Online library session for Dr. DeFalco's ENGL416 course, "Literature and the Sea." Using these recommendations will greatly assist the success of your third research paper for class.

1. ENGLISH 416 –
LITERATURE AND THE SEA
ANGEL ONLINE, SPRING 2013
DR. ELISSA DEFALCO
LIBRARY RESOURCES –
3RD RESEARCH PAPER
Elizabeth Berilla, eberilla@sunymaritime.edu

2. Elizabeth Berilla,
Reference, Instruction, and Outreach Librarian
Online Education Liaison
eberilla@sunymaritime.edu
Library@sunymaritime.edu
(718) 409 – 7237
www.sunymaritime.edu/stephenblucelibrary
http://sunymaritime.libguides.com/humanities/engl416

3. Objectives:
•Access print and electronic resources for
your research paper.
•Evaluate scholarly versus popular
resources with project topic in mind.
•Integrate information through research.
•Ethically represent primary and secondary
resources.

4. Stephen B. Luce Library:
http://www.sunymaritime.edu/stephenblucelibrary/
•Portal to
books, ebooks, journals, databases, and
primary resources.
•Online users will be asked to log in with
username/password – same information as
your Maritime College email.
•Automatically authenticated to access
ebooks and articles.
•Other resources of interest to online
students.
•Able to search for Primary and Secondary
resources:
•Primary: documents about a subject
or person written by that subject or
person.
•Secondary: documents about a
subject or person written by a third
party, often reflecting on past events.

5. Stephen B. Luce Library:
http://www.sunymaritime.edu/stephenblucelibrary/
•Books and ebooks can be used to
provide breadth and depth on a
topic, published with academic or
popular purpose in mind.
•Search for books and ebooks
through the Sextant, the Library’s
online catalog.
•Basic search in upper right
corner box.
•Basic AND Advanced searching
options under CATALOGS.
•Books are available to online
students with Maritime College
ID, ebooks are available to all
Maritime students and do not require
a special reader.

6. Stephen B. Luce Library:
http://www.sunymaritime.edu/stephenblucelibrary/
•Basic Searching:
•Uses a simple term, key
word, title, or author’s name to
locate general information.
•Here can be a good place
to start brainstorming about
key words that relevant to
your search.
•Can result in a large number of
hits.
•Good for first approach to a
topic if you’re not sure what
you’re looking for exactly.
For example, searching for “pirate”.

7. Stephen B. Luce Library:
http://www.sunymaritime.edu/stephenblucelibrary/
•Basic search for “pirate” results: 82 hits for the word “pirate” in subject, title, author, or keyword.

8. Stephen B. Luce Library:
http://www.sunymaritime.edu/stephenblucelibrary/
•Want to narrow that down a bit?
•Do an Advanced Search if you
know you’re looking for something
more specific.
•Start jotting down which key
words, names, or combinations
of words work best.
•You can also narrow down the
years when the book was
published to find more recent
books, or search only specific
collections like ebooks.

9. Stephen B. Luce Library:
http://www.sunymaritime.edu/stephenblucelibrary/
•Advanced search for “pirate” AND “biography” results:
13 hits for the books where “pirate” and “biography” are used together!

10. Stephen B. Luce Library:
http://www.sunymaritime.edu/stephenblucelibrary/
•Ebooks will appear along with regular books in this listing. Click on the link “Electronic
Book accessible to Maritime Faculty Staff and Students. Click for access.” to bring up
the book.
•Enter your Maritime College login information if prompted.
•You can also search just for ebooks through the Springer eBooks database
listing, http://luce.sunymaritime.edu:2048/menu.

11. Stephen B. Luce Library:
http://www.sunymaritime.edu/stephenblucelibrary/
•You can also change the search field type
in Basic and Advanced Searching with the
drop down menu.
•Search only within
Subject, Author, Title, etc. fields.
•Try also using Boolean Operators in a basic
search to mimic advanced search options:
•AND: combines two words or phrases
and searches for both terms; narrows
search: “pirates AND history”
•OR: creates separate searches for
two different terms; broadens search:
“pirates OR biographies”
•NOT: searches for one word, but
excludes the other: “pirates NOT Great
Britain”
•These techniques can be used throughout
your searching process, such as for journal
articles.

12. Stephen B. Luce Library:
http://www.sunymaritime.edu/stephenblucelibrary/
•Returning to the Library’s
homepage, you can access periodicals
(journals) and databases for articles.
•Articles will help you explore depth of
information on a specific topic.
•Scholarly Articles will be essential to
the success of your research.
•These articles are peer
reviewed, which means they have
been reviewed by other experts in
the field for accuracy and vetted as
true.
•Combining articles, books, and electronic
resources will create a well-rounded, well-
researched paper.

13. Stephen B. Luce Library:
http://luce.sunymaritime.edu:2048/menu
•Click on Databases, then “Popular” to
access a full listing of the most used
databases.
•Databases can be:
•General research databases –
EBSCO, FirstSearch, Gale, HarpWeek,
JSTOR, Milestone
Documents, NetLibrary, ProQuest, and
Springer eBooks.
•Specific to areas of research –
American Maritime Cases, Homeland
Security, Lloyd’s
List, MTA, ScienceDirect, and TRID.
•Review each description to see what fits
best for your topic. For literature and
history, we recommend
EBSCO, Gale, JSTOR, and ProQuest.

14. Stephen B. Luce Library:
http://luce.sunymaritime.edu:2048/menu
•Searching databases will be similar to
looking for a book.
Let’s consider ProQuest as an example…
•Use AND, OR, NOT to combine key words
or phrases.
•Advanced Searching options will also
narrow down your search by keyword, date
of publication, author, or title.
•Clicking “Peer Reviewed” option will only
return articles which have been reviewed by
experts in the field as legitimate for
research.
•Clicking “Full Text” option will return only
articles available completely online;
otherwise, you may only get citation
information.

15. ProQuest – Basic Search
•Basic Search for “piracy AND With this search, we get 20,563
history”. results!
•Notice, there is an auto-
complete feature for other
recommended key words.
We need to narrow this down…

16. ProQuest – Advanced Search
We’ve checked “Full Text” and …And restricted year to
“Peer Reviewed” options… everything since 2000…
… And we still have 3,215 results!

17. EBSCO
•EBSCO databases will offer other options in History and Humanities, but
with similar searching strategies.
•Consider how working with this database will feel similar or different to
ProQuest.

18. EBSCO – Basic Search
Basic Search for “piracy and
•
history”
EBSCO is automatically set to
•
search with Boolean/Phrase; no
AND/OR needed!
We end up with 449 results.

19. EBSCO – Advanced Search
To keep narrowing this
•
search, we refine our results by
clicking “Full Text” and “Peer
Reviewed” options.
Publication Date is narrowed
•
again to 2000-2013.
Our final search brings us 60
results!

20. LibGuides:
http://sunymaritime.libguides.com/humanities/engl416
 Created by
librarians with
resources
specific to a
subject area or
class
assignment.

21. LibGuides:
http://sunymaritime.libguides.com/humanities/engl416
 Quick reference for Catalogs, Databases, Online
Resources, Researching Tips, Interlibrary Loan, and other topics of
presentation.
 Great place to start or quickly reference certain resources.
 Automatically authenticated for your use.
 Highlights web resources and databases specifically helpful to
online students in ENGL 416.
 Guides are available in other subject areas and for other classes as
well.

22. Google Scholar:
http://scholar.google.com/
 Google Scholar is often an acceptable way to locate academic articles, theses, legal
documents, and research by scholars and professionals in the field.
 Caveat emptor!
 Not all of these results will be available in full text.
 Use Google Scholar for general researching or as search engine, taking good with the bad.
 Best results come from specialized use of advanced search features, AND/OR/NOT, and
limiting search options in the left menu bar.

23. Websites
 Websites can be very helpful, timely sources of information on a
variety of topics.
 When searching for information online, use AND/OR/NOT to limit
your search results.
 Take note of which keywords or phrases worked well together.
 Consider the trustworthiness of the site, its author, or parent
organization for authority and bias on the subject.
 Websites are particularly helpful for legal documents, annual
reports, museum exhibits, and access to some primary resources.

24. Interlibrary Loan
•Found an article that’s not full text?
•Can’t get to campus to pick out a
book?
•Does the library not have the book
you’re looking for?
•Use FirstSearch/WorldCat and
Interlibrary Loan!

25. FirstSearch/WorldCat
•Collaborative catalog of libraries all
over the United States and around
the world.
•Search for your book or
resource, and see where it is located
near you.
•If you are on campus, you can use
the citation information to make an
interlibrary loan request as well.
Books are usually delivered within 1-
2 weeks to the Stephen B. Luce
Library for you to pick up.

26. WorldCat – Search Results
•Looking for more books by Marcus •I clicked on the link for “Libraries
Rediker, I searched for Rediker by worldwide that own this item: 835”
Author, and found Between the Devil and found listings by state and
and the Deep Blue Sea. institutions near me with access to
the book.

27. Interlibrary Loan Requests
•Now that you know where your
book is or citation information for an
article or book, you can place a
request for it through ILLiad, the
library’s interlibrary loan system.
•Articles can be requested by all
students (online and on campus).
•Books can be requested by
students on campus only.
•Articles are sent via PDF
attachment to your email
account, usually within 2-5 days.
Book requests are usually filled
within 1-2 weeks and must be
picked up at the Stephen B. Luce
Library.

28. Interlibrary Loan Requests
•Click on the ILLiad @ Luce icon on •Click New Request for “Photocopy”
the Library’s homepage and log in (articles) or “Book” (book) and
(or sign up for the first time). complete the form as best as you
can.
•Submit your request!

29. Evaluating Resources
You’ve found some resources now, but how
do you know if they’re great for your paper?
Here are four criteria to follow for a solid
research paper!

30. 1. Is your resource useful or relevant?
 Your first criterion will be whether the source is useful or relevant to your
focused topic.
 That is, a source must be about your topic, and must be able to tell you
something new about it and inspire you to share that information through
your paper.
 Besides the title of the book, you can also look at the subject
headings, table of contents, index, and introduction to judge usefulness.

31. 2. Is your resource timely?
 Be aware of the date that a source is published, keeping your secondary
resources within the past 5-7 years if possible. Your professor will
acknowledge your use of current or recently published materials.
 Combining recent articles and websites with books in your research
is an appropriate way to show your awareness of your topic’s
timeliness as well as historical understanding of the topic.
 As a general guide, Humanities topics (literature, history, philosophy, etc)
allow for a wider date range of resources.
 If you are doing an historical review of a topic (in humanities or sciences)
that may require the use of older sources, especially if you can find primary
resources.

32. 3. Is your resource appropriate?
 Not every source is going to be appropriate for college work. Sources
aimed at general adult readers are adequate for some college level
work, but the most appropriate sources are likely to be materials aimed at
researchers and scholars in a particular subject area.
 The overall tone and style of scholarly writing will reflect the needs of a
specialized audience, and scholarly material will definitely have
footnotes, references, and bibliographies.

33. 4. Is your resource authoritative?
 When you evaluate a source, think about whether your professor or an
expert would find the source reliable. As you interpret your sources, your
research is really only as good as the source that you cite.
 An authoritative source will indicate the author’s expertise in a few ways: it
could have a brief note about the author, indicating whether the author
holds an advanced degree in their fields, has extensive experience, and/or
is affiliated with a professional or research association.

34. For Websites:
 It may be helpful to know that these four criteria also apply to a digital
world:
1. Useful/Relevant: Consider the overall content and tone of the website.
See if the entire site is about your topic, or if only one page is dedicated
to it. What does that tell you about its relevance to your research?
2. Timely: Does the website list the date of its last update, or copyright
date? Has it been updated recently? If there is a news, blog, or
publications page, has it been updated recently? Sites with broken
hyperlinks often indicate one which has not been updated recently and
should be used with caution.

35. For Websites, continued:
3. Appropriate: Consider if the website has a scholarly or academic tone.
Does its URL end in a .com (commercial), or a more authoritative
.gov, .edu, or .org?
4. Authoritative: Does the author or group maintaining the website have a
biography included on the site, or organizational history? Is there an
“About Us” page? Make sure there is a way to contact the author if you
needed to and note if their credentials are included.

36. Integrating Resources
All these sources, now what?

37. Writing Your Paper
 Using primary and secondary resources, reflect on areas where research
has already been completed and where you can add your own knowledge.
 Synthesize what you have found amongst resources and consider if there
is any conflicting information. What does that tell you about your topic?
 Make sure to relate your new information to what you’ve covered in class.
How does it align with your course’s description and what you’ve covered
so far in class?
 Use a variety of books, articles, web, and primary resources for a well-
rounded paper.

38. Ethics of Research
Your research is only as good as the sources
you cite!

39. Citing Sources and Avoiding
Plagiarism
 Give credit where credit is due. If it is not an original idea or fact of your
own, make sure you cite your source!
 Most databases and Google Scholar include “Cite this Source” or “My Citation”
services for your articles on the very same page as the resource; just ask if
you’re unsure how to use these.
 Citation Handbooks are available in the Library and online. Check out these
sites for more guides on AMA, APA, MLA, Chicago, and Turabian citation
styles:
 EasyBib: http://easybib.com/
 LIU Post: http://www2.liu.edu/cwis/cwp/library/workshop/citation.htm
 Purdue OWL: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/
 Ask your professor if you’re not sure which citation style to use.

40. Ethical Use of Information
 Use information to promote research and your own pursuit of knowledge.
 If you contribute back to the information pool with this paper or Web 2.0
technology, represent yourself honestly and with integrity.
 Respect your own work and encourage others to do the same.

41. Questions, Comments, Concerns?
Elizabeth Berilla,
Reference, Instruction, and Outreach Librarian
Online Education Liaison
eberilla@sunymaritime.edu
Library@sunymaritime.edu
(718) 409 – 7237
www.sunymaritime.edu/stephenblucelibrary
http://sunymaritime.libguides.com/humanities/engl416