ENGL 1221Writing Seminar

McManus

Professor Traci Welch MoritzPublic Services Librarian

Heterick Memorial Library

What to expect• Day 1• Construct research

strategy• Conduct background

research• Evaluate materials• Manage information

found

• Day 2• Review• Narrow focus• Select appropriate

databases• Create annotated

bibliography

How to remember

Libraries at ONU• Heterick Memorial Library

• Undergraduate Library, accessible to all

•Taggert Law Library

•Library for Law school, accessible to all

ONU card = Library ID

The assignment

• Persuasive argument -- Persuade the audience to choose your point of view.–Define main point–Identify reader–Identify strongest points for persuasion–Identify strongest opposing view

Possible Topics• Issues of social justice• Human rights• Equality in the US• Occupy Wall Street• US student loan controversy• Rising division in US wealth and poverty levels• Globalizing job opportunities in the US• Public protests in the Arab Spring to bring about change• Public protests in Syria and the conflict created• Detroit’s revitalization

Background 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

Background research

Research Tools - Catalogs

•Highly structured information environment

Way individual records are arrangedSubject headingsCatalog software optimized for aboveDeal with material in many formats

•Implies a learning curve to use successfully

Emphasis on precision

•Preparation relatively labor-intensive

•Implies heavy human involvement

POLAR

•Looks in several locations (usually subject, article title, abstracts or contents)•Does not require an exact match•Generates comparatively large number of hits (not precise)•Good if you are not familiar with terminology

POLAR

POLAR

OhioLINK

• Materials owned by all Ohio colleges, universities, several public libraries

• Ca. 10 million items• Link from POLAR permits you to submit requests.

Available from Heterick home page• Most requests arrive in 2-3 working days• No charge • Limited to 100 items at a time• MAY RENEW UP TO 4 TIMES

OhioLINK

Background Research

Web Research

Google and Wikipedia aren’t evil, just use them for the correct purpose at the correct point in your research strategy.

Why Evaluate Web Sources?

• Anyone with a little time, some knowledge and small amount of money can publish on the Internet.

• No person, persons or organization reviews the content of the Internet.

• Pages are retrieved by search engines based on the page's content, not the relevancy or quality of the page.

• Much information on the Web is not updated regularly.

Web Research

Google ScholarONU buysFull-textdatabase

OhioLINKPermits

Google tolink to full-text

Google asksto link tocontent

ONU user sees licensed full-textarticles

Run Google ScholarSearch

Note: See “Google Scholar” tab at Research Guide to set off-campus access

Web Research

Web Research

• Currency

• Relevance/Coverage

• Authority

• Accuracy

• Purpose/Objectivity

• Timeliness of the information.

• Depth and importance of the information.

• Source of the information.

• Reliability of the information

• Possible bias present in the information.

Web Research

Databases “Pay to Play”

• Usually created by a single publisher

• Content pre-arranged for easy use• Quality/ content control thru

editorial staff• Content usually available only to

subscribers• Content source usually identified and dated

Internet (Search Engines)

• Material from numerous sources, individual. 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

Bibliographic Citation Software

Databases

Databases

Databases

Often tools for locating journal and newspaper articles

Most are subject-specific – some multi-disciplinary

Many give access to full text of articlesHeterick has 250+

Databases

General Databases to begin Academic Search CompleteLexis-NexisOpposing ViewpointsSearch by Subject/Discipline

Find an Article

Find an Article

Periodical means the same as Magazine

Usually magazines are more “popular”

JournalsScholarly or ProfessionalPeer reviewed

Find an Article

Find an Article

Some articles available full-text html or pdf

What if it’s not available PDF or HTML?Always click the “find it” icon and see what

happens next.

Find an Article

Find an Article

Could be available through another database

Find an Article

Not available full text so you’ll need to request through ILL

Interlibrary Loan

Traci Welch Moritz, MLSPublic Services LibrarianAssistant Professor

Heterick Memorial Library

t-moritz@onu.edureference@onu.edu

419-772-2473419-772-2185

Reference Librarians on duty8a-4:30p Mon-Fri6p-9p Mon-Thur10a-3:30p Sundays

HELP