1. HIST 300: Search Strategy Tamara Smith, Reference Librarian Langsdale Library October 10 – 12, 2006

2. Plan for Today Introductions Thesis Statement Search Strategy Activity: Learn a Database Getting Articles Wrap-up

3. Thesis Statement What is your topic? What do you need to know? –Reference works: encyclopedias, dictionaries, handbooks, etc. What do you want to know? Turn the question into a statement

4. Thesis Statement: Example Theme: Social issues of the early 20 th century You choose: working children and education Need to know: notable people, historical background, etc. Want to know: How did the U.S. Government ensure the education of working children in the early 20 th century? Thesis statement: The Child Labor Act of 1938 led to an increase in educational opportunities for working children.

5. Thesis Statement Tutorials UNC at Chapel Hill - Constructing Thesis Statements http://www.unc.edu/depts/wcweb/handouts/thesi s.html http://www.unc.edu/depts/wcweb/handouts/thesi s.html University of Washington - Guide to Writing Thesis Statements http://depts.washington.edu/pswrite/thesisstmt.ht ml http://depts.washington.edu/pswrite/thesisstmt.ht ml University of Toronto. Using Thesis Statements http://www.utoronto.ca/writing/thesis.html http://www.utoronto.ca/writing/thesis.html

6. Search Strategy Use the most important words from the thesis statement The Child Labor Act of 1938 led to an increase in educational opportunities for working children. Education Working children Child Labor Act Opportunities

7. Search Strategy Think of synonyms or related terms for those keywords Education: learning, schooling Working children (can break this down) work: job, labor, employment children: child, minor, youth Child Labor Act: legislation, laws

8. Boolean Operators Named for George Boole, a 19 th century English mathematician AND: joins concepts together (both/all) OR: combines synonyms or related terms (either/any) NOT: excludes terms or concepts (leave out)

9. Boolean Operators: Example Use some of the keywords from our list to create a search statement Working children AND education Even better: Working AND children AND education

10. Advanced Searching Use these techniques to refine your search Nesting: combine like terms in parentheses; used to group synonyms together Truncation (*): special symbol used to represent missing letters; used in place of retyping an entire word

11. Advanced Searching: Example Basic Search: working AND children AND education Advanced Search: (work* OR labor) AND (children OR child OR minor*) AND education

12. Search Tutorials CSU Libraries - Boolean Tutorial http://lib.colostate.edu/tutorials/boolean_info.html http://lib.colostate.edu/tutorials/boolean_info.html Electronic Searching (Duke University) http://www.lib.duke.edu/libguide/adv_searching.htm #Boolean http://www.lib.duke.edu/libguide/adv_searching.htm #Boolean NYU Libraries - Interactive Boolean Search Tutorial http://library.nyu.edu/research/tutorials/boolean/bool ean.html http://library.nyu.edu/research/tutorials/boolean/bool ean.html Information Navigator: Using Boolean Logic http://www-navigator.utah.edu/module3/boolean.htm http://www-navigator.utah.edu/module3/boolean.htm

13. Questions?

14. In-Class Exercise: Finding Articles in a Database

15. Getting Articles In a database: use the Button No full text online? Check the library cataloglibrary catalog Can’t find it at UB? Use ILL Express!ILL Express –It’s free! –7-10 business days (or less) –Use your Langsdale barcode –Articles sent electronically – no need to pick them up –Questions? Renewals? Call 410-837-4283

16. Thank You! Tamara Smith Reference Librarian tsmith@ubalt.edu 410-837-5072 tsmith@ubalt.edu HIST 300 Course Page: http://langsdale.ubalt.edu/howto/course_w ebsites/hist300_nix_fa06.htm http://langsdale.ubalt.edu/howto/course_w ebsites/hist300_nix_fa06.htm