This document provides information for a student about researching for a class project. It includes contact information for a reference librarian, Florence Tang, and describes reference librarian responsibilities. It also provides tips on developing a research plan, finding different types of information sources like books, journals, newspapers and websites, and searching the library catalog and databases to find relevant materials.

1. COMM 171
Florence Tang
Liaison to the Penfield College
for the Atlanta Campus
678-547-6261
tang_fy@mercer.edu

2. Cornell University Library definition of
a reference librarian
http://www.library.cornell.edu/olinuris/ref/research/vocab.html
Reference Librarian
Reference librarians are specialists
in the field of information retrieval.
Generally they have a Masters
degree in library science… They
are available at reference desks to
help you find the information you
are looking for.

3. Florence’s office
10:00 AM -7:00 PM
May be working weekends or nights.

4. Questions? Ask the Reference Desk!
(678) 547-6282 (Atlanta)
http://libraries.mercer.edu/swilley/ref
erence/email-reference
Reference Hours
M - Th 9AM-9PM
F 9AM-6PM
Sat 10AM-6PM
Sun 1PM-9PM
Add askmercer as your buddy!

6. Remember to start your research early.
Not everything can be found full-text
online or at all hours.
o Interlibrary Loan
o Interlibrary Use
o Print copies of books and
journals
o Databases unavailable from off-campus
o Reference Librarian

7. Research Plan
•

8. • Background Reading & Brainstorming
• Develop the topic
• Focus the topic
Encyclopedias

9. Finding Information
What’s out there
• Books
• Newspapers/Magazines
• Journals
• Websites

10. Information Timeline
Books Reference Books Scholarly Journals Popular Magazine Newspapers Web
Years Months Week Day Present

11. Books
 Good for background
 Comprehensive
 Information may not be as
current as what you would
find in journal articles or web
sites.
That might or might not be
important.

12. “Scholarly” Journals
• Periodicals used by researchers
to share their findings with one
another and the public.
• They contain articles describing
new research or ideas written in a
formal manner that includes
background information, methods
used, results/interpretation and
significance.
• Research articles are peer-reviewed

13. Scholarly Journals
How do I tell?
• May contain graphs and charts.
• Written by a scholar in the field or by
someone who has done research in
the field. Degrees attained and
institutional affiliations are often
included by the authors’ names.
• Always cite their sources in the form
of footnotes or bibliographies
• No glossy pages or pictures

14. Examples of Scholarly Journals

15. Popular Magazines
How do I tell?
• Slick, glossy and attractive in
appearance.
• Lots of graphics (photographs,
drawings, etc.).
• Articles are usually very short,
written in simple language .
• Generally little depth to the content
of these articles.

16. Examples of Popular Magazines

17. Both are
considered
scholarly

18. Web vs. Libraries
• When you use a research or
academic library, the books,
journals and other resources
have already been evaluated
by scholars, publishers and
librarians.
• When you are using the
freely available World Wide
Web, none of this applies.

19. Finding Books
Use the CATALOG to find books
http://library.mercer.edu
When you search the catalog,
you will find books that are
located in the Swilley Library or
another Mercer Library.

21. Subject Headings Exercise
What is inside all three cans?

22. A long keyword search
(soft drink) or pop or soda or cola or (carbonated beverage)
Search

24. AND
A AND B

25. OR
A OR B

26. NOT
A NOT B

28. Number of books (or government
documents) found with this keyword

29. Is this book here now?

31. Links to other books
about your topic.

38. Finding Articles
To find Articles, use a database or
index
• A database is a collection of
citations for articles or similar
information
• Some databases will contain full
texts of articles
• Some databases are specific
(such as Education or Business)
and some cover many subjects

39. Finding Articles
• Find full-text articles OR
– Find a citation
– Check to see if your library has
the journal in another database
– If not, we can order it for you
via InterLibrary Loan.

40. To find articles, choose a database.

41. This shows a list of general databases.
These are called multi-disciplinary, which means you can find
information about many subjects.

43. Sign in to My Research to save
searches, and marked articles.

44. Limit your search to
scholarly journals and…

46. Limit the date range by
sliding this tab.

47. Full text is available.
Click on this link
Full text is not
available here, but
maybe we can get it
another way.

52. Full text is available.
Click on this link.

54. Sign in to My EBSCOhost to save
searches, and marked articles.
Limit your search to scholarly journals
and/or a specific date range.

55. Limit the date range by
sliding this tab.

56. SUITABILITY
• Scope.
Is this a general work that provides an overview of
the topic or is it specifically focused on only one
aspect of your topic? Is it relevant?
Does the resource cover the right time period that
you are interested in?
• Audience. Who is the intended audience for this
source? Is the material too technical or too
clinical?
• Timeliness. When was the source published?

57. Objectivity
• What point of view does the
author represent?
• Is the article an editorial that
is trying to argue a position?
• Is the article published in a
magazine that has a
particular editorial position?

58. Do not
• Share your MUID and
password with others.
• Upload an article to a
webpage that others can
access.
• Copy and paste sections of
an article into your paper
without using quotations.

66. END