This document provides an overview of resources and research strategies for students presented by two librarians at Ohio Northern University. It introduces the library catalog and databases available for finding books, articles, and other materials. Key steps in the research process are outlined, including developing topics, searching catalogs and databases, evaluating sources, and citing materials. Concept mapping and annotated bibliographies are also discussed as research tools.

1. ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY RESEARCH
STRATEGIES
WRITING SEMINAR
Kelly Kobiela, Systems Librarian
Jenny Donley, Catalog and Serials Librarian
Heterick Memorial Library

2. WELCOME TO THE LIBRARY
 Kelly Kobiela, k-kobiela@onu.edu
 Jenny Donley, j-donley.1@onu.edu
 Reference Email, reference@onu.edu
 Librarians on duty:
 Monday – Thursday
 8:00 AM – 4:30 PM
 6:00 PM – 9:00 PM
 Friday
 8:00 AM – 4:30 PM

3. WHAT THE LIBRARY OFFERS:
 ~400,000 items in POLAR, the ONU library catalog
 ~20,000,000 items in OhioLink
 260 Databases
 400+ print periodicals
 Tens of thousands of electronic journal titles
 Juvenile, Young Adult, and Graphic Novel
collections
 DVDs, CDs, streaming audiovisuals, and streaming
music

4. LIBRARIES AT ONU
 Heterick Memorial Library
 Undergraduate library and
accessible to all students
 Taggart Law Library
 Library for law school and
accessible to all students

5. ONU ID CARD = LIBRARY ID CARD
 Use the entire 11 digit number

6. WHAT THIS WEEK IS ALL ABOUT
 Constructing/developing a research strategy for
finding resources
 Finding available resources in the library’s catalog
and databases
 Tools for managing the resources that you have
found

7. UH…I’M NOT GOING TO REMEMBER ALL OF
THIS…

8. UH…I’M NOT GOING TO REMEMBER ALL OF
THIS…

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. TOPIC AND THESIS STATEMENT: WHAT’S THE
DIFFERENCE?
Definitions from Google definition searches

11. ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY
 An annotated bibliography is a list of sources that
includes a summary and/or evaluation of the source
 What an annotated bibliography does:
 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

12. HOW TO START YOUR RESEARCH
 State your topic as a question
 Identify main concepts or keywords
 Test the topic – look for keywords and 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

13. EXAMPLE OF A CONCEPT MAP

14. CONCEPT MAPPING

15. INTERNET RESOURCES
 Google
 Google Scholar
 Wikipedia
 Helpful for identifying additional keywords and
subjects for your concept map
 Does the information located satisfy the research
need?
 Is the information factual and unbiased?
 Refer to Critically Analyzing Web Sources/CRAAP
Test

16. CRITICALLY ANALYZING WEB SOURCES
CRAAP TEST
 Currency
 Timeliness of the information
 Relevance/Coverage
 Depth and importance of the information
 Authority
 Source of the information
 Accuracy
 Reliability of the information
 Purpose/Objectivity
 Possible bias present in the information

17. BACKGROUND RESEARCH
 Background research = Reference and Encyclopedias
 Library catalog
 Look at Databases/Reference tab in the Writing Seminar
research guide for a link to the library’s databases as
well as links to electronic encyclopedias and reference
materials

18. CATALOGS – BOOKS AND MEDIA
 POLAR Catalog – Search for physical and electronic items
(ebooks and ejournals) that are available from Heterick
Memorial Library and Taggart Law Library

19. FIND A BOOK – POLAR: KEYWORD SEARCH
 Looks in several locations
 Subject
 Article title
 Abstracts
 Table of contents
 Does not require an exact match
 Generates comparatively large number of hits
 Good if you are not familiar with terminology
 Good for a beginning search

20. FIND A BOOK – POLAR: SUBJECT SEARCH
 Looks at the subject headings in the records
 Requires an exact match
 Provides a results list with related headings to use
for broader and narrower searches
 Generates comparatively smaller number of hits
 Good if you are familiar with terminology
 Good for a next step after a keyword search

21. POLAR – RESULTS
ebook
Heterick Library
Law Library

22. POLAR – MY LIBRARY ACCOUNT

23. FIND A BOOK – OHIOLINK
 Materials owned by 92 other libraries in Ohio:
colleges, universities, public libraries
 Can submit request for an item to be delivered to
Heterick Memorial Library
 Most requests arrive in 2-3 working days
 No charge to request items (unless they become
overdue)
 Maximum of 25 requests at a time
 Items can usually be renewed

24. FIND A BOOK – OHIOLINK
 From POLAR results list:
 Button will recreate the POLAR search in OhioLINK
 From an item record:
 Button will go directly to the same item
 Use if the copy in POLAR is checked out
 Direct link to the OhioLINK catalog:
 http://olc1.ohiolink.edu/search

25. FIND ARTICLES – DATABASES
 What is the basic definition of a library database?
 A library database is an electronic (online) catalog or index
 Library databases contain information about published items
 Library databases are searchable
 The library subscribes to many databases so the ONU community has
access to these resources. When you’re searching a database, you
are not searching “the web.”
 What types of items are indexed by library databases?
 Articles in Journals/Magazines/Newspapers
 Reference Information (i.e. entries from Encyclopedias, Dictionaries,
etc.)
 Books & other documents
Source: http://web.calstatela.edu/library/whatisadatabase.htm

26. WEB RESEARCH VS. LIBRARY DATABASES
Internet
 Material from numerous
sources, individuals,
government, etc.
 Search engines must work
with material prepared
without regard for specific
software
 Quality of material varies
 Generally do not access for-profit
information
 Content often anonymous
and undated
Databases
 Usually created by a single
publisher
 Content pre-arranged for
easy searching
 Quality-controlled by editorial
staff
 Most are available only to
subscribers
 Sources are usually identified
and dated
 Databases often focus on a
specific subject or discipline,
but some cover several areas

27. FIND ARTICLES – DATABASES

28. FIND ARTICLES – DATABASES
 General Databases
 Academic Search
Complete
 Business Source
Complete
 JSTOR
 Lexis-Nexis
 MasterFILE Premier
 MEDLINE with Full
Text
 Databases by Subject

29. ARTICLES – POPULAR VS. SCHOLARLY
 Popular = Magazine
 Scholarly = Journal
 Magazines tend to have glossy pages, lots of
pictures, and can be read and understood by the
general public
 Scholarly journals are usually peer-reviewed and
tend to be aimed at professionals in the field

30. ARTICLES – FULL TEXT

31. FIND IT @ ONU
 Find It @ ONU takes you from a database where
you don’t have full text access to a database where
you do have full text access

32. SEARCH

33. WHAT IS INCLUDED?
 POLAR
 Article-level searching for all EBSCO databases
 Article-level searching for a variety of other
databases: JSTOR, Hoover’s, AccessPharmacy,
etc.
 Title-level searching for most other databases:
IEEE, CIAO, Proquest Nursing & Allied Health
 OhioLINK Central Catalog

34. RESULTS: FULL TEXT, POLAR

35. RESULTS: OHIOLINK

36. RESULTS: FIND IT @ ONU

37. RESULTS: ILL
 When in doubt, email: ill@onu.edu

38. FACETS: LIMIT YOUR RESULTS

39. MANAGE INFORMATION - REFWORKS

40. EXPORT TO REFWORKS
 Most databases
will have
“export”
 If there isn’t an
export, check for
“download”