Library Research Strategies

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Vista Murrieta High School Library

• Library Research Strategies

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Get To Know Your Library

• The resources available to you will vary
  depending on type of library.
• Find out early in your project what resources are
  available to you by visiting your library and
  taking a tour.
• Libraries build their collections based on patron
  need.
• Get to know and use the Reference Section.

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Learn to Browse

• A librarys classification scheme is a system by
  which books are organized or placed on the
  shelves. Browsing the shelves is an important
  step when youre trying to get ideas for your
  project.
• Most libraries in the U.S. use the Dewey Decimal
  system or Library of Congress system
• All of the systems attempt to co-locate books
  with similar subject matter

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A 24/7 library at your fingertips

• Your high school library has a microcosm of the
  Information Databases that are available through
  a college library
• UC Riverside http//library.ucr.edu/?viewfind/
  findsubject.htmlc1
• Cal State San Marcos http//library.csusm.edu/
  databases/
• UC San Diego http//libraries.ucsd.edu/sage/hier
  archy
• BYU http//www.lib.byu.edu/
• Palomar http//www.palomar.edu/library/OnlineDat
  abases/databases.htm
• MSJC http//www.msjc.edu/mvclibrary/resources/ele
  ctronic.htm
• City of Murrieta Murrieta Public Library
• VMHS Library Vista Murrieta HS Library

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Library Catalog

• The library catalog will tell you if the library
  keeps a particular periodical in its collection,
  but will not list all the articles within the
  publication.
• Most catalogs are searchable by
• Title
• Author
• Subject
• Keyword

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E-Catalog

• Search for
• Books
• Magazines
• Newspapers
• Internet Sites
• Home Access
• Determine if item is available

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Searching by Keyword

• Searches several fields in the database
• Author
• Title
• Descriptor field
• This is NOT the full-text of the book, nor a
  summary of the book
• This is NOT like searching for keywords on the
  internet.

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Boolean Logic

• And, Or, Near, Not
• Boolean Logic Primer
• Practice Keyword and Boolean Searching

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Evaluating Every Source

• Not just finding, but also evaluating
• Every source needs to be analyzed and evaluated
  to make sure it is appropriate and trustworthy

• 2 Main Points
• Reliability
• Judge whether the author and type of source can
  be trusted to provide accurate info
• Validity
• Analyze what the source is saying
• Correct
• appropriate

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Evaluating Sources

• Validity of Content
• Purpose
• Point of View
• Audience
• Verification
• Basic facts
• reaction
• Documentation
• Sources clearly documented
• Works Cited Page
• Accuracy
• Author provides proof
• Quotes
• Similarity
• Currency
• Using Current Sources

• Author
• Credentials listed
• Educational or professional background
• Biographical Information
• Source
• Books
• Publisher
• Reviews
• Periodicals
• Popular Magazine
• Scholarly Journal

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Searching for Journals and Newspapers

• Most libraries have either print or online
  subscription databases of magazine, journal and
  newspaper articles
• Referred to as Periodicals
• Some of these are abstracts
• Short summaries
• Some are full text
• Entire article in the database

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Online Database vs. Google
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DATABASE COMPARISON
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CITATION MAGAZINE

• Authors Last Name, First Name ___________________
  _______________.
• Title of Article _____________________
• Name of Magazine___________________.
• Date of Magazine____________________
• Pages_________. for example 57-59

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Online Citation Resources

• http//www.easybib.com/
• http//www.noodletools.com/login.php

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Web Searching

• If youre a new searcher try
• Yahoo
• Ask.com
• Google
• If youre an experienced searcher try
• Google
• Alta Vista
• Ixquick

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Web Searching

• Tips for searching and comparisons of search
  engine capabilities
• http//searchenginewatch.com/

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Alta Vista

• Alta Vista has some powerful search options for
  experienced searchers.
• Search for exact phrase
• Use of Boolean
• Example If your question is Which Dr. Seuss
  book used a vocabulary of just fifty words?
• Type in Advanced search
• seuss NEAR (fifty words OR 50 words)
• http//www.altavista.com

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Yahoo

• Perhaps the most widely used Internet catalog.
• Easiest search page for new users
• Well-organized
• New sites may take a long time to get listed.
• http//www.yahoo.com

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Ixquick

• http//www.ixquick.com/
• What Makes Ixquick Special
• Ixquick is the world's most powerful metasearch
  engine.
• Ixquick search results are more comprehensive and
  more accurate. Ixquick's unique capabilities
  include a Universal Power Search, a global search
  and power refinement.
• Find phone numbers and addresses worldwide with
  Ixquick's International Phone Directory, and
  comparison shop globally with Ixquick's Lowest
  Price search.More comprehensive
• Ixquick is a metasearch engine when you search
  Ixquick, you are searching many popular search
  engines at the same time. Combined, these engines
  cover more of the Internet than any one search
  engine covers.More accurate results
• An Ixquick result is awarded one star ( ) for
  every search engine that chooses it as one of the
  ten best results for your search. So a five star
  ( ) result means that five search engines
  agreed on the result.This is significant
  because search engines choose results in
  different ways, and each approach works well in
  some cases and poorly in others. A result with
  many stars was chosen for many different reasons,
  and is a consensus choice of many search
  engines.

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Ask.com

• http//search.ask.com/
• Ask.com's innovative search technologies deliver
  fast and relevant information for millions of
  people every day

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Google

• Gives the most relevant and high-quality websites
  near the top of your results list.
• Simple and elegant design.
• http//www.google.com
• Google Scholar
• Book Search

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Checklist Web Evaluation
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Web Evaluation

• Putting it all together
• Accuracy. If your page lists the author and
  institution that published the page and provides
  a way of contacting him/her and . . .
• Authority. If your page lists the author
  credentials and its domain is preferred (.edu,
  .gov, .org, or .net), and, . .
• Objectivity. If your page provides accurate
  information with limited advertising and it is
  objective in presenting the information, and . .
  .
• Currency. If your page is current and updated
  regularly (as stated on the page) and the links
  (if any) are also up-to-date, and . . .
• Coverage. If you can view the information
  properly--not limited to fees, browser
  technology, or software requirement, then . . .
  You may have a Web page that could be of value to
  your

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E-Books

• http//infotrac.galegroup.com/itweb/murr50533
• Search by Keyword

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EBSCO

• http//search.epnet.com
• User Name vmhs
• Password bronco

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SIRS Online Database

• http//www.proquestk12.com/
• Researcher is a highly acclaimed reference
  resource containing thousands of full-text
  articlesmany accompanied by charts, maps,
  photos, diagrams, and illustrationsexploring
  current and enduring topics. 

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Avoiding Plagiarism

• Plagiarism is the theft of another persons
  intellectual property.
• If you are caught presenting someone else's work
  as your own, your instructor is required to send
  a letter to the Dean for Undergraduate Studies.
  The Dean automatically refers students to Judical
  Affairs after two such referrals from faculty.
  In addition, professors can apply any of the
  following penalties for plagiarism
•  Warning only
•  Require rewriting of the paper
•  Lowering of paper or project grade by one full
  letter or more
•  Failing grade on paper or project
•  Lowering course grade
•  Failing grade for course
•  Report incident to Office of Judicial Affairs
  for further action, such as suspension (Community
  Rights and   Responsibilities, 2001-2004, 13). (3)

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Writing Samples

• Original text from
• McCullough, David. John Adams. New York Simon
  Schuster, 2001. p. 57
• His marriage to Abigail Smith was the most
  important decision of John Adams's life, as would
  become apparent with time. She was in all
  respects his equal and the part she was to play
  would be greater than he could possibly have
  imagined, for all his love for her and what
  appreciation he already had of her beneficial,
  steadying influence.

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Writing Sample 1

• John Adams marriage to Abigail was the most
  important choice in his life. He was to come to
  understand this better with time. In so many
  ways, she was his equal, and he could not have
  imagined the importance of the role she was going
  to play, despite his love for her and his
  appreciation of her good, solid influence

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Unacceptable!

• This paragraph is the work of someone either
  deliberately plagiarizing or someone who doesnt
  understand what it means to plagiarize. The
  writer may have changed a few words and switched
  the order of words in the sentences, but the
  writer has not changed McCulloughs sequence of
  ideas and has not used the information in a
  meaningful way. He or she failed to cite what are
  really McCulloughs original ideas or words.

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Writing Sample 2

• When John Adams was ready to marry, he sought a
  woman who was his equal. He found Abigail Smith
  and loved her for her steadying influence

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Unacceptable!

• Not only did this student neglect to cite, this
  paraphrase twists McCulloughs meaning. Though it
  changes words significantly, it also does a poor
  job conveying the original idea accurately.

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Writing Sample 3

• The best decisions of a great leader may extend
  beyond the political. In fact, the course of
  American history may have been changed by an
  entirely personal decision. In his biography of
  Adams, David McCullough notes that Adams choice
  of Abigail Smith as a wife was the most critical
  decision of his life. She was in all respects
  his equal and the part she was to play would be
  greater than he could possibly have imagined
  (McCullough 57).

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This is Acceptable

• because the author uses the information in a
  meaningful way, accurately paraphrases the ideas
  presented in the original source, credits them
  and weaves in a quote to emphasize the point. The
  source is properly quoted and cited using
  quotation marks and in-text documentation. Note
  that in this example the student created his/her
  own topic sentence, following an independent plan
  and not the necessarily following the structure
  of another author's material.

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Consult the Librarian for Advice

• Reference Librarians can help save you a lot of
  time because the know their librarys collection
  very well.
• They are skilled researchers, both of the
  librarys catalog and of online resources.
• They are trained in teaching others to use the
  resources and are glad to do so.

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VMHS Library Web Page