library research tools instruction session

1. Steve Brantley, jsbrantley@eiu.edu
library.eiu.edu | booth.eiu.edu/ask

2. Preparatory work
 Before you begin searching online for ANYTHING, answer the
following questions about your topic.
Write out the answers to these questions. As you do so, identify
important terms to use when you begin searching.
1. What kind of resources will I need? (what is required by the
assignment and what is required by the topic?)
2. What is the era of my topic? (decades or years involved?)
3. Can I name any major events or people or groups related to my
topic?
4. What kinds of information make up the primary documents of my
topic?

3. Preparatory work
If you can’t answer those questions, you are not ready to start
your research.
 In order to get ready you need to do some background work
in REFERENCE RESOURCES, such as:
 Gale virtual reference, online and print encyclopedias,
subject specific handbooks and dictionaries.

4. Types of resources
 Library catalog: Primarily for identifying books, long form
deep analysis or reporting of subjects.
 Current Newspapers and Historical Newspaper archives
 Scholarly Journal articles
 Finding a known item (you already have a citation)
 Finding articles on a subject using your key terms.

5. Controlled vocabulary
Controlled vocabulary are agreed upon terminology used to
representing people, places, events, eras, concepts.
 Topic headings
 Descriptors
 Subject headings
 Informal social media controlled vocabularies: tags, and
hashtags