The Research Process
Databasics
Research Know-How
Catalog Catastrophe
Around Your Library
100
Doing research is not linear. In fact, it can feel like this word, also a setting on your washing machine.
What is a cycle?
100

To access library databases, always start here--never on Google!

What is the library website / homepage?
100
You must do this whenever you quote or paraphrase someone else's work.
What is cite your source?
100
This preceded the online catalog.
What is the card catalog?
100

You can get help from friendly librarians at this location within the library.

What is the Reference Desk?
200
This is the hardest part of the research process for many students.
What is narrowing down a topic / developing a research question?
200

These three Boolean Operators help narrow or expand your search. 

What are AND, OR & NOT?
200
Containing many articles, these scholarly publications are available both in print and through online research databases.
What are academic journals?
200

To find materials in the library, you need this key piece of information from the catalog. (Hint: this is also found on the spine of a book.)

What is a call number?
200
If you log in with your campus username and password, you can access library databases from this location.
What is off-campus? (Also acceptable: from home; from anywhere)
300
Brainstorming these before you begin searching can help expand and improve your results.
What are keywords? (Also acceptable: synonyms)
300
Searching phrases is easy when you use these.
What are quotation marks?
300
Locating the full text of an article is easy when you use this button within a library database.
What is the "Find it" button?
300
The catalog and many library databases provide these automatically-- in all the latest styles!
What are citations?
300
You can use this online service to get help from a librarian any time of day, seven days a week.
What is the Ask a Librarian Chat service? (Ask Us 24/7)
400
The section of a scholarly article that explains how a study was conducted.
What is methodology/research methods?
400
These--not Discovery Search--are the best place to look for research in specific academic disciplines.
What are subject databases?
400
Researchers prefer scholarly articles that have undergone this process.
What is peer review?
400
You can search the catalog by author, title, or this field, which uses controlled vocabulary assigned by the Library of Congress.
What is subject?
400
While the library has many items in print, you can use these to find e-book collections and online journal articles.
What are databases?
500

A strong literature review includes this, a fancy word for bringing together ideas from different sources.

What is synthesis?
500
These "tags" or "preferred terms" tell you what an article is about; clicking on them can improve the relevancy of your search results.
What are subjects? (Aka: subject headings, descriptors, topics)
500
This technique involves using the bibliography or references list of one source to track down additional sources.
What is citation mining? (Also called "backwards citation")
500
This button in the catalog allows you to get books that are not currently available at our library.
What is "Request It" via Interlibrary Loan?
500
This service allows you to request books and articles from other libraries and receive them at our library in print or electronically.
What is Interlibrary Loan?
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