1 / 55

ENG 101

ENG 101. Using the library & finding information. Martin Crabtree MCCC Library. Agenda. Finding books Important places in the library Electronic searching Databases available fro the library Using web information Finding things on the web Deciding if what you find is any good

hagy
Download Presentation

ENG 101

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. ENG 101 Using the library & finding information Martin Crabtree MCCC Library

  2. Agenda • Finding books • Important places in the library • Electronic searching • Databases available fro the library • Using web information • Finding things on the web • Deciding if what you find is any good • Giving credit to the author

  3. Time for a question…

  4. Finding Books • Books are put on the shelves grouped by subject. • You may be familiar with the Dewey Decimal System which is used by many school and public libraries. • MCCC like most colleges uses a different system called the Library of Congress (LC) system. • The LC system used both letters and number

  5. Library of Congress System • Organizes knowledge into 21 broad categories. • The 21 categories (labeled A to Z, but missing I, O, W, X and Y) are further subdivided by adding one or two additional letters and a set of numbers. • The first letter of a Library of Congress (LC) call number indicates the general subject area. • The second letter indicates the specific subject section within the general category.

  6. Dewey Decimal System Ancient Olympic Games: 796.48 PER Fiction books are all in the same place: F DIC Biography books are also in the same place: B EDI Library of Congress Ancient Olympic Games: GV23.S9 1999 Fiction books are part of the system: PZ3.D55 T3 Biographies are mixed into the collection: TK140.E3 J75 Library of Congress vs. the Dewey Decimal Systems

  7. Question time…

  8. Your Student ID card is also your MCCC library card. • First you have to fill out a short form at the library to be entered into the system. • You also need your ID card to use the computers in the library.

  9. Using the catalog to find what we have in the MCCC library

  10. Finding books in the libraryUsing the online card catalog • The catalog is available online. Used to find books, videos and other materials both in the MCCC collection and the Mercer County Public (MCL) libraries. • You can have materials from MCL brought to the college. Deliveries arrive Tuesday and Friday afternoons. (DVD’s not available from MCL)

  11. Link to the catalog is on the library’s web pages.

  12. Anyone have a question?

  13. Getting Around in the Library

  14. Important Places in the Library The Reference Desk The Circulation Desk The Stacks

  15. The person at the reference desk will help you find what you need The Reference Librarian will help you to: • Do database searches • Find books, periodicals and other materials • Find useful web resources

  16. At the Circulation Desk You can: • Check out book here. • Get textbook for use in the library • Get videos & current newspapers here. • Get materials (books, journal articles, etc.) that your professor has set aside here • Ask for help in your research

  17. There are 2 kinds of stacks • The Reference stacks: • Holds the reference books • These books do not circulate • The General Collection Stacks • Holds the books that you can check out

  18. Time for another question…

  19. Yes, the library has computers for you to use!

  20. The library’s computer lab • To use the computer lab you need to sign in & have your student ID with you. • You can use the computers for research as well as for email, writing papers, spread sheets, etc. • Bring you own disks, CDs, thumb drives, etc. to save your work.

  21. The library’s computer lab • Anything saved on a computer’s hard drive will be erased once the computer is turned off. • Printing costs 10¢ a page (you can also email articles to yourself). • There is a lab assistant there to help with computer usage questions. • You’ll need to go to the reference desk for research questions.

  22. Question Time

  23. Becoming More Efficient at Searching Electronic Resources

  24. Starting An Electronic SearchKeywords • Keywords are used when searching electronic databases and web search engines. • With a possible topic in mind, generate a list of words (keywords) that describes or would commonly be used when discussing your topic. Write this down if it helps. • For example: • Ozone • Layer • Depletion • Atmosphere • Hole

  25. Starting An Electronic SearchBoolean Searching/Logic • Boolean searching - Connecting keywords with the terms • and • not • or • For example • eagles NOT football • (car or automobile) and exhaust • More Terms = Fewer “Hits”

  26. Searching More Than Just KeywordsPhrases & Truncations • To search for a phrase, use quotation marks • “survival of the fittest” • Truncations allow for searching related words all at once • The * is usually used. For example: • child* would include: child, children, childhood, childproof, etc.

  27. Searching More Than Just KeywordsField Limiters • Database field limiters allow you to specify your search within varied parameters for example: • Only full-text articles • Only peer reviewed (scholarly) publications • Date (or date range)

  28. Let’s take a quick look at how Boolean searching can help

  29. Electronic Databases at the Mercer Library

  30. Electronic DatabasesIn General • Over 60 databases available • Not every article is available full text though many are • Abstracts (summary) is often available when full text is not

  31. Electronic DatabasesIn General • Accessible at any computer on the MCCC/JKC campus network • Most are available off campus, though you do need to use a password. • Can print/e-mail/download articles

  32. Accessing the databases when you are not on campus

  33. Accessing Databases Remotely • You can access most of the databases from any computer with internet access. • To log on to the databases, use your: • student ID number (no dashes) • your last name (include punctuation here)

  34. Remote Login Screen Use your student ID number & last name

  35. Some of the databases available from the MCCC Library

  36. Academic Search Premier • EBSCOhost - Academic Search Premier • Broadest of the databases covering everything from science to the humanities • includes both general interest & scholarly/professional journals • Not every article full text • Need Acrobat Reader for some articles • Oxford Reference Online • Contains a number of reference sources including: encyclopedias, quotations, maps, and more.

  37. More Databases • A number of subject specific databases are available covering: • Business (ABI/Inform) • Newspapers (Academic-Universe: News) • Criminal Justice (Criminal Justice Periodical Index) • Architecture (Architectural Index) • Education (Proquest Educational Journals) • more • Also other resources • Encyclopedia Britannica • Oxford English Dictionary

  38. Using the World Wide Web

  39. Using the internet/world wide web • Before using the web for most college research, try using databases first: • You will have fewer hits to go through • You’ll likely find some good information quickly • The information is always high quality • The internet & web are not the same thing

  40. Some things to consider when searching the web • Everything is NOT on the web and may never be • No search engine covers the entire web • The “invisible web” is huge! • Though there has yet to be consensus, estimates put the size of the invisible web at at least 2 times bigger than the “visible” (or surface) web.

  41. Searching the World Wide Web Search Strategy • Searching the Web is much like database searching: • Put together a list of keywords describing the information you desire • Use Boolean logic (and, not, or) to better define your search, use double quotes for phrases, etc. • When searching the web, also: • Consider which search engines/sites may best suit your search needs. Different search engines yield different results. • Use the search engine’s advanced search to select limiting parameters (language, date, domain, etc.)

  42. Evaluating Web Sites Is this stuff any good?

  43. Evaluating Web Sites • Quality varies greatly from site to site • YOU are the sole evaluator of the quality of information a site provides

  44. Five Web Info Evaluation Criteria • Accuracy - is it reliable? • Authority - is author qualified on subject? • Objectivity - is the information biased? • Currency - is the information “new” enough? • Coverage - does the info completely cover the topic?

  45. The Bottom Line… Buyer Beware • The web contains a vast amount of information…but not everything • Anyone can put information on the web, hence the quality of web information varies greatly • YOU will often be the only person to decide if the quality of the info you find on the web is good

  46. Using the information you find ...and giving credit where credit is due.

  47. Using the Information You Find • Always give credit to the author or creator of the information that you use. • This includes the actual facts, conclusions, and ideas that an author presents. • It also includes actual the words that he/she has used.

  48. Plagiarism can take many forms • Plagiarism is the presenting of someone else’s intellectual work as your own. • It may be done deliberately, but it may also be done without your realizing it. • The copying, word for word, from a book or an article is the most blatant form of plagiarism.

  49. Plagiarism when paraphrasing or writing a summary • Incomplete paraphrasing or summarizing another’s work could cause plagiarizing without your realizing it. • To prevent this, you should avoid: • Using the original sentence structure. • Simply substituting a few words here and there. • Using any of the author's key words or unusual words. • Let’s look at an example...

  50. Good paraphrasing • It takes some effort to do a good job of paraphrasing. • One helpful method is to: 1. Read the original sentence 2. Without looking at the sentence, try writing the idea of the sentence in your own words 3. Look back at the original sentence again to see it you haven’t used too much of the original language -Adapted from “Avoiding Plagiarism”, at the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia webpage: http://www.usip.edu/writing/plagrsm.shtml

More Related