This document outlines the seven steps of the research process and provides guidance on conducting academic research, including developing a topic, finding background information, using library catalogs and databases to find books and articles, evaluating sources, and citing sources. It describes resources like the POLAR and Ohiolink catalogs for finding books, various library databases for articles, and tips for searching like using subject headings versus keywords. Contact information is provided for research help.

1. RESEARCH STRATEGIES
WRITING SEMINAR
Kelly Kobiela, Systems Librarian
Heterick Memorial Library

2. HOW WILL I REMEMBER EVERYTHING?

3. HOW WILL I REMEMBER EVERYTHING?

4. HOW TO DO RESEARCH:
SEVEN STEPS OF THE RESEARCH PROCESS
 Step 1: Identify and develop your topic
 Step 2: Find background information
 Step 3: Use catalogs to find books and media
 Step 4: Find internet resources (if appropriate for
the assignment)
 Step 5: Use databases to find periodical articles
 Step 6: Evaluate what you find
 Step 7: Cite what you find
Amended with permission by the Librarians at the Olin and Uris Libraries of
Cornell University

5. HOW TO START YOUR RESEARCH
 State your topic as a question
 Identify main concepts or keywords
 Test the topic – look for keywords and synonyms
and related terms for the information sought
 Subject headings in catalogs
 Built-in thesauri in many databases
 Reference sources
 Textbooks, lecture notes, readings
 Internet
 Librarians, instructors

6. EXAMPLE OF A CONCEPT MAP

7. CONCEPT MAPPING

8. BACKGROUND RESEARCH
 Background research = Reference and Encyclopedias
 Library catalog
 Look at Databases/Reference tab in the Writing Seminar
research guide for a link to the library’s databases as
well as links to electronic encyclopedias and reference
materials

9. CATALOGS – BOOKS AND MEDIA
 POLAR Catalog – Search for physical and electronic items
(ebooks and ejournals) that are available from Heterick
Memorial Library and Taggart Law Library

10. FIND A BOOK – POLAR: 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

11. FIND A BOOK – POLAR: SUBJECT SEARCH
 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

12. POLAR – RESULTS
ebook
Law Library
Heterick Library

13. POLAR – MY LIBRARY ACCOUNT

14. FIND A BOOK – OHIOLINK
 Materials owned by 92 other libraries in Ohio:
colleges, universities, public libraries
 Can submit request for an item to be delivered to
Heterick Memorial Library
 Most requests arrive in 2-3 working days
 No charge to request items (unless they become
overdue)
 Maximum of 25 requests at a time
 Items can usually be renewed

15. FIND A BOOK – OHIOLINK
 From POLAR results list:
 Button will recreate the POLAR search in OhioLINK
 From an item record:
 Button will go directly to the same item
 Use if the copy in POLAR is checked out
 Direct link to the OhioLINK catalog:
 http://olc1.ohiolink.edu/search

16. FIND ARTICLES – DATABASES
 What is the basic definition of a library database?
 A library database is an electronic (online) catalog or index
 Library databases contain information about published items
 Library databases are searchable
 The library subscribes to many databases so the ONU community has
access to these resources. When you’re searching a database, you
are not searching “the web.”
 What types of items are indexed by library databases?
 Articles in Journals/Magazines/Newspapers
 Reference Information (i.e. entries from Encyclopedias, Dictionaries,
etc.)
 Books & other documents
Source: http://web.calstatela.edu/library/whatisadatabase.htm

17. WEB RESEARCH VS. LIBRARY DATABASES
Internet
 Material from numerous
sources, individuals,
government, etc.
 Search engines must work
with material prepared
without regard for specific
software
 Quality of material varies
 Generally do not access for-
profit information
 Content often anonymous
and undated
Databases
 Usually created by a single
publisher
 Content pre-arranged for
easy searching
 Quality-controlled by editorial
staff
 Most are available only to
subscribers
 Sources are usually identified
and dated
 Databases often focus on a
specific subject or discipline,
but some cover several areas

18. FIND ARTICLES – DATABASES

19. FIND ARTICLES – DATABASES
 General Databases
 Academic Search
Complete
 Business Source
Complete
 JSTOR
 Lexis-Nexis
 MasterFILE Premier
 MEDLINE with Full
Text
 Databases by Subject

20. ARTICLES – POPULAR VS. SCHOLARLY
 Popular = Magazine
 Scholarly = Journal
 Magazines tend to have glossy pages, lots of
pictures, and can be read and understood by the
general public
 Scholarly journals are usually peer-reviewed and
tend to be aimed at professionals in the field

21. ARTICLES – FULL TEXT

22. 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

23. SEARCH

24. WHAT IS INCLUDED?
 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

25. RESULTS: FULL TEXT, POLAR

26. RESULTS: OHIOLINK

27. RESULTS: FIND IT @ ONU

28. RESULTS: ILL
 When in doubt, email: ill@onu.edu

29. FACETS: LIMIT YOUR RESULTS

30. REMINDER!
 Kelly Kobiela, k-kobiela@onu.edu
 Jenny Donley, j-donley.1@onu.edu
 Kathleen Baril, k-baril@onu.edu
 Reference Email, reference@onu.edu
 Librarians on duty:
 Monday – Wednesday
 8:00 AM – 4:30 PM
 6:00 PM – 9:00 PM
 Thursday – Friday
 8:00 AM – 4:30 PM