OPAC Hunt: Hidden Treasures to Make Research M ore Effective

1. OPAC Hunt:Hidden Treasures to Make Research More Effective Designed for Junior English Researchers By Mrs. James

2. Here it is… …the time you’ve all been waiting for… …and dreading. It’s time to begin the process of collecting evidence to support your thesis for your English argumentative synthesis paper. In order to convince your readers that the position you have taken is correct, you will need to provide them with lots of specific examples, statistics, and expert opinions.

3. So what’s the point? The purpose of this activity is to show you how our media center can help you in your search for this information. You may feel this exercise exploring the OPAC is a waste of time, that you would be far better served if we would just get out of your way and let you begin searching on your own. If you did, how would you begin? Most of you would start with Google. So let’s see how that works…

4. Think you know this already? Skip this review information – just click on the Google icon – and go directly to the practice. If not, go through this information and then complete the practice that follows.

5. The Google Search For the sake of our exercise, we’re going to research the topic of sex education. You recognize this: the Google search box. I added my search term – sex education. Now let’s see what happens.

6. Is this what you had in mind? 85,900,000 matches?! There are so many results because Google has located resources tagged with the words “sex” and “education.” So let’s make our search more specific by searching only for “sex education.” We can do this by putting quotation marks around “sex education.”

7. Better? We’re down to 4,850,000 matches… Ready to start looking? If all those searches aren’t intimidating enough, there’s one more catch…since our topic deals with sex, if you are working on a computer located on school grounds, our school filter will block many of your results.

8. Google Practice Record the answers to these questions on the Answer Sheet that’s been provided. You can access that Answer Sheet by clicking here. Conduct a Google search for resources related to capital punishment. • How many hits do you find when you type capital punishment in the search box? • List the name and URL of the first search result. • How many hits do you find when you type “capital punishment” in the search box? • List the name and URL of the first search result. 3. How many hits do you find when you search “capital punishment” and “deterrence”? • List the name and URL of the first search result. Need more help than you thought? Click on the logo to back through the tutorial.

9. So what’s the alternative to Google?Welcome to the OPAC! First the review: You know that OPAC stands for Online Public Access Catalog and that our OPAC is often called the CAT, a nickname applied to the online catalog used by virtually all schools in the state of Ohio. You can reach this page by clicking on the CAT logo on the Library home page.

10. You’ve got this already? With a click on the OPAC icon, you can skip this review information and go directly to the practice. If not, go through this information and then complete the practice that follows.

11. You’ve reached the INFOhio Online Catalog search page. Let’s cover the review first: Results provided from this page (generally books) are housed in our school library. Therefore, unless someone else has checked out the book, you know you can get your hands on these resources immediately.

12. A Quick Review of Quick Search A title search brings up resources whose title matches your search request. In a keyword search, the search term could be listed anywhere in the record (author, title, subject) for a resource to appear in the result. In a subject search, the search term must be listed as a subject for a resource to come up. Subject searches must fit a controlled vocabulary list and usually elicit more specific requests. An author search brings up resources written by the writer you supply.

13. If we search for sex education using the keyword search, here’s what we get. What can we learn from these results? 13 books match our search request. This one looks good. Nonfiction and current – published in 2007. These sources are Fiction (marked by the F) and aren’t appropriate for a research paper.

14. Advanced Search Tips Your teacher is requiring you to use a book from the At Issue or Opposing Viewpoints series. The Advanced Search can help you find these books…and more. Click here to access the Advanced Search tools. Input your search terms here.

15. What kind of results do we get?Let’s focus on the bibliographic entry. There’s lots of information here too. The Brief Description tab gives us basic identifying info as well as info about the book’s availability. This icon tells us that we can access a summary. This one takes us to reviews. …and more reviews. These related subjects may provide access to other helpful resources. It’s in and on the shelf. Location is noted by call number.

16. A Look Inside…provides a summary and a review. Full Description provides bibliographic information. Sometimes this tab also provides a table of contents.

17. OPAC Practice Record the answers to these questions on your Answer Sheet. • Go to the OPAC. Conduct a title search for “Conserving the Environment.” • What is the call number of this book? • What series is it a part of? • Check the Table of Contents. Which chapters would most directly relate to the topic of alternative energy based upon their titles? Need more help than you thought? Click on the logo to back through the tutorial.

18. 2. Conduct a keyword search for “endangered species.” • How many results do you find? • How many of these results are nonfiction? How can you tell they are nonfiction? • How many of these nonfiction books are dated after 2005? • Conduct an Advanced Search using the keyword “sex education” and the series “Opposing Viewpoints.” • How many results do you find? Which of these would best assist you in doing research on ways to avoid getting and spreading STDs? Why? Describe the process you used to come to this determination.

19. Other Resources Click here to unlock the hidden treasures. One of the great things about our OPAC is that the treasures it holds are not limited to those we find housed in our library building. Let’s uncover some of them. Other Resources is the key. Let’s open it up. If you are accessing this off campus, you might need to use the username: learn and password: infohio.

20. INFOhio is a treasure! If you know it all, skip to the practice with a click of this button. We’re going to follow the Grades 9-12 links. INFOhio, the Information Network for Ohio Schools, is our state’s virtual PreK-12 library. It provides electronic resources, library  automation, and other services to Ohio schools.

21. Grades 9-12 Tools This button will take you to a screen that describes all resources available. Prepare to be amazed! All these tools are available to you, but we’re going to focus on the EBSCO Databases, since they will be the most helpful tools for you as you complete your research synthesis essay.

22. EBSCOhost Databases A click on the All EBSCO Databases button gives us access to 23 different databases. The periodicals that are included in these databases are well-respected, so you don’t need to worry about whether they are reliable and verified. And that’s not the only advantage. Searching in EBSCOhost is easy…if you know some tricks. Pick me, pick me! EBSCO Images is a great resource when you are doing a project that requires photos or other graphics.

23. Each of these databases collects materials from thousands of magazines, newspapers, and journals, so if your topic is specific, you can save time by choosing a database that fits your topic.For instance, Alt Healthwatchis a good match for a paper on childhood obesity.

24. Since the topic of sex education focuses on education, let’s select ERIC, the Education Resource Information Center, as well as two more general databases: Academic Search Premier, a multi-disciplinary database which accesses over 4600 periodicals, and MAS Ultra – School Edition, which is designed specifically for high schools. Remember what happened when we searched sex education in Google? Let’s use the quotation marks here to avoid that again.

25. So what do we get? Just over 7800 matches is better than 8 million, but it’s still a lot to filter. • There are clues here to help us narrow our search further: • Zanzibar? We want info about sex ed in the U.S. • 1916 is too long ago. Your teacher says our info has to be from 2005 or newer.

26. Using Advanced Search, we can limit search results to those covering the U.S. Limiters While we’re at it, let’s look only for full-text articles, not just summaries of articles. Scholarly articles reflect a higher level of research. Let’s see what we can find with those parameters. We can further limit our results by selecting resources dated 2005 or later.

27. Much better! We can wade through 66 articles much faster than we can 7800! Results Do we have any other options that could make this even more specific? How about considering what aspects of sex ed we want to research?

28. If I look at the Thesaurus Terms drop- down menu, I can see other related search terms. Abstinence is listed here, and I’ve thought about focusing on the effectiveness of abstinence-only sex education. What happens if I use that as a limiter? Eleven hits! Hot dog! And all of them focus on the specific research topic I’ve chosen!

29. If I click the title of the first article, here’s what I find… Specific identifying information about the article’s original publication An abstract that summarizes the article to allow for further evaluation. The URL that provides access to this article into perpetuity.

30. A click on the PDF Full-text button brings the article to the screen.Some articles are available in HTML format.

31. It’s a keeper, so now I need to look for ways to save this article.And here’s my favorite…EBSCOhost will create the citationfor me in MLA or APA format. …or save it to a flash drive. I can print… …email the article to our own email account…

32. EBSCOhost Practice Record the answers to these questions on your Answer Sheet. • Use Academic Search Premier to look for articles on capital punishment and deterrence. (Remember the password and user name?) Limit your search to full-text articles in scholarly journals that were originally published between 2008 and the present. Copy the MLA citation for each and paste them in a your answer sheet. Not as easy as you thought? Go back to the beginning of the EBSCO section.

33. 2. Begin a new search. Use only Newspaper Source and conduct a search using “capital punishment.” Limit your search to full-text articles published from January 2010 to May 2010. How many results do you find? • Use the Advanced Search tool to further limit your search. Maintain the same time parameters but add “execution” and “United States” to the limiters. • Now how many results do you find? • In what format is the result available? • Copy the MLA citation and paste it in your answer sheet. • Use Academic Search Premier to search for “childhood obesity.” What other Thesaurus terms are also available to find resources?

34. Other INFOhio Treasures Go back to the INFOhio homepage and let’s explore some other goodies. World Book Advanced offers all the information you would expect from an encyclopedia and a lot more. Still smarter than this presentation? Skip all this.

35. World Book Advanced As you conduct your research, you are likely to encounter new ideas, people, and events. A quick search in World Book Advanced can help you understand these new ideas so your research reading makes more sense.

36. World Book’s dictionary allows you to look up unfamiliar words you encounter in your research. The Primary Sources include trial transcripts for important cases like Gregg v. Georgia, the 1976 case in which the Supreme Court ruled the death penalty is constitutional.

37. A link to the e-book A Dictionary of American History, which can be searched using a keyword search. And there’s more… A table that shows the status of capital punishment in each of the 50 states. A special report called “Marking Time on Death Row.” A link to the website “Capital Punishment Statistics.”

38. In this case, World Book Advanced even provides a research guide to capital punishment that includes links to encyclopedia articles, articles on study skills, a special report on death row, and 25 magazine articles from EBSCOhost databases on the topic of capital punishment.

39. Like EBSCOhost, World Book Advanced provides a citation maker. The citation maker is attached to each encyclopedia article. Just copy and paste into your Works Cited or click the Help link for more assistance.

40. World Book Advanced Practice • Go to World Book Advanced. (User name and password are the same as for EBSCO.)Search the encyclopedia for information on “bullying.” • What is the URL for the article called “Bullying”? • Copy and paste the citation for this article on your answer sheet. • From this page, follow the link to magazine articles. • How many magazine articles can be accessed from this link? • How many special reports are there? • Name the one that you believe would be most helpful in research on bullying in schools. Need some help? Go back to the beginning of this section.

41. Other INFOhio Treasures The Digital Video Collection provides instant access to video appropriate to school. While most are designed for use in classroom instruction, you might find something that relates to your research topic. Skip it all if you choose.

42. For instance, you can download two videos on childhood obesity in just moments.

43. The Internet Public Library for Teens (ilp2) offers lots of support, both academic and emotional.

44. A+ Writing Research Paper Guide provides lots of writing support as well as links to other support sites. You can even Ask a Librarian a question! If your topic is health-related, you may find resources from the Health & Sexuality icon. Reading & Writing links connect to young adult reading lists and writing guides.

45. Topics that have an historical element could be researched at the Ohio Historical Society, Ohio Memory, and the Library of Congress American Memory project. A.D.A.M. and MEDLINE plus provide research on medical issues. Government data can be collected from FirstGovand Ohio.gov.

46. INFOhio Treasures Practice • Search the Digital Video Collection for “HIV.” • What is the name the video available on this topic? • In what year was it released? • Search ipl2’s Health & Sexuality links for “childhood obesity.” • List the resulting link and URL of the result. • Search MedlinePlus for “childhood obesity.” Click on the Cluster on Defining/Trends in Childhood Obesity. • List the link and URL that would help provide statistics on obesity. • Search FirstGov for HIV statistics. • List the link and URL for a resource that provides basic stats on HIV from the CDC. Need some help?

47. And there you have it… …the tools you need to successfully navigate the school’s OPAC and many of the resources available through INFOhio, the state’s virtual library and storehouse of information. If you need additional help with any of these tools or want more practice opportunities, see Mrs. James or Mrs. Smith. We are always happy to help. Good luck and happy hunting!