Anything that you cite in a research paper. Something you use to obtain new information about a topic.
What is a source?
100
These are used to find full-text articles. The library subscribes to over 100 of them.
What are databases?
100
This process helps to ensure that scholarly articles are free from error, correct in their methodology, and generally fit for publication.
What is peer-review?
100
This number allows you to find a book on a library shelf.
What is a call number?
100
These are sometimes considered "the best" type of source, but that's not necessarily true.
What is a scholarly journal article?
200
This type of source covers the immediate events of a breaking story or event
What is media coverage? (Television, Internet, Social Media)
200
This general EBSCOhost database is one of our largest. It contains articles on a variety of topics, in a variety of formats.
What is Academic Search Premier?
200
This comes at the beginning of a scholarly article and summarizes the article's main points and findings.
What is an article abstract?
200
This online catalog is the primary tool for locating a book in Malpass Library.
What is WestCat?
200
Anyone can publish here, so you can find just about any type of source.
What is the internet?
300
This type of source analyzes a story or event well after the fact. It covers the topic in a comprehensive, in-depth way.
What is a book?
300
This kind of searching allows you to find a broad range of articles on your topic. The database looks for the words you've typed into the search box and retrieves any item that contains those words.
What is keyword search?
300
This kind of scholarly article does not report the results of a study, but rather summarizes research that's already been done on a narrow topic.
What is a literature review?
300
This WestCat search screen allows you to move beyond a simple search. It allows you to search by title, author, subject, or keyword. It also allows you to search for words by phrase.
What is the advanced search screen?
300
You need this type of source if you're looking for end-of-the-week analysis of an even that happened recently.
What is magazine article?
400
These sources are usually peer-reviewed. They often report the results of studies, summarize recent developments in a field, or editorialize an issue.
What are scholarly journal articles?
400
This type of searching requires that you use specific words that have been assigned to each article by indexers or catalogers.
What is subject searching?
400
Scholarly journals were originally printed on paper and bound in volumes that lived on library shelves. Now, most scholarly journals are either exclusively created in this format, or are a combination of this format and print.
What is an electronic journal?
400
This collection of books is meant to help you gain working knowledge on a research topic. Books in this collection cannot be checked out.
What is the reference collection?
400
A report from the Environmental Protection Agency on the impact of dams on the Columbia River, for example.
What is a government document?
500
This kind of source is usually created by a federal or state agency. It often compiles recent research on a broad topic.
What are government publications?
500
If you don't know which database to search, you should use this menu on the library's "database" page.
What is the "browse by subject" menu?
500
This section of a scholarly article discusses the nuts and bolts of the study, i.e., how it was constructed, who was involved, how the data was analyzed, etc.
What is the methodology section?
500
WIU Libraries uses this classification system to organize books in its collection.
What is the Library of Congress Classification System?
500
Some people think these will replace books, but this probably won't happen anytime soon.