC student, you can also use over 20 other college/university libraries as well –Fill out a form –Have it signed by the MCCC library –Present the signed form & your MCCC ID to the other library –Valid for one year (through June 30, 2009)

Searching Electronic Databases And The Web Too

Martin J. Crabtree - MCCC Library Starting An Electronic Search Keywords Keywords are often used when searching electronic databases and web search engines They are words that will likely appear within articles that are relevant to your search. –For example: Ozone Layer Depletion Atmosphere Hole The search programming looks for only those items that contain the keywords you supplied.

Martin J. Crabtree - MCCC Library Starting An Electronic Search Boolean Searching/Logic Boolean searching - Connecting keywords with the terms –and –not –or For example –eagles NOT football –(car or automobile) and exhaust More Terms = Fewer “Hits”

Martin J. Crabtree - MCCC Library Electronic Searching beyond just keyword To search for a phrase, use quotation marks – “weapons of mass destruction” Truncations allow you to search for related words in a single search –The * is usually used. For example searching histor* would yield hits for: history, historical, historic, etc.

Let’s take a quick look at how Boolean searching can help

Electronic Databases Available From The MCCC Library

Martin J. Crabtree - MCCC Library Electronic Databases In General Over 60 databases available Not every article is available full text though many are Abstracts (summary) is often available when full text is not

Martin J. Crabtree - MCCC Library Electronic Databases In General Accessible at any computer on the MCCC/JKC campus network Can print/ /download articles Most are available off campus, though you do need to use a password.

Martin J. Crabtree - MCCC Library Accessing Databases Remotely You can access most of the databases from any computer with internet access. To log on to the databases, use your: –student ID number (no dashes) –your last name (include punctuation here)

Martin J. Crabtree - MCCC Library Remote Login Screen Use your student ID number & last name

Martin J. Crabtree - MCCC Library Some useful databases JSTOR –Scholarly journals in history and other subjects. Coverage begins with the very first issue up to 2004 (a moving date, 5 years ago) –All full text –Can not articles, can print or save as a.pdf EBSCOhost - Academic Search Premier –Broadest of the databases covering everything from science to the humanities including many scholarly journals –Not every article full text –Need Acrobat Reader for some articles

Martin J. Crabtree - MCCC Library More Databases The reference section of the database page includes:reference –Oxford Encyclopedia of Theatre & Performance –Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt –Grove Encyclopedia of Classical Art & Architecture –Oxford Encyclopedia of Women in the Ancient World

Finding and Using Web Information

Martin J. Crabtree - MCCC Library Some things to consider when searching the web Everything is NOT on the web and may never be No search engine covers the entire web The “invisible web” is huge! Though there has yet to be consensus, estimates put the size of the invisible web to at least 200% bigger than the “visible” (or surface) web. Source: The Invisible Web by Chris Sherman

Martin J. Crabtree - MCCC Library Searching the World Wide Web Search Strategy Searching the Web is much like database searching: –Use keywords and Boolean logic (and, not, or) to better define your search, use double quotes for phrases, etc. When searching the web, also consider: –Different search engines yield different results. You may want to try using more that just your “regular” search engine –Use the search engine’s “advanced search” to select limiting parameters (language, date, domain, etc.)advanced search

PANIC AGAIN! The website I found looks great only I don’t read German (or French, or Russian, or Italian, or Spanish, or Chinese, or…)

Martin J. Crabtree - MCCC Library Using web pages that aren’t in English Web sites exist that will help in translating web pages. Babblefish is one such site at: The translations are not always the best, but still there is a lot of useful non-English web info out there.

Evaluating Web Information Is this stuff any good?

Martin J. Crabtree - MCCC Library Evaluating Web Sites Quality varies greatly from site to site YOU are the sole evaluator of the quality of information a site provides

Martin J. Crabtree - MCCC Library Evaluating Web Information Five evaluation criteria 1.Accuracy - is it reliable? 2.Authority - is author qualified on subject? 3.Objectivity - is the information biased? 4.Currency - is the information “new” enough? 5.Coverage - does the info completely cover the topic?

Using Wikipedia

Martin J. Crabtree - MCCC Library Using Wikipedia Wikipedia is sometimes a useful source of information in some instances But, the information contained here is not inherently scholarly information. Wikipedia is probably best at covering pop culture topics as well as obscure subjects not well represented in scholarly publications. Let’s look at an entry for organ donation.organ donation

Think about it… Would you want you doctor to base his/her diagnosis or your lawyer you defense in court bases on information they got from Wikipedia?

Martin J. Crabtree - MCCC Library The Bottom Line… Buyer Beware The web contains a vast amount of information…but not everything Anyone can put information on the web, hence the quality of web information varies greatly YOU will often be the only person to decide if the quality of the info you find on the web is good Now let’s look for some information…

Using the information you find...and giving credit where credit is due.

Martin J. Crabtree - MCCC Library Using the Information You Find Always give credit to the author or creator of the information that you use. This includes not only the actual facts, conclusions, and ideas that an author presents but also the words that he/she has used.

Martin J. Crabtree - MCCC Library Citing your sources of information Scholars routinely list the sources of the information they use as part of their work You will frequently need to include a list of the sources of information you have used for an assignment in college. To make it easy for others

Martin J. Crabtree - MCCC Library There are two major format styles used at MCCC The APA (American Psychological Association) style. –The Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association at: BF76.7.p The MLA (Modern Language Association of America) style. –MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers at: LB 2369.G The both manuals are available in the library in the reference stacks & on reserve Neither manual is available on line.

Martin J. Crabtree - MCCC Library Added APA & MLA info is at the Research & Report Guides link Research & Report Guides

There’s so much info out there! Can you help me find the good stuff?

Martin J. Crabtree - MCCC Library Getting help finding what you need Feel free to ask any of the MCCC librarians. A list of resources for HIS231 is also available on line at: –

Now let’s find some information…