This document provides information and resources for research methods at Mercer University. It introduces Florence Tang as the liaison librarian for the College of Continuing and Professional Studies. It then defines reference librarians and their role in helping students find information. The document outlines steps for background research and developing a topic. It discusses finding books using the library catalog and finding articles using databases. It provides tips for evaluating different sources of information like scholarly journals, popular magazines, and websites. Finally, it discusses interlibrary loan, citing sources, and getting tutoring help.

1. Research Methods
Florence Tang
Liaison to the College of
Continuing and Professional
Studies for the Atlanta
Campus
678-547-6261
tang_fy@mercer.edu

2. http://libraries.mercer.edu/

4. http://mercer.libguides.com/CCPS/

5. 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.

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

9. 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

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

11. “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 peerreviewed

12. 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
• No advertisements

13. Examples of Scholarly Journals

14. 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.

15. Examples of Popular Magazines

16. Both are
considered
scholarly

17. Web Sites
The good…
 Immediate coverage of an
event
 Access to information that
is not available in print
format
 Statistics
 Graphs

18. Websites
The ugly
 Self publishing medium
 No filters
 No standard
 No organizers

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

20. http://libraries.mercer.edu/

22. Number of books
found with this term

23. Is this book here now?

25. Links to other books
about your topic.

30. 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

31. Finding Articles
• Choose the appropriate
database
• 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.

32. To find articles, choose a database.

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

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

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

36. Limit your search to scholarly journals
and/or full text documents or…

37. A citation includes information to help you identify
each article, such as the article’s title, the journal’s
title and the article’s page numbers.
Full text is available.
Click on this link
Full text is not
available here, but
maybe we can get it
another way.

38. Links to other articles about the topic.
Full text is not
available here, but
maybe we can get it
another way.

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

43. Do not
• Share your GALILEO
password or MUID 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.

44. Citing
Always show from
where you got
your information.

56. http://departments.mercer.edu/arc/
Tutoring/atl_schedule.html

57. END