Welcome to Iona College Library Research Part I

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Welcome to Iona College Library ResearchPart I

• SPA980/EDU953 Spring 2008 Dr. KetzCallie
  Bergeris Librarian

--Bienvenidos--
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A quick view of the Research Process

• Select a topic browse the information adjust
  your topic
• Get background information from books
• Get recent information from journal articles
• Using the Internet
• Evaluate What You Find
• Write your paper and cite your sources
• Get more help

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Selecting a Topic

• Browse for books
• Look at the online catalog (ORION)
• Look at Reference books
• Browse the shelves
• Look for journal articles
• Go to the Library web sites Electronic Databases
  page
• 
  

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Getting Background Information

• Background information forms the foundation of
  your paper
• Gather background information from
• reference resources
• books from our collection
• books from other libraries

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Reference Resources

• These include
• specialized encyclopedias dictionaries
• directories
• manuals, handbooks, guides
• yearbooks, almanacs, atlases
• Located in the Reference Room on the first floor
  of Ryan Library where the Café is

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Online catalog books multimedia

• O R I O N (Online Resources at Iona)
• is the online catalog for the Iona College
  Libraries for Ryan and Arrigoni Libraries, as
  well as the Rockland Campus
• Iona Library

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Key Concepts for Online Searching

• Regardless of the online resource, here are some
  key concepts you should know
• Database, record, field
• Field searching
• Boolean searching using AND, OR, NOT
• Truncation and wildcards
• Phrase searching
• Setting Limits

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Whats a database?

• --A collection of records (basket)
• --Each record represents an item Items can be
• books
• journal articles
• magazine articles
• VHS, CDs, DVDs (audiovisual )
• microfilm or microfiche
• Our catalog (ORION) is actually a type of
  database
• Each record in ORION represents an item in the
  librarys collection

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Whats a record?

• Each item that you look up in the catalog - a
  book, journal, CD, video, etc. - is represented
  by a record
• A record
• is an entry that describes the item
• consists of several fields such as title,
  author, publisher, etc.

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A Book Record in our Catalog (ORION)

• Title Teaching modern foreign languages in the
  secondary school a practical guide /
• Physical DescriptionComputer File
• IncludesComputer File
• PublisherLondon New York Routledge, 2007.
• Subject(s)Languages, Modern --Study and teaching
  (Secondary) Electronic ItemClick here to
  access this book from NetLibrary.
• LocationNetlibrary eBook
• Call Number (map)No call number
  availablewww.iona.edu

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A Record in our Catalog (ORION )

• Main Author Machiavelli, Niccolo
• Title Discourses
• Publisher New Haven, Yale Univ.
  Press, 1950
• Location Ryan Library
• Subject(s) Livy. Political
  science.
• Call Number 854.31 D
• Status On shelf
• Library Has v. 1,2

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Field-Searching in ORION

• In ORION (or any other database) you can search
  in a specific field within the record.
• Lets look at the fields.
• Book/multimedia catalog

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Choose your Keywords

• In order to begin your search, you must decide
  what your search terms or keywords will be
• Heres an example of a topic
• Is there a connection between rock lyrics and
  adolescent suicide
• Keywords would be ?

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Boolean Searching?

• Boolean searching uses connectors or
  operators to to show the relationship between
  two or more keywords
• Boolean connectors AND, OR, NOT
• Use them for better results

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Boolean AND .

• Use AND to narrow down your search results
• Example language and Spanish

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Boolean OR .

• Use OR to broaden your search results
• Ex. language and (French OR Spanish)
• TIP use OR for MORE

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Boolean NOT .

• Use NOT to exclude a word from your search
  results
• Spanish and Italian not French

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Truncation and Wildcards .

• Use truncation to find words with the same root.
  A single truncation symbol takes the place of any
  number of characters
• Abus? will find abuse, abuses, abused,
  abuser, abusing, abusive
• Wildcard takes the place of a specific character
  its a one-to-one replacement
• wom?n will find woman women
  cant do in the beginning of word?iesta X

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Remember

• All databases are not the same!
• Each one may not use the same truncation
  character and a different wildcard character
• or ! or ?
• You need to look it up either in the help
  section of your search screen or in the
  databases online help
• ---- or ask a librarian

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Do you have a phrase?

• If your keywords are really a phrase, you need to
  phrase search
• Examples
• language learning
• secondary education
• Romance languages

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Databases and Phrases

• Phrase searching in a keyword search is
  different depending on the database.
• Usually, you need to surround your phrase with
  either
• double quotation marks
• single quotation marks
• nothing !
• Look in the databases online help to find out

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Limiting

• Databases allow you to place limits on your
  search so that you can fine-tune the search and
  come up with fewer, but more useful, results.
• 
  
• In ORION, you can limit your search to a specific
• location / collection
• date range
• item type (ex., serials)
• medium (video, microfilm/microfiche)
• online catalog

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Limiting in e- journal databases

• Place limits on your search to get fewer, but
  more useful, results
• Electronic databases allow you to select one or
  more limits to place on a search, such as
• full- text articles only
• scholarly (peer-reviewed or refereed) journals
  only
• specific publication date ranges
• document type (ex., periodical or newspaper
  article)
• a specific journal

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Getting Recent Information

• You can find the most up-to-date information on
  any topic by searching for journal articles in
  electronic databases
• The library subscribes to over 70 online
  electronic databases that can be accessed both on
  and off campus

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Scholarly Journals

• Scholarly journals vs. popular magazines
• Scholarly journals are peer-reviewed
• or refereed
• In many electronic databases, you can limit your
  search to peer-reviewed journals only

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About Electronic Databases

• Electronic databases provide access to a
  collection of articles from scholarly
  journals
• May also contain magazine articles, newspaper
  articles, images, statistics, etc.
• May be either multidisciplinary or
  subject-specific
• -- Multidisciplinary (cover many subjects
  a general database like Academic Search Elite,
  JSTOR or ProQuest Research Library)
• --Subject-specific (like ERIC, Education
  Full-Text, or PsycInfo)
  
  journal databases

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The Internet vs. Electronic Databases

• Some important differences
• Electronic databases contain a collection of
  information (articles, images, statistics, etc.)
  that has been selected and packaged into a
  product that the library subscribes to
• Information in our electronic databases comes
  from reputable sources and/or publications
• Many electronic databases include a high
  percentage of scholarly journals

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Getting Full-text Articles

• What if your article isnt available in full-text
  in the database(s) which you are searching?
• No sweat
• Check the Finding Journal Articles web page to
  see if the journal is available in our
  paper/microform collection or electronically in
  another database
• www.iona.edu/library Hispanic Review

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Document Delivery Service (Interlibrary Loan or
ILL)

• To request an article from a journal that we
  dont have either in print or in another
  electronic database
• Request the article electronically by selecting
  the request articles link on the Interlibrary
  Loan Request section on the Library Forms page
• Be sure to allow enough time for these materials
  to be retrieved usually about 2 weeks

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Interlibrary Loan (Books from other libraries)

• Search catalogs of other libraries via the Iona
  College Libraries web page other catalogs
• Request a book that is not in our collection via
  interlibrary loan Library Forms
• Be sure to allow enough time for these
  materials to arrive usually about
• 2 weeks

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Writing Your Thesis

• Style guides are used to format your thesis and
  cite your sources of information
• They will also help you to cite electronic
  sources of information information from
  databases, the Internet, and so forth

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Examples of Style Guides

• (MLA) The Modern Language Association of America
  Style Guide
• http//www.iona.edu/library/help/citing/
• (APA) American Psychological Association Style
  Guide
• http//www.iona.edu/library/help/citing/

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One more place to look

• Resources by Subject
• Education Dept. Librarian Valerie Masone
  633-2449

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Need more assistance?

• You may make an appointment for individual help
  with a librarian by signing up for a RAP
  session
• Research Assistance Program (RAP) sessions are a
  service provided by the Iona College librarians
• Appointments should be made at least 48 hours in
  advance of the time you wish to meet
• RAP form

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Good luck with your research .

• If you need help, please ask a librarian!
• Reference Desk 637-7716Callie
  633-2227