Brock University Library TA Day Consurrent Session slide show - September 10...
Fa2012 college level research peck
1. College Level Research:
Diana Aram
Technology Librarian
daram@nvcc.edu
http://nova.libguides.com/CST229PeckFA2012
2. The Research Process
What should information
Where Look like? What should information
does information come from?
Do for you?
• People • Truthful • Give examples
• Internet • Accurate • Support my
• Books • Authoritative topic
• News • Easy to • Give me ideas
• Journals understand • Answer my
• Facebook • Objective question
• TV
3. Wisdom in Song Lyrics
“You can’t always get what you
want. But if you try sometimes
well you might find You get what
you need.”
Jagger, Mick, and Keith Richards. You Can't Always Get What You Want. London: Decca Records, 1969. Print.
4. Research is a Journey –
Starting with…
What is your topic?
What are your search terms?
How about synonyms and
related terms?
9. Revise and Repeat
Revise you search terms/
strategy
Narrow Topic
Explore one aspect of topic
10. Avoid Target Fixation
O Change is inevitable
O It’s possible you (or someone else is
wrong)
O Know how to get unstuck and move
on
O More than one way.
13. The Filter Bubble
“The ultimate search engine
would understand what you
mean and give you back exactly
what you want.”
- Larry Page, Co-founder of Google
19. Types of Databases
O Reference
O Article
O Bibliographic
O eBook
O Music & Video
20. Research & Search Tips
Identify:
Topic
Keywords
Synonyms & related terms
21. Topic & Keywords
O Voting laws and the presidential
election
O Other possible search terms:
- Voting rights
- 2012
- Identification requirements
22. “Phrase searching”
Searches for words in exact
order, as a package.
O “Great Depression”
O “Digital Divide”
O “19th Century” or “Nineteenth
Century”
23. AND: Focuses a search
O “Voter rights” AND election
O India AND culture AND
customs
24. OR: Broadens a search
Washington DC OR District of
Columbia
27. Review: Evaluation
O Currency: When was it created
O Relevance: How does it relate to topic
O Authority: Who created/ wrote it
O Accuracy: Evidence?
O Purpose: Who’s the audience? Bias?
28. Review: Cite Your
Sources!
O Citation builders
O Web: Online Writing Lab (OWL)
O Print: Rules for Writers, MLA Handbook for
Writers & Research Papers
29. Review: What makes an
effective Researcher?
O Knows where to search
O Knows how to search
O Evaluates findings
O Gives credit (cites sources)
31. Questions?
Research Guide:
http://nova.libguides.com/CST229PeckFA2012
Editor's Notes
On a whiteboard, I write out: Where does information come from? (in general, not just for assignments/class projects)Students inevitably answer things such as: books, Internet, journals, magazines,newspapers, Google, Facebook, cell phone, TV, people, etc…We discuss that information comes from a variety of sources.Then I ask: What do you want your information to be like?Popular answers are usually: truthful, accurate, authoritative, easy to understand,quick to find, brief (short).Then I emphasize using authoritative and accurate information. And although it’s nice if the information is “short,” that might not always be the case with the research process. But I point out that we’re here to help them navigate through it!The last question I ask is: What do you want that information to do for you?Popular answers include: give me examples, give me ideas, help support my opinion, make my writing better, get me a good grade.I point out that these are all good examples. Then I make the case that they use the skills of finding and evaluating information everyday (You just showed me up on the board!) and that they just need to take those skills and apply it to the library’s resources.
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Signals: the computer you’re using, your browser, your location
