1. Hi and welcome to Milne Library
Hi and welcome to Milne Library. I am going to go over some of the resources and strategies you can use for both academic and personal research. This will be a basic overview, but if you are interested in learning more in-depth research skills, I recommend registering for the mini-course in research skills, INTD 150, which I teach each semester.
Shameless plug aside, teaching research skills is a passion of mine because research is not something you will only use for academia – you will be doing research your entire life, when you look for information on politics, news, hobbies, buying a home, a car, building something, etc. Knowing how to find the information you need and knowing how to determine its value is of lifelong benefit.
But since this is in relation to an academic assignment, I will focus on the academic side.

2. Having a plan can save time and energy.
When beginning research, it’s important to have a plan in order to save time and energy. Doing so can be the difference between finding resources on feline leukemia and looking at kitten videos on YouTube for four hours. The videos might be more fun, but counterproductive when you’re on a tight deadline.

3. Having a plan can save time and energy.
Research Question
Source Criteria
Journals
Books
Web sources
Find Information
Rough Draft
Revise
Final Paper
Cite Sources
…look at cat videos
Many students pan their research by creating an outline or a list of steps they will follow during their research. It can be as simple or complex as you desire, but it’s essentially a way to stay on track. This organization can also come in handy later on when you need to create your citations.

4. Your plan should give you direction.
How many sources do you need?
What kinds of sources do you need?
What do you need to know to answer your question?
What citation style do you need to use?
How will you decide when you have what you need?

5. Choose a topic that is broad enough to find information but narrow enough to write a paper.
Gain working knowledge of topic through reference sources and web searches.
Identify terminology, issues, and gaps.
The first thing you will want to do is choose a topic. When choosing a topic for a research assignment, it needs to be broad enough to be able to find resources on it, but narrow enough that you are not overwhelmed with information. General rule of thumb – try to find enough basic information to gain one-minute working knowledge of the topic. The effect is that you will have discovered terminology, issues, points of view, etc, that can help you decide how to focus your research and how to frame your research question.

6. Does the URL end in .edu, .gov, or .org?
Make sure the information you find on the internet is trustworthy by asking questions.
Does the URL end in .edu, .gov, or .org?
Who created it?
What is its purpose?
Is it chock full of ads?

7. Universities, research hospitals, museums, and government agencies are authoritative.
Website Extensions
.edu .org .gov

8. Google site limiter can help you filter results.
Government documents: site:.gov
Universities: site:.edu
Non-profit organizations: site:.org

9. Look at author bios to determine authority.
Verify your decision by looking at their material.
The blog from the left-hand author is pretty shallow, but the physicist’s blog is detailed.
Who would you trust regarding physics?
Who would you trust regarding engineering?

10. Beware fake news sites – check the veracity of information.
FactCheck.org
TruthorFiction.com
Snopes.com

11. Allsides.com tells you the inherent bias of a news article.
International newspapers can also sometimes offer more objective perspectives on current events.

12. Adding context to your question narrows it down and adds focus.
Who?
MEN
WOMEN
CHILDREN
ELDERLY
AMERICANS
IMMIGRANTS
TAP DANCERS
ANIMALS
CORPORATIONS
Where?
USA
SPAIN
WESTERN HEMISPHERE
TIBET
MIDDLE EAST
DALLAS
LONDON
HONG KONG
SOUTHEAST ASIA
When?
1980’S
PAST 20 YEARS
18TH CENTURY
AGE OF ENLIGHTENMENT
GREAT DEPRESSION

13. What effect does divorce have on kids’ grades?
Research questions should be focused, answerable, neutral, and require analysis.
Asks for and states an opinion – needs to be neutral
Why is John Cleese funnier than Eric Idle?
What role did mortgages play
in the Great Recession and how might bank regulation prevent it from happening again?
Multi-part question needs to be narrowed down to a single question.
What were the results of…
Open-ended and lacks focus
Why was Saddam Hussein the way he was?
Research question:
What effect does divorce have on kids’ grades?
Question “will not fly” – cannot be answered with data.
Are people with iPhones cooler than people with Android phones?
“Fuzzy” question – What is the question?

14. Milne Library webpage is the best choice for your academic research.
EBSCO Discovery Service is the “search everything” feature – it is not as good as searching individual databases.

16. Library catalog is accessible from the main page
More options available in advanced search

17. WorldCat can also be used to search the catalog

18. Do not use the WorldCat tab – the new version is unreliable.
Click “Databases” then “W” to find the Legacy edition

19. …oh, okay, try it and see what happens
Great! I have a question and know where to go, so I’ll just pop my words into the search bar and get great results!
Hold on there a sec…
…oh, okay, try it and see what happens
*snicker*

20. Free text search: divorce grades kids

21. Before diving into searching, take time to think about your concepts.
What effect does divorce have on
kids’ grades?
DIVORCE
Separation
Broken Home
Single-parent home
Failing marriage
GRADES
Education
Academic achievement
KIDS
Children
Primary (elementary) school children

22. Some databases help you out with this.

23. Boolean operators indicate the relationships between keywords.
cats -dogs

24. Parentheses separate sets of instructions.
pets AND (cats OR dogs)
pets AND (cats OR feline)

25. Quotations retrieve exact matches (aka exact phrase)

26. Truncation and wildcards allow for word variation.
* or ! or ? or %
Truncation:
rock* = rocks, rocky, rocket
Wildcard:
wom*n = woman, women, womyn
Database dependent ( some search engines such as Google do not truncate)

27. Combine the concepts with Boolean operators to create your search string.
divorce
AND
(academic* OR
“academic achievement”)
AND
children
NOT
preschool
What effect does divorce have on the academic achievement of elementary school children?

28. Academic Search Complete is a general database that can provide scholarly sources.
Click “Databases” then “A”

29. Boolean Search: divorce AND (academic
Boolean Search: divorce AND (academic* OR “academic achievement”) AND children NOT preschool
If you want to search more than one database

30. Using limiters in databases can help you find appropriate resources.

31. Accessing the title takes you to the database record; or you can directly view the document.

32. Access the full article
Abstract helps you know if the article is relevant

33. Access WorldCat from the “databases” tab.
Click “Databases” then “W” to find the Legacy edition

34. WorldCat is a global library catalog

35. If you do not check “items in my library” limiter, the results will tell you if SUCO or Hartwick owns it.

36. WorldCat allows you to access the library catalog directly or request items via Interlibrary Loan

37. Milne Library catalog provides item information such as location and availability and allows you to request a hold.
Request hold

38. MLA formatting requires parenthetical citations and a Works Cited page.
Author name within text
Wordsworth stated that Romantic poetry was marked by a "spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings" (263). 
Page number
Romantic poetry is characterized by the "spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings" (Wordsworth 263).
Author name and page number

39. MLA now focuses on principle over prescription.
Name of the source’s source (name of a journal)
Name of the source
Digital object identifier.
Example: /
Name of the source’s source’s source (name of a database)
No longer requires format

40. Style guides can be found in the library as well as online.

41. Purdue OWL is a great resource for citation help.

42. Jeynes, William. Divorce, Family Structure, and the Academic Success of Children. Haworth Press, 2002.
Jeynes, William. Divorce, Family Structure, and the Academic Success of Children. Haworth Press, 2002.
How would you cite this?

43. Academic Search Complete, doi: 10.1080/10502556.2014.972204
Arkes, Jeremy. “The Temporal Effects of Divorces and Separations on Children’s Academic Achievement and Problem Behavior.” Journal of Divorce & Remarriage, vol 56, no. 1, Jan 2015, pp Academic Search Complete, doi: /
Arkes, Jeremy. “The Temporal Effects of Divorces and Separations on Children’s Academic Achievement
and Problem Behavior.” Journal of Divorce & Remarriage, vol 56, no. 1, Jan 2015, pp
Academic Search Complete, doi: /
How would you cite this?

44. I NEED HELP!
Don’t panic!
Contact the library as soon as possible if you need help with your assignments.