Academic libraries overview
- 1. Books Articles Print Electronic Print Electronic Print is still in use, but many items – articles & books – are now available electronically.
- 2. Old Card Catalog: Online Public Access Catalog Find a Book (OPAC) KEYWORD = searches the Title title, author’s name, subject headings, & Author Last Name table of contents ( if Subject Heading included in the catalog record!) The catalog does not In A – Z order search within the text of the book.
- 3. Periodical Databases = articles in Journals, Magazines, Newspapers Keyword = search anywhere in the article title, journal title, subject headings, abstract / summary, or author’s name. Ability to search anywhere within the text of the articles, (but this is limited to only those articles available in the full text in the first place.) Although many articles are offered in the full text, some articles will only have the abstract available, (i.e. “indexed and abstracted.”)
- 4. Periodicals: Levels of Scholarship Refereed • The author is a ‘scholar’ in the discipline. • The article has been reviewed by other scholars prior to Peer Reviewed publication. Academic / • Not ALL scholarly journals are refereed, but many are. Scholarly • Databases may use all four terms interchangeably. Magazines • Although considered reliable, popular publications are Newspapers not scholarly. • Examples: Time, Newsweek, Economist, Boston Globe. Trade Publications
- 5. Books: Searching Print vs. Electronic Collections Print Electronic Find in OPAC Find in OPAC OR Search E-Book Collections Use call number to locate May search within and browse the stacks. the content of book(s). Useful to search within multiple titles in Reference book collections. Ex.: Gale Virtual Reference; Sage eReference.
- 6. Searching for Articles Need to find Professor has instructed you articles to find a particular article on your topic? from a specific journal. Use a periodical database 1st: Do we own or have access to which covers that journal??? the subject area. 2nd: Then search for article within the database that contains the publication.
- 7. How Do I Find… ? … BOOKS on “xyz” topic? … a BRIEF OVERVIEW on “xyz” topic? Keyword search in the OPAC. Reference Collection: Choose a promising title, note the call E-book collections, or print number, & follow any good subject encyclopedias. headings. OPAC, E-Books, Periodical Databases … ARTICLES on “xyz” topic? (scholarly or … an article FROM A PARTICULAR otherwise.) JOURNAL, ex.: ‘The Journal of …’ Keyword search in a database covering FIRST: Search for the Name/Title of the the subject area (business, literature…) Journal in the OPAC or the e-Journal Locator.
- 8. Wikipedia and Google Wikipedia Google Google Scholar • Authority of • Burden of • Indexes (and may scholarship verifying the link to the full text cannot be scholarship of of) academically verified. sources falls to oriented material. • Most professors the reader. • Has no filter for do not want • URL domain Refereed or Peer students to rely names: Reviewed. on Wikipedia. • .edu • No one, outside of • .org Google ,has a list • .gov of which materials are indexed here. • .com
- 9. Works-Cited, Bibliography, References. A list of the Citations sources that enable the the writer reader to find used to the original Standardized formats, or research a Citations acknowledge the source styles of citation (MLA, APA) topic. work and ideas of others. identify the works and their material. format: books (print; Citations verify the accuracy online), articles (print; of your own scholarship. online), websites, other audio-visual media. Failure to properly cite your Citation practices and styles sources (whether change over time: footnotes intentional or not) violates vs. in-text citations; the academic honor adaptation to online code, and is considered to formats. be plagiarism.