1. ENG 101 Using the library & finding information Martin Crabtree MCCC Library

2. Agenda Finding books Important places in the library Electronic searching Databases available fro the library Using web information –Finding things on the web –Deciding if what you find is any good Giving credit to the author

3. Finding Books Books are put on the shelves grouped by subject. You may be familiar with the Dewey Decimal System which is used by many school and public libraries. MCCC like most colleges uses a different system called the Library of Congress (LC) system. The LC system used both letters and number. For example: PZ3.D55 T3

4. Finding books in the library Using the online card catalog The catalog is available online. Used to find books, videos and other materials both in the MCCC collection and the Mercer County Public (MCL) libraries. You can have materials from MCL brought to the college. Deliveries arrive Tuesday and Friday afternoons. (DVD’s not available from MCL) You will need to have your student ID card to borrow books or use the computer lab in the library

5. Link to the catalog is on the library’s web pages.library’s web pages.

6. Getting Around in the Library

7. Important Places in the Library The Reference Desk The Circulation Desk The Stacks

8. The person at the reference desk will help you find what you need The Reference Librarian will help you to: Do database searches Find books, periodicals and other materials Find useful web resources

9. At the Circulation Desk You can: Check out book here. Get textbook for use in the library Get videos & current newspapers here. Get materials (books, journal articles, etc.) that your professor has set aside here Ask for help in your research

10. There are 2 kinds of stacks The Reference stacks: –Holds the reference books –These books do not circulate The General Collection Stacks –Holds the books that you can check out

11. We have computers too!

12. The library’s computer lab To use the computer lab you need to sign in & have your student ID with you. You can use the computers for research as well as for email, writing papers, spread sheets, etc. Bring you own disks, CDs, thumb drives, etc. to save your work.

13. The library’s computer lab Anything saved on a computer’s hard drive will be erased once the computer is turned off. Printing costs 10¢ a page (you can also email articles to yourself). There is a lab assistant there to help with computer usage questions. You’ll need to go to the reference desk for research questions.

14. Searching Electronic Resources

15. Starting An Electronic Search Keywords Keywords are used when searching electronic databases and web search engines. With a possible topic in mind, generate a list of words (keywords) that describes or would commonly be used when discussing your topic. Write this down if it helps. For example: –Ozone –Layer –Depletion –Atmosphere –Hole

16. 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”

17. Searching More Than Just Keywords Phrases & Truncations To search for a phrase, use quotation marks –“survival of the fittest” Truncations allow for searching related words all at once –The * is usually used. For example: child* would include: child, children, childhood, childproof, etc.

18. Searching More Than Just Keywords Field Limiters Database field limiters allow you to specify your search within varied parameters for example: –Only full-text articles –Only peer reviewed (scholarly) publications –Date (or date range)

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

20. Electronic Databases at the Mercer Library

21. 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

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

23. 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)

24. Remote Login Screen Use your student ID number & last name

25. Academic Search Premier EBSCOhost - Academic Search Premier –Broadest of the databases covering everything from science to the humanities –includes both general interest & scholarly/professional journals –Not every article full text –Need Acrobat Reader for some articles

26. More Databases A number of subject specific databases are available covering: –Business (ABI/Inform) –Newspapers (Academic-Universe: News) –Criminal Justice (Criminal Justice Periodical Index) –Architecture (Architectural Index) –Education (Proquest Educational Journals) –more Also other resources –Encyclopedia Britannica –Oxford English Dictionary –AP Photo Archive – News & historical photographs

27. Using the World Wide Web

28. Using the internet/world wide web Before using the web for most college research, try using databases first: –You will have fewer hits to go through –You’ll likely find some good information quickly –The information is always high quality The internet & web are not the same thing

29. 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 at at least 2 times bigger than the “visible” (or surface) web.

30. Searching the World Wide Web Search Strategy Searching the Web is much like database searching: –Put together a list of keywords describing the information you desire –Use Boolean logic (and, not, or) to better define your search, use double quotes for phrases, etc. When searching the web, also: –Consider which search engines/sites may best suit your search needs. Different search engines yield different results. –Use the search engine’s advanced search to select limiting parameters (language, date, domain, etc.)advanced search

31. A couple of urban legend sites Snopes (http://www.snopes.com/) – The largest collection of urban legends and info as to their truth (or untruth)http://www.snopes.com/ Others exist as well: –http://urbanlegends.about.com/http://urbanlegends.about.com/ –http://purportal.com/ -allows searching a number of sites beyond just urban legendshttp://purportal.com/

32. Evaluating Web Sites Is this stuff any good?

33. Evaluating Web Sites Quality varies greatly from site to site YOU are the sole evaluator of the quality of information a site provides

34. Five Web Info 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?

35. 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

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

37. Using the Information You Find Always give credit to the author or creator of the information that you use. This includes the actual facts, conclusions, and ideas that an author presents. It also includes actual the words that he/she has used.

38. Plagiarism can take many forms Plagiarism is the presenting of someone else’s intellectual work as your own. It may be done deliberately, but it may also be done without your realizing it. The copying, word for word, from a book or an article is the most blatant form of plagiarism.

39. Plagiarism when paraphrasing or writing a summary Incomplete paraphrasing or summarizing another’s work could cause plagiarizing without your realizing it. To prevent this, you should avoid:  Using the original sentence structure.  Simply substituting a few words here and there.  Using any of the author's key words or unusual words. Let’s look at an example...

40. Good paraphrasing It takes some effort to do a good job of paraphrasing. One helpful method is to: 1. Read the original sentence 2. Without looking at the sentence, try writing the idea of the sentence in your own words 3. Look back at the original sentence again to see it you haven’t used too much of the original language -Adapted from “Avoiding Plagiarism”, at the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia webpage: http://www.usip.edu/writing/plagrsm.shtml

41. Citing your sources

42. When you are presenting your research you will need to give a list of your sources In order to make it easier for others to understand what sources you have used (and to possibly look at them themselves), specific formats have been developed to standardize this process

43. Using the MLA format You will be using the MLA (Modern Language Association of America) style. The latest MLA manual is available in the library: –MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers at: LB 2369.G53 2003 (in the reference collection & on reserve). The manual is not available on line.

44. Added MLA & APA info is at the Research & Report Guides link Research & Report Guides

45. Now it’s your turn…