4. Reminder:
Your ONU ID = Your Library Card
• Your student ID is also your library card
• Always enter your whole ID number, including
zeros
EVA
Eva Maglott
00021559801
Eva Maglott
5. Research Strategy Overview
• Start big by doing background reading
• Follow the existing research to narrow your topic for a
more focused project
• Work on finding the right search terms
• Research the narrowed topic by using subject-specific
databases or vetted internet sites
• Use patterns you see in the results list to narrow your
topic
• Keep track of bibliographic citations to avoid trouble
down the road
• Ask a librarian or your professor for suggestions
7. Primary, Secondary and Tertiary Sources
Definitions of primary
sources can depend on the
department and subject
matter being studied
“In the humanities, a
primary resource could be
defined as something that
was created either during
the time period being
studied or afterward by
individuals reflecting on
their involvement in the
events of the time.”
Primary Sources: What are they? Lafayette College Libraries & Academic Information Resources.
https://library.lafayette.edu/help/primary/definitions Accessed February 5, 2015
Examples of Primary Resources:
• Government
government report, interview, letter,
news report, personal account, press
release, public opinion survey, speech,
treaty or international agreement
• History
artifact, diary, government report,
interview, letter, map, news report, oral
history, organizational records,
photograph, speech, work of art
8. Primary, Secondary and Tertiary Sources
Primary sources = raw data = history
• Reading and evaluating
them can be difficult
• They are an opportunity to
come into contact with the
past
• Enables historians to
experience the past by using
their imagination
http://www.uncp.edu/home/rwb/hst300q3.htm
9. Primary, Secondary and Tertiary Sources
Evaluating primary sources:
- What kind of source is it?
• Formal treatise
• Public records
• Private letters and journals
• Literary sources such as novels or
poems
• Nonverbal sources such as art,
architecture, music, and
photography
• Oral histories
• Maps, blueprints, etc.
10. Primary, Secondary and Tertiary Sources
Questions to ask yourself when
reviewing a document:
1. Is the source genuine?
2. What is the date of origin?
3. Who is the author?
4. Who is the audience?
11. Primary, Secondary and Tertiary Sources
Suggestions for reading a primary source:
• Read through the entire document quickly to
set a sense of the whole source.
• Does it show bias?
• Is the bias yours or the source?
• Read the document a second time carefully
noting authorship, time period, intended
purpose and probable impact on the
intended audience.
12. Primary, Secondary and Tertiary Sources
Identify the following:
• Time and place
• Author
• Audience
• Personalities and roles of all people mentioned
• Meaning and purpose
• Content (colloquial terminology, language of the day,
phrases and phrasing)
• Allusions
• Assumptions and/or bias
13. Primary, Secondary and Tertiary Sources
Additional questions to ask yourself:
1. Do the contents seem reasonable?
2. Are there other primary documents that
provide corroboration information, or are
there contradictions?
3. Place the document in the larger historical
context. Do secondary resources fit with
your interpretation?
14. Primary, Secondary and Tertiary Sources
As you are following the steps above,
be sure to note anything you need to
come back to and look up in reliable
reference works.
15. Primary, Secondary and Tertiary Sources
Secondary Sources:
• Secondary Sources analyze or interpret a historical
event or artistic work.
• Secondary sources often base their theories and
arguments on the direct evidence found in primary
sources.
• A secondary work for a subject is one that discusses
the subject but is written after the time contemporary
with it.
16. Primary, Secondary and Tertiary Sources
“Tertiary sources provide overviews of
topics by synthesizing information
gathered from other resources. Tertiary
resources often provide data in a
convenient form or provide information
with context by which to interpret it.”
Virginia Tech Libraries, Accessed 08/14/2013
• Encyclopedias
• Dictionaries
• Handbooks
Oxford Reference
17. Research Tools
• Websites – Must be properly evaluated
before used for research
• Catalogs: Used primarily for locating
books, maps, musical scores, government
documents, etc.
• Databases : Usually for locating
periodical/journal and newspaper articles,
but may cover other materials as well
18. Critically analyzing web sources
• What? is the page/site about
• Who? created and maintains this site
• Where? is the information coming from
• Why? is the information presented on the web
• When? was the page created or last updated
• How? accurate or credible is the page
From the University of Wisconsin Library, worksheet for evaluating
web sites
What about the web?
But I found this great website…
19. o Currency
• Timeliness of the information
o Relevance/Coverage
• Depth and importance of the information
o Authority
• Source of the information
o Accuracy
• Reliability of the information
o Purpose/Objectivity
• Possible bias present in the information
*The CRAAP acronym and descriptions are from Meriam Library at
California State University Chico. Used with permission.
What about the web?
The CRAAP Test
20. Library Catalogs
• POLAR Catalog: Search for physical and
electronic items (ebooks and ejournals) that
are available from Heterick Memorial Library
and Taggart Law Library
• OhioLINK Catalog: Your next step if you
can’t find what you want in the HML
collection. Materials are owned by 90+ other
libraries in Ohio, including colleges,
universities, public libraries
• Interlibrary Loans (ILL): ILLs are typically
considered the option of last resort
21. o Books can help you narrow your research topic by giving
you background information.
Books in the POLAR Library Catalog
Basic keyword searches are a good way to get started.
22. POLAR Library Catalog:
Keyword Search
• Looks in several locations
− Subject
− Article title
− Abstracts
− Table of contents
• Does not require an exact match
• Generates comparatively large number of hits
• Good if you are not familiar with terminology
• Good for a beginning search
23. • Looks at the subject headings in the records
• Requires an exact match
• Provides a results list with related headings to
use for broader and narrower searches
• Generates comparatively smaller number of hits
• Good if you are familiar with terminology
• Good for a next step after a keyword search
POLAR Library Catalog:
Subject Search
24. If an item is checked out in
POLAR, try OhioLINK.
POLAR Library Catalog
Available on the third floor.
The oversized collection is to
the left at the top of the stairs.
25. • Materials are owned by 90+ other libraries in Ohio,
including colleges, universities, public libraries
• Links within POLAR permit you to submit requests
• Most requests arrive in 3-5 working days
• No charge to request items from OhioLINK
• Limit of only 25 requests at a time
• Items may be renewed up to 6 times if no holds have
been placed on the item
OhioLINK
26. Ordering items through OhioLINK
1. Make sure
copies are
available at other
libraries
2. Click on
request
button
27. Ordering items through OhioLINK
3. Select Ohio Northern 4. Enter your first and last
name and all 11 digits
exactly as they appear on
your ID
5. Be sure to select Heterick as
your pick up location and then
click submit.
6. An email will be sent
when the item is ready
for pickup
28. Articles
● A periodical is something that is published at regular
intervals. Magazines and journals are both periodicals,
however…
● Magazines are periodicals that contain more popular
content. They tend to have glossy pages, lots of pictures, and
can be read and understood by the general public. They
contain shorter articles written by a staff of journalists.
● Journals are periodicals that contain scholarly and
peer-reviewed articles, written by scholars and
researchers, that are aimed at professionals in the field.
The articles are longer and have extensive
bibliographies at the ends of the articles.
29. • Library databases are tools used for locating journal and
newspaper articles
• Most are subject-specific, but some are multi-disciplinary
• Many give access to full text articles
• Heterick has 250+ databases
• Accessible from the Heterick home page:
www.onu.edu/library
Find an Article: Databases
30. Click on the Databases tab
Find an Article: Databases
31. Find an Article: Databases
The library suggests
several history and
political science
databases in the
SUBJECT listing.
32. Off Campus Access Problems?
• Make sure you click the “Off Campus Access” link and
not the name of the database for access when you are off
campus:
33. Find an Article: Databases
• Suggested databases to use for this class:
• See the database tab on the HSPS Senior Thesis
Research Guide for a complete listing
• SEARCH: a mega-database that can be helpful if
you’re having trouble finding articles in the
databases listed above.
35. What is included in SEARCH?
• POLAR
• Article-level searching for all EBSCO databases
• Article-level searching for a variety of other
databases: JSTOR, Hoover’s, AccessPharmacy,
etc.
• Title-level searching for most other databases:
IEEE, CIAO, Proquest Nursing & Allied Health
• OhioLINK Central Catalog
37. Full text: Find it @ ONU
• Find It @ ONU takes you from a database where
you don’t have full text access to a database where
you do have full text access
