LIBR 250 Week 3

Week 3How to conduct research generally

How to use the research process to narrow your topic

How libraries are organized

How to use general resources like encyclopedias

How to search key word databases

How to evaluate information critically—crap detection

Research processBeginning and and end

Starts broadly and ends narrowly based upon what you’ve uncovered

Different sources used along the way

Effective researchers…Begin with broadest sources and move to more

narrow ones

Choose among information sources depending upon how deeply they need to cover their topic and for what kind of audience

Use a variety of sources

Reference sourcesEncyclopedias

Handbooks

Dictionaries

Directories

The broadest information sources; treat topics in a surface way

BooksMonographs

Treatises

Treat topics in a deeper way depending upon the audience and purpose

Serials or PeriodicalsTreat in the narrowest way

Scholarly/academic journal articles represent deepest, narrowest treatment of topics

Popular periodicals (newspapers, magazines, industry publications) have narrow treatment of topics but not in as deep a way

How is all of this information organized?Print or digital

Print: Via catalog to discover relevant materials and call numbers to find; Our library uses library of congress subject headings and call numbers for organizing all of the printer materials

Electronic materials are accessed/discovered via keywords/search

Understanding Boolean logic is key!Not difficult…

Requires you to formulate searches with words and join them with connectors

Different from Google which is relevance/statistical

Evaluating informationCrap detection!

How do you determine if something is useful or not?

Credible?

Authoritative?

Relevant?

Current?