Slides from the tutorial for HKU SPACE students delivered on 19 November 2014

1. Subject Foundations
INF 100 Tutorial 1
Chris Chan
http://about.me/chancp

2. Learning Outcomes
By the end of tonight’s session, you will be able to:
Define different types of scholarly resources so that you include
appropriate references in your assignments for this and future subjects
Identify useful CSU Library search tools and construct effective search
strategies for use in them so that you can easily find scholarly resources
Understand why it is essential to use proper citation style in order to write
academic papers of a high standard

3. How you will learn today...
Mini-lectures
Group discussions
In-class questions and exercises - answers to be
submitted via PollEverywhere using whatever smart
devices you have to hand...

4. Get set up for PollEverywhere!
Go to: PollEv.com/hkbulib

5. A little bit about me...
Graduated from CSU in 2008 (Master of Library and Information
Management)
Also in 2008, began working at the Hong Kong Baptist University Library
as an Information Services Librarian
From 2005 - 2008, worked in school libraries at two international schools
in Hong Kong, primary and secondary
Have done tutorials for CSU / HKU SPACE since 2009

6. Enough about me! Let’s find out
a bit more about you…
What type of library / information
organization do you work at?
Submit your answer via PollEverywhere

7. Subject Overview
The information professions
The work of information professionals
The future of the information professions
Fundamentals of “being academic”

8. Assessment Items
Summary - read a scholarly article on the history of
an information organisation established prior to 1900
Comparative study - research a library and an
archive, and write a short study that compares and
contrasts the purpose of the two institutions
Essay - Identify three key issues that will impact the
future of libraries and discuss how the work of
information professionals will change

9. Advice on approaching your studies
Ask questions and be
inquisitive and
independent
Do the readings and
try to read beyond
them as well
Take full advantage of
the resources
available to you
Photo by Mal Booth: https://www.flickr.com/photos/malbooth/

10. HKUSPACE SOUL
SPACE has its own E-Learning
platform called SOUL
I will use it only to post copies
of my presentations, and also
to host a forum where you can
questions specific to HK
students
However, you should primarily
be using CSU Interact

11. Scholarly Sources

12. Group Discussion
What types of information resources should you use
when researching academic papers?
Submit your answers via PollEverywhere

13. Use of scholarly sources in Assignments
You need to show that you have consulted a
reasonable range of relevant sources (including
authoritative online sources, books, and journal
articles)
These sources must be properly cited and
referenced using APA style
Refer to the School of Information Studies
Presentation Guidelines for details

14. Peer review
Scholarly journal articles generally
must go through a process called
“peer review” before publication
Ensures that the articles are of
high quality
A common form is “double-blind”
peer review

15. Library Search Tools

16. e.g. LISTA
(Library, Information Science, and Technology Abstracts)
Indexes 560 core journals
Database Benefits
Focused search
Quality information
sources
Most include full text or
links to full text
Concept:
Search for information from many different
publications at the same time
Library databases

17. Another option:
Discovery service
Relatively recent trend in library
search
Allows access to the vast
majority of a library’s owned
and subscribed content via a
single search interface
All resource types included:
books, journal articles,
conference papers, etc.
CSU Library subscribes to
Primo Search

18. Search Strategy

19. Search strategy
To be successful in finding relevant material, you need to
employ appropriate search strategy in Library search engines
Poor search strategy:
importance of libraries in the information society
Better search strategy:
librar* AND (information society OR knowledge society)
Let’s look at the steps to a successful search strategy...

20. Step 1: Identify keywords
Select only those words that are relevant to the topic, i.e. libraries |
information society
Watch out for tricky “soft” words like impact, relationship, effects, etc.
What is the importance of libraries in the information
society?
libraries information society

21. Step 2: Apply truncation
Use truncation for variant word endings, e.g.:
librar* will find library, libraries, librarian, etc.
libraries information society
librar* information society

22. Step 3: Think of synonyms
librar* information society
The computer can’t do all your thinking for you! You need to tell it to
search for relevant similar words (synonyms)
You can use Boolean logic to combine similar terms into your search
strategy, or simply multiple searches using different synonyms
librar* AND (information society OR knowledge
society)

23. Exercise
Come up with an effective search strategy for the following topic:
Why are university libraries developing learning commons?
Submit your answers via PollEverywhere
Focus on choosing the correct keywords and applying truncation appropriately,
but it would be great if you can come up with synonyms too!

24. Live demo...
Finding LISTA on the CSU Library website
Keyword search
Getting fulltext of articles through SFX if necessary

25. Link Resolvers Explained!
Citation information in database (e.g. LISTA) sent to link
resolver
Link resolver (e.g. SFX) parses citation information and
identifies targets that contain full text and provides link(s)
User can access the fulltext at the target fulltext repository
(e.g. JSTOR, ScienceDirect, other publisher platform)

26. Citation

27. Shows that you have done your research and read
widely
Allows your reader to find the original source
Attractive bibliographies make your work look more
professional
Ensures you avoid committing “accidental”
plagiarism
Why we cite

28. Plagiarism
Plagiarism remains a serious problem in
academia - take some time to review the
important information on this topic
located on the CSU website:
http://student.csu.edu.au/study/
plagiarism/understanding

29. APA Examples
Book
Gorman, M. (2000). Our enduring values: Librarianship in the
21st century. Chicago: American Library Association.
Journal article
Wallis, J. (2005). Cyberspace, information literacy and the
information society. Library Review, 54(4), 218-222. doi:
10.1108/00242530510593407

30. Citation Management Tools
Some tools exist that help streamline the citation
process
Such tools are part of most major library database
platforms
They are NOT perfect - you must still check the
citation yourself for mistakes
Some examples….

31. EBSCOhost

32. ProQuest

33. Mendeley
For a more complete reference
management solution, several
software products exist, e.g.
EndNote, RefWorks, Zotero,
etc.
My personal favourite is
Mendeley - let’s try a quick live
demo…
Get a free account at http://
www.mendeley.com

34. Summary
Make sure that you are using books and scholarly journal articles, not just
for the first assignment but all of your assignments that you do at CSU
Library search tools such as databases and discovery services allow you
to find relevant scholarly material easily
You will find more relevant items in library search tools (and in Google
Scholar) if you use effective search strategies
Correct and consistent application of citation style is an integral part of
academic writing - start developing good habits in this area now