1. Research Skills beyond Google and Wikipedia
Kathy Clarke
Reference Librarian
Carrier Library Office 115 or

2. Quick Vote – What are your research favorites?

3. Reasons you need to use the library
Good quality resources
You are paying for it
Your instructors and faculty expect you to
Practice makes you better
Practice will help in your major
Being smart about your information universe

4. Getting Started
Use
This is a Web based tutorial designed to get you started doing research at JMU

5. Looking for Books Use LEO, the library catalog
Library catalogs contain records or links to things (books, video, music, journals) that the library owns
Consider using reference books

6. Consider a Reference Source
Reference materials are designed to get you started or get you un-stuck
They can help you pick a topic or narrow down one that is too big
Sometimes these are “iffy” with your faculty, but try to talk them into it!
Looks like this: Globalization defined,
Oxford Reference
Blackwell Reference
Ask the encyclopedia – who has ever been told not to use an encyclopedia? Why do you think?
Remind them they are there – use them to your advantage

7. Figuring out what kind of source to use
Peace
Train robberies of the 19th century
Communication style differences between the sexes
Symbolism in Jane Austen’s work
Identity issues of Latina women
The Basketball Rivalry between Duke and North Carolina

8. Consider a book - first
Get over book anxiety – if you topic “fits” in a book , use a book
Finding books is easy
Go here:
Search by KEYWORDS
Look for a useful SUBJECT from your keyword search
Use the stack guide to find where your book lives

9. Articles Don’t browse for this, have a citation in hand
You’ll be asked to find these for your class work
ASK where you should look (either your instructor or at the library)
Looking for full-text click here:

10. How to get help Email me: clarkeke@jmu.edu
Come to the Reference Desk in Carrier or the CISAT library
Call the Reference desk in Carrier –
Use, Ask-A-Librarian ( , chat, phone)
BUT DON’T STRUGGLE OR WANDER AROUND!