COUN 5081RESEARCH & RESOURCES

Megan Lowe, Coordinator of Public Services

Where to Begin? At the Beginning!

Let’s say you need some resources for your research, whether you’re writing a research paper or a thesis or a dissertation. You know you need a lot of information, but you’re not quite sure how or where to start.

Your impulse might be to start with Google or Bing, but instead, first consider what you need to find:

quality, credible resources for literature reviews and research studies

Narrowing What You Need

Off course, “counseling” is a rather broad topic. Even if you narrow it to a particular aspect – such as marital counseling – that’s still very broad. You need to narrow it further to make the research more manageable.

You can narrow the topic further by considering different populations (race, age, ethnicity, etc.), types of study (qualitative vs. quantitative), and timeframe (1980s, the last ten years, etc.).

Some Narrower Concepts

marital counseling spouses unmarried couples

school counseling children student/teacher

conflict marriage counseling family therapy relationships

conflict resolution

infidelity extramarital affair

communication couples therapy premarital counseling Intervention(s)

Just a few tips before we search…

Keyword searching is how you’re going to be conducting most of your searching. Keyword searching is the combination of key words (get it?) with operators (AND, OR, and NOT) to produce search strings

Those narrower concepts we looked at earlier are actually keywords

When using phrases – like couple conflict – you need to put the phrase in quotation marks:

“school counseling”

Search string: examples

counseling and marriage “marital counseling” and “unmarried

couple” therapy and couple and infidelity “extramarital affair” and counseling OR

therapy infidelity and marriage NOT divorce

* Use AND not + or &. Pay attention to number (singular vs. plural) and spelling.

A few more tips…

DO create a list of keywords DO underline/highlight/bookmark DO take notes/sticky notes DO get organized

DON’T multitask DON’T procrastinate DON’T plagiarize

LET’S DO THIS

We know we need scholarly resources on counseling, and that will likely need to narrow it.

We know how to use keywords and search strings.

We have the skills we need to get started.

So we start with the Library’s websitehttp://www.ulm.edu/library

What If the Library Doesn’t Have It?

As huge as the Library is, and as large as our collections are, we still don’t have everything

When you discover a resource that you NEED but the Library doesn’t have, there’s a way to get it

The Library has a (free!) service called Interlibrary Loan (ILL for short)

With ILL, we borrow needed materials from partner libraries and lend those materials to you

Interlibrary Loan (ILL)

In order to request an item through ILL, you will have to set up an ILL account (which I’ll demonstrate shortly)

Please note: it can take some time to receive requested materials Articles can be sent via fax or email (so,

fast) Books and other materials like that come

through the mail; sometimes those requests take 2-4 weeks to fill

(this is why you should never procrastinate w/research!)

Interlibrary Loan (ILL)

Please note: some libraries charge to lend; the Library does NOT pay those fees But we will notify you if a lending library

has fees, and Help you make arrangements to pay the

fees The Library will NEVER borrow an item with

a fee without discussing it with you first!

NOW LET’S LOOK AT ILL!http://www.ulm.edu/library

After the Searching’s Done…

You have the resources you need, either digitally or physically, if you’ve printed them out

This is when underlining/highlighting comes into play, as well as notes and sticky notes

Documentation is also important, in order to avoid plagiarism – several of our databases (like Ebscohost) will generate citations for you

Need a Hand?

If you need help with the research process – at ANY point in the research process – you can ask the librarians for assistance – that’s what we do!

We also check documentation (quotations and citations) for accuracy.

If you’d like someone to check your writing (grammar, spelling, and syntax), you can go to the Write Place on the 1st floor of the Library.

RECAP

When doing research, make sure you have a manageable (narrow) topic.

Create a list of keywords and search strings.

Bear in mind that you need scholarly resources, which can be found in the Library.

Search the Library’s resources using the keywords and search strings, bearing in mind the tips we discussed.

Make sure you document your resources!

RECAP

Select databases based on your research needs – for a class like this, marriage & family therapy databases work well, but so do psychology databases (think outside the box)!

Use parameters like “scholarly/peer-reviewed” and “full text” – and even publication date – to make the results lists more manageable

Some databases will create citations FOR you – take advantage of that for accurate citations!

RECAP

Most of the Library’s resources are available OFF-CAMPUS (aka remotely); you will have to login in order to use those resources (CWID/MMYY)

If the Library does NOT have a resource you need, you may still be able to get it through ILL

But ILL is not a same-day service, so be sure to give yourself time, and don’t procrastinate w/research

ILL is free on the Library’s end, but some libraries charge; the Library won’t pay the fees but will notify you and help you make arrangements to pay

RECAP

The librarians can help you with research, from start to finish!

The librarians can also help you with citations and documentation.

The Write Place can help you with writing – they can check spelling, grammar, and syntax.

All of these services can be found on the 1st floor of the Library (that’s also where you check out books, study rooms, and make copies).

Question & Answer Time!

Remember, if you need research help, all you have to do is ask the librarians. You can…

Visit the Reference Desk, Library 1st floor Email us at reference@ulm.edu Call us at (318) 342-1071

Thanks for your cooperation!