This document provides an introduction to college-level research for an English 112 course. It discusses what research is, how to develop effective search strategies, and how to evaluate different types of information sources. It emphasizes using library databases and catalogs to find scholarly articles and books, and provides tips on developing search terms, citing sources to avoid plagiarism, and tools that would be useful for an argumentative research paper assignment.

1. INTRODUCTION TO RESEARCH FOR ENGLISH 112 Spring 2010 Jami Bryan, Electronic Services Librarian

2. OUTCOMES FOR TODAY What is Research? What is College Level Research? What is credibility? How do I evaluate resources? What are some effective search strategies? What’s in a library catalog? What’s in a library database? What tools are best for this assignment?

3. WHAT IS RESEARCH?

4. IS IT SEARCHING AND FINDING? 1. Get the Assignment 4. Turn it in 2. Find some information 3. Do some writing Go to Google Type in Topic Use whatever comes up

5. EFFECTIVE RE SEACH IS NOT LINEAR REpeating REvising ObsERving FiltERing DiscovERing

6. RE ALLY? You already do this! Apply your skills and experience to College Level Research Learning this now will help you EXCEL In other classes At other schools Workplace

7. COLLEGE LEVEL RESEARCH

8. COLLEGE LEVEL RESEARCH Creating useful search terms and strategies REpeating and REvising ObsERving Knowing which tools to search ObsERving DiscovERing Evaluating what you find FiltERing DiscovERing

9. CREATING USEFUL SEARCH TERMS

10. HOW TO SEARCH? Getting Search Terms Pull out key words and concepts from your topic Determine Synonyms, Related Terms, or other Variations Think Nouns REvise Terms as Searching REpeat across different tools (Catalog, Databases)

11. TOPIC: AIRPORT SCANNERS Basic Concepts: Airport Scanners Related Terms: Transportation Travel Security Rights Full-Body United States Start with what you already know and think about what you might like to know!

12. COMMON SEARCH FEATURES Phrase Searching “ use quotation marks” to search for that exact match Ex. airport security vs. “airport security” Wildcards Use the * (or ? or $) with the root of a word to search for variant forms scan* searches scan, scan s , scan ner , scan ners, scan ning

13. CONNECT TERMS WITH AND, OR, & NOT Dogs DOGS CATS Cat AND Dog = Cat Dog = Items with Both Cat and Dog Cat OR Dog Items with Cat , Items with Dog , and Items with Both Cat and Dog Cat NOT Dog Items with Cat Only , not Items with Both Cat and Dog Cat Dog

14. TOPIC: AIRPORT SCANNERS Initial Search Strategies: “ airport scanners” airport scan* airport scanner AND security airport scanner AND full-body “ airport scanners” OR “airport full-body scanners”

15. KNOWING WHICH TOOLS TO SEARCH

16. INFORMATION Closed Web: $$$ for access and organization Physical Resources Books Videos Magazines Newspapers Journals Web Resources Facebook Company Sites Shopping Blogs YouTube Government Sites News E-books Online Periodicals

17. TOOLS AND RESOURCES Search Engines Library Catalogs Databases

18. GOOGLE GIVES YOU…. Web Resources MySpace Company Sites Shopping Blogs YouTube Government Sites Games

19. LIBRARIES GIVE YOU…. Databases/ Online Books and Periodicals Closed Web: $$$ for access and organization Physical Resources Books Videos Magazines Newspapers Journals

20. TOOLS AND RESOURCES Search Engines Publicly available web resources Library Catalogs Books (including e-books) Journals, Magazines and Newspapers Titles Databases Articles in Journals, Magazines and Newspapers

21. WHAT IS A LIBRARY CATALOG? A listing of all of the items available in a particular library, whether physical or web-based. Books E-books Videos Magazine and Journal titles What you won’t find in the Catalog: Individual articles from magazines, journals and newspapers (go to the Databases for these)

22. LIBRARY VOCABULARY Circulating – item can go out of the library Call number – the item’s location on the shelf in the library Periodicals – newspapers, magazines and journals Journal – periodical dedicated to a particular subject

23. WHAT ARE YOU GETTING IN A DATABASE? Citations Author, article title, periodical title, date, volume, issue, page number. Abstract Summary of the article, useful in evaluating and filtERing the content. Often Full-text Entire content of the article. Things to obsERve: Terms to use for better results and better searches Full-text in that database?

24. TOPIC: AIRPORT SCANNERS Later Search Strategies: “ airport scanners” “ airport scanners” and full-body airline passengers AND scanners airline passenger* AND scan* airline passengers AND security airport security

25. EVALUATING INFORMATION

26. BASIC DISTINCTIONS Popular vs. Scholarly Popular sources are written for general audiences Scholarly sources are written by experts for experts Primary vs. Secondary Primary sources are firsthand accounts by a participant or direct observer Secondary sources provide an analysis, explanation or restatement

27. CREDIBILITY...WHO’S GOT IT? capable of being believed; believable: a credible statement. worthy of belief or confidence; trustworthy: a credible witness. Dictionary.com Unabridged . Random House, Inc. 12 Nov. 2009. <Dictionary.com http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/credibility >.

28. BE SKEPTICAL! What you can do: Rely on library catalog and databases Look for scholarly or academic sources Find out who's responsible for the information, such as the author and publisher. Consider the purpose of the source (e.g., to entertain or educate?) Consider the date. See each source for what it offers.

29. CITING SOURCES Display your credibility through your citations/reference list By showing the types of sources you used, you allow others to find and judge those sources for themselves By citing quotations and ideas taken from other works, you: show respect for that author’s intellectual property avoid plagiarism

30. IP AND PLAGIARISM Intellectual property: “refers to creations of the mind: inventions, literary and artistic works, and symbols, names, images, and designs used in commerce” WIPO. (n.d.). What is intellectual property? World Intellectual Property Organization . Retrieved April 2, 2010 from http://www.wipo.int/about-ip/en/ Plagiarism: “the practice of taking someone else's work or ideas and passing them off as one's own.” Soanes, C. & Stevenson, A. (Eds.). (2005). Plagiarism. The Oxford Dictionary of English . Retrieved from http://www.oxfordreference.com

31. CITATION RESOURCES Library’s list of citation help: My recommendations: Use the Cite This or similar feature in the databases or use Citation Machine CAUTION: These aren’t always accurate, so check the citations yourself OWL: Handouts: Research and Documenting Sources

32. TIPS FOR YOUR ASSIGNMENT

33. YOUR ASSIGNMENT Argumentative research paper in the Rogerian style Several credible sources on BOTH sides of the argument/position Recommended Tools: Databases: Issues and Controversies on File Opposing Viewpoints Academic Search Complete Proquest Subject-specific databases based on topic Library Catalog

34. LIBRARY LOGISTICS NOVAcard LAN login Printing procedures Access from Off-campus Catalog Databases

35. NEED HELP? HAVE QUESTIONS? Come to the Library Ask a Librarian Contact me [email_address] 703-323-3867 Make our day – Ask for help!