Online Research-- Seminar 3 Fall 08

ONLINE RESEARCH ANDEVALUATING SOURCESScience and Technology in New York City

Fall 08

Introductions

Name Major (if you have one) Describe one problem you have had

while doing academic research and/or one question you have about doing academic research

Finding Books and Journal Articles

Where to Start:

The Library link from the QC pagehttp://www.qc.cuny.edu

OR

Directly to the QC Libraries http://qcpages.qc.cuny.edu/Library

Concepts for Library Research

What is the difference between:

Library catalog Library database?

Keyword search Subject descriptor search?

Catalog vs. Database

A library catalog tells what the library owns: Books, journals, music, newspapers, videos,

magazines, dvds It gives general information about the material:

author, title, location, subject (usually not a detailed description of the contents

A library database tells what has been published:

-It provides specific info about material (what is inside journals or books

Catalog vs. Database

In general, you use a catalog to find books, films, or other whole publications on a topic that the library owns. The catalog can also tell you if we own a journal/magazine but does not tell you what articles have been published inside.

In general, you use a database to find what has been published on a topic, parts of publications (articles, essays, chapters, conference papers, e.g.), and material that is difficult to obtain/unpublished (doctoral theses, e.g.)

Keyword vs. Subject/Descriptor A keyword search usually contains

informal/common words that come from the research question you are trying to answer

A subject/descriptor search usually contains standardized terms/formal language specific to the field of study

Keyword vs. Subject/Descriptor Keywords are the obvious words that come to mind–

there are many possible synonyms since often more than one word is appropriate [example: “how women working affects their children” “impacts of mothers’ employment on children”]

Subjects are formal vocabulary words that are used in critical thinking. Generally, one word is designated for a topic so synonyms are unlikely.

To identify subject/descriptors, use a Thesaurus or first do Keyword searches to learn what language is used for the concepts involved [gender, employment, e.g.]

Keyword vs. Subject/Descriptor Another good search rule:

If you have two or more concepts, for example, “work, women, children,” use Keyword searching

If you have one concept, for example, “employment,” try Subject searching. To learn the formal language of a discipline, use a textbook, the database thesaurus, subject dictionary

Popular Periodicals vs. Scholarly Journals

What is the difference? Intended audience Peer review process

How can you tell the difference? Frequency of publication Title/Source of publication (not a

guarantee) Filtered search

Catalog Search: CUNY +

Go to qc.cuny.edu/Library and open CUNY+ Click on “HELP” and read section on

truncation (psycholog*, ?economic) + boolean search terms (AND, OR, NOT)

Click on Queens College to limit your search. Use search terms; “Latino higher education”–

what do you find? How many references? What’s the difference between full/brief view? How do you send info about the reference to

yourself? Pick one reference and test this out.

Database Search

Go to qc.cuny.edu/Library, click on Reference, click on All Databases A—Z

Each database is labeled: F (Full-text) A (Abstracts only) I (Index) R (Reference, which usually contains full-

text)

Database Search

Databases to know about: Academic Search Premier, which you should use

and become familiar with. It covers all fields (4500 periodicals!) and is a good place to begin if your topic is obscure.

Econlit: the most complete source for economics – has abstracts but not full-text

ERIC: the most complete listing of abstracts of materials related to education at all levels

MEDLINE – an outstanding database of materials on health and medicine.

PSYCInfo -- the best source for psychology SocIndex – a very good source for sociology, has

full-text

Database Search

Other databases to know about: Lexis-Nexis Dissertation Abstracts International JSTOR (full-text; may ask for $, not

current)

Database Search

Go to EBSCO and use search terms; “Latino higher education”– what do you find? How many references?

How do you select sources? How do you know if the sources are

available to you?

How to Obtain Articles

Option 1: Click on a Full-Text link or PDF link

Option 2: Click on the FindIt linking tool, then click on a Full-Text link or PDF link

Option 3: Click on the FindIt linking tool, then click on the

CUNY+ Catalog to search for a printed/paper version of

the periodical, then match the year of the article to what

years are available at QC or another CUNY library

Sources

Most of the information in this presentation originally

appeared in materials developed by Professor JimMellone, Social Science Librarian at Queens

College:

qcpages.qc.cuny.edu/~jmellone/lib_res_socsci.ppt

qcpages.qc.cuny.edu/~jmellone/socindex.htm qcpages.qc.cuny.edu/~jmellone/urbindex.htm

Instructional Technology FellowContact Information

Soniya Munshi

Office Hours: Tues 10-12:30; Wed 1:00-4:30

[email protected]