This document summarizes a library seminar presented by Jenny Donley, a librarian at Ohio Northern University. The seminar covered various library resources for research, including the online catalog POLAR for finding books, OhioLINK for accessing materials from other university libraries, and databases for locating journal articles. It provided steps for effective research, including developing topics, background research, evaluating sources, and citing materials. The seminar emphasized ethics in research and avoiding plagiarism. Overall, the seminar aimed to teach students how to use the library and its resources to conduct academic research.

1. Writing Seminar
Heather Surface
Jenny Donley
Librarian and Assistant Professor
Heterick Memorial Library

2. Introduction
 Welcome
 Jenny Donley, j-donley.1@onu.edu
 Feel free to visit or email
 Librarians on duty:
 8-4:30, 6-9 Mon – Thurs
 8-4 Friday
 reference@onu.edu

3. Libraries at ONU
Taggart Law Library
Heterick Memorial
Library
 Law School Library;
 Undergraduate
accessible to all
Library; accessible to
all

4. ONU card = Library ID
Remember to
always use all
11 digits!

5. How am I supposed to remember
all of this stuff?

6. Research Guides

7. What we’ll do today:
 How to do research
 How to use library
resources to do research
 What resources to use
when doing research

8. Annotated
Bibliography
 Allows you to see what is out
there
 Helps you narrow your topic
and discard any irrelevant
materials
 Aids in developing the thesis
 Makes you a better scholar

9. How to do research:
Seven Steps of the Research Process
 STEP 1: IDENTIFY AND DEVELOP YOUR TOPIC
 STEP 2: FIND BACKGROUND INFORMATION
 STEP 3: USE CATALOGS TO FIND BOOKS AND MEDIA
 STEP 4: FIND INTERNET RESOURCES (if appropriate for
the assignment)
 STEP 5: USE DATABASES TO FIND PERIODICAL ARTICLES
 STEP 6: EVALUATE WHAT YOU FIND
 STEP 7: CITE WHAT YOU FIND

Amended with permission by the Librarians at the Olin and Uris Libraries of
Cornell University

10. How to do research: identify
and develop your topic
● State your topic as a question
● Identify main concepts or keywords
● Test the topic: Look for keywords,
synonyms, and related terms for the
information sought
● Subject headings in catalogs
● Built-in thesauri in many databases
● Reference sources
● Textbooks, lecture notes, readings
● Internet
● Librarians, Instructors

11. How to do research:
Find Background Information

12. • Highly structured information environment:
• In the way that individual records are
arranged
• Contains subject headings
• The cataloging software is optimized for the
above information
• Catalog includes material in many formats
• Implies heavy human involvement
• Preparation relatively labor-intensive
• Emphasis on precision
• Implies a learning curve to use successfully

13. Research Tools - Catalogs
 POLAR: Accessing physical and electronic
items located at HML (Heterick Memorial
Library) as well as LAW (Taggart Law
Library).
 OhioLINK: Next step if you can’t find what
you want in the HML or LAW collections.
 ILL: Option of last resort for books and
articles.

14. Find a book: POLAR

15. POLAR
Think of the call numbers as
the street addresses of the
books on the library shelves.

16. Find a book: POLAR
•Looks in several locations (usually
subject, article title, abstracts or
contents)
•Does not require an exact match
•Generates comparatively large
number of hits (not precise)
•Good if you are not familiar with
terminology
•Look for the same or similar words
which keep appearing

17. Find a book: POLAR
Click on the “More like this” link
found in each item record
•Looks in one place – subject
•Usually requires an exact match
between your term and a pre-set
list of terms
•Precise
•Can be used after a keyword
search has identified specific
subjects

18. Find a book: POLAR
● Books are arranged on the shelves using Dewey Decimal
Classification Numbers. Think of the these numbers as the
shelf address for a book.
● Books found in POLAR will be part of the reference
collection (1st floor), juvenile collection (2nd floor), the
circulating collection (3rd floor) or e-books available online.
e-book
reference
e-book
circulating

19. Find a book: OhioLINK
● Most of the university and college libraries






in Ohio share their materials through a
consortium catalog called OhioLINK.
There are around 10 million items available
A link from POLAR permits you to submit
requests. Available from the Heterick
homepage
Most requests arrive in 2-3 working days
No charge
Limited to 100 items at a time
MAY RENEW UP TO 4 TIMES!

20. Find a book: POLAR
and OhioLINK
1. Click on the OhioLINK icon
to access the consortium
catalog.

21. Find a book: OhioLINK
2. Click on the
icon.

22. FIND A BOOK: OHIOLINK
3. Select Ohio Northern U.
4. Enter your first and last
name and all 11 digits
exactly as they appear on
your ID.
5. Be sure to select
Heterick as your pick up
location and then click
submit.
6. An email will be
sent when the item is
ready for pickup.

23. Internet Tools
 Does the information located
satisfy the research need?
 Is the information factual and
unbiased?
 See additional tips for evaluating
web sources and web pages in the
Writing Seminar Research Guide

24. Internet Tools: CRAAP
 Currency
TestTimeliness of the
information

 Relevance/Coverage
 Depth and importance
 Authority
 Source of the
 Accuracy
 Reliability of the
 Purpose/Objectivity
 Possible bias present in
of the information
information
information
the information

25. Internet Tools: Critically
analyzing web sources
 What? is the page/site about
 Who? created and maintains this site
 Where? Is the information coming from
 Why? Is the information presented on the web
 When? Was the page created or last updated
 How? Accurate or credible is the page
From the University of Wisconsin Library,
worksheet for evaluating web sites

26. ●
●
●
●
●
●
Internet Tools: Pulling it all
Accuracy: If your page lists the author and institution that
together of contacting him/her,
published the page and provides a way
and…
Authority: If your page lists the author credentials and its
domain is preferred (.edu, .gov, .org, or .net), and…
Objectivity: If your page provides accurate information with
limited advertising and it is objective in presenting the
information, and…
Currency: If your page is current and updated regularly (as
stated on the page) and the links (if any) are also up-to-date,
and…
Coverage: If you can view the information properly--not
limited to fees, browser technology, or software requirement,
then…
…you may have a Web page that could be of value to
your research!

27. Research Tools:
Periodicals and Articles
 A periodical is something that is published at
regular intervals
 Magazines and journals are both
periodicals, however…
 Magazines are typically a more
“popular” type of periodical
●
Journals are scholarly
or professional peer
reviewed periodicals

28. Research Tools:
Periodicals and Articles

29. Research Tools:
Periodicals and Articles
 Reserve means the periodical/journal is





held at the front desk.
Current means the issue is new and is
available on the open shelves beside the
computer lab.
All others are upstairs on the second floor
and arranged alphabetically by title.
Bound means it’s out of the building
Arrived means it’s on the open shelves
Expected means it’s not here yet

30. Research Tools:
Databases
 Tools for locating journal and
newspaper articles
 Most are subject-specific, but
some are multi-disciplinary
 Many give access to full text
articles
 Heterick has 240+ databases

31. Research Tools:
Databases

32. Research Tools:
 Helpful databases to jump start your
Databases
research:
 Academic Search Complete
 Business Source Complete
 LexisNexis Academic
 MasterFILE Premier
 MEDLINE
 SPORTDiscus
 Search by subject/discipline to find
subject specific databases
 But we have an even easier tool now
to get your research started…

33. SEARCH the
Discovery Layer

34. Research Tools: Discovery
Layer
 What is SEARCH?
 SEARCH is a discovery layer
that sits on top of all of the
library’s resources and allows
users to access the majority
of information available on a
topic with a single search.
 Think of it as the roof on top
of a house.

35. Research Tools: Discovery
Layer
 What is included?
 POLAR catalog
 OhioLINK catalog
 Article-level searching for all EBSCO
databases
 Article-level searching for a variety
of other databases: JSTOR,
Hoover’s, AccessPharmacy, etc.
 Title-level searching fro most other
databases: IEEE, CIAO, Proquest
Nursing & Allied Health

36. Research Tools: Discovery
Layer
 What it isn’t:
 A replacement for the current
catalog
 A ready-made index to all
database content
 A Googlization of library
resources, although it may
seem like this to some

37. SEARCH

38. SEARCH : POLAR

39. SEARCH : OhioLINK

40. SEARCH : eBooks

41. SEARCH : Full Text PDF or
HTML

42. SEARCH : Find It @ ONU

43. SEARCH : ILL

44. Facets: Limit your results
and focus your topic

45. How to do research:
Cite what you find using
standard formats
There are 3 citation styles that are
frequently used at ONU:
● MLA (Modern Language Association)
● APA (American Psychological Association)
● CMS (Chicago Manual of Style)

46. Research Ethics
ACADEMI
C

47. Research Ethics
 Copyright: Intended to promote the arts and
the sciences. It does this by providing authors
of original literary, dramatic, musical, artistic,
and certain other intellectual works the ability
to control how their work is used by others.
 Plagiarism: “...the wrongful appropriation or
purloining, and publication as one’s own, the
ideas or the expression of the ideas (literary,
artistic, musical, mechanical, etc.) of an other.”
 See Heterick’s Help page and Writing Seminar
research guide for more information.

48. Research Ethics
 In other words, to plagiarize is to copy someone else’s work
without giving him/her credit.
 Plagiarism is not always intentional. You can do it by accident,
but it is still against the law. If you ever have a question about
whether something is plagiarized, please ask.
 How may I avoid plagiarizing?
 Identify any information that would not be considered common
knowledge
 Unless in direct quotes, make sure you paraphrase what the
original author said
 Use a quote if you can’t think of a way to paraphrase the
information
 Always, always, ALWAYS cite the source of any information in
your paper which is not considered common knowledge. If you
are unsure if something is common knowledge, cite it!
 From “How not to plagiarize your report” by Shannon Hosier Mersand

49. Happy
Researching!
Remember, the
librarians are here
to help you with
your research.
Come and see us!