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COLLEGE

LEVEL

RESEARCH

DIANA ARAM, LIBRARIAN

ANNANDALE CAMPUS LIBRARY

CLASS OBJECTIVES

• Understand your role as a student and

researcher

• Understand the research process

• Know what the library has to offer to support

your academic mission

SUCCESSFUL STUDENTS

KNOW…

• that they’re in college to learn how to learn – not simply

to be taught

• that they must take responsibility for their own

learning

• to find ways to distinguish themselves from everyone

else

What do you find challenging about research?

Where

does information

come from?

What do you want

your information

to be like?

What should

information

do for you?

THINKING ABOUT

RESEARCH

RESEARCH SKILLSET

• Define

• Find – Discover

• Evaluate

• Organize

• Communicate

USING TOOLS

RESEARCH TOOLS

• Library Website - GATEWAY

• Library Catalog - BOOKS

• Library Databases - ARTICLES

• People – EXPERT

• The Web

LIBRARY WEBSITE

HTTP://WWW.NVCC.EDU/LIBRARY/

• Library Catalog

• Article (& more) Databases

• Research Guides

• Library Information

• Citation Help

• Research Help

LIBRARY CATALOG:

HOW TO FIND A BOOK

LIBRARY DATABASES:

ARTICLES, EBOOKS, VIDEO &

MUSIC

• Organized – “Quality Control”

• Evaluated – Credible

• Proprietary

• Specialized & subject specific content

• Scholarly

• Ability to apply limiters/ filters

LIBRARY DATABASES 101

• Search using keywords

• I want to explore the topic of the effect trans fats on

health

• Broadening or narrowing your topic

• Broad: fats and health

• Narrow: Processed foods and trans fats and health

• Synonyms, like and related terms

• Hydrogenated oils, disease

SEARCH TERM Number of

Search Results

“counter culture” 655

counter-culture 680

counterculture 1290

Academic Search

Complete

LIBRARY DATABASES 101

• “Phrase Searching”

• “civil rights”, “trans fats”, “Breaking Bad”

• AND, OR, NOT

• “Breaking Bad” AND TV

• “Breaking Bad” OR Weeds

• Java NOT Computers

• Truncation

• Econom*: economics, economy, economist

REVISE AND REPEAT

• Revise your search terms/ strategy

• Narrow Topic

• Explore one aspect of topic

WHAT ABOUT

GOOGLE?

“In the last few years, we've moved from an information-scarce

economy to one driven by an information glut. According to Eric

Schmidt of Google, every two days now the human race creates

as much information as we did from the dawn of civilisation until

2003. That's about five exobytes of data a day, for those of you

keeping score. The challenge becomes, not finding that scarce

plant growing in the desert, but finding a specific plant growing in

a jungle.”

- Author, Neil Gaiman

SURFACE WEB VS.

DEEP WEB

THE FILTER BUBBLE

EVALUATING WHAT YOU

FIND

• Currency: When was it created?

• Relevance: How does it relate?

• Authority: Who created/ wrote it?

• Accuracy: Is it supported by evidence?

• Purpose: Who’s the audience? Bias?

AVOID TARGET FIXATION

• Change is inevitable.

• More than one way.

• It’s OK to be wrong.

• Know how to get unstuck.

TYING IT ALL

TOGETHER:

COMMUNICATION

• Paper

• Presentation

• Chart

• Video

CITING YOUR

SOURCES

• Citation builders

• Library website

• Web: Online Writing Lab (OWL)

• Print: Rules for Writers, MLA Handbook for

Writers & Research Papers

REVIEW: WHAT MAKES

AN EFFECTIVE

RESEARCHER

• Knows where to search

• Knows how to search

• Evaluates findings for credibility

• Gives credit by citing sources

HELP

• Librarians

• Writing Center – CG409

• 24/7 Librarian Help (Chat)

• My contact Info:

Diana Aram

[email protected]

703-323-3868