foundations of inquiry
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FOUNDATIONS OF INQUIRY & INFORMATION LITERACY
The following YouTube video was produced in the Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah.
“New Spice: Study Like a Scholar, Scholar”
(Begin video on next slide!)
Click:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ArIj236UHs
Study like a scholar, scholar
What do you do next?
You’re required to select a research topic. You’re considering:
Immigration
Start on the Library website’s home page: www.nyit.edu/library
A public library contains mostly popular books.
An academic library contains mostly scholarly books.
What’s the difference?What makes a source scholarly?
Consult SCHOLARLY Sources!
Criteria to Apply
Suggests POPULAR Indicates SCHOLARLY
Celebrity author with few or no subject credentials
Author has clearly-stated credentials demonstrating expertise
Publisher issues popular books, e.g., Dell Paperbacks or Bantam Books
A university press or eminent academic publisher, e.g., McGraw-Hill
No footnotes, no bibliography, no appendices, no index.
Most or all of these: footnotes, bibliography, appendices, index.
Content tone is chatty, sensational, humorous, fun, satirical, etc.
Content is factual, well-researched, intended to inform
Text is breezy, written for popular consumption
Text contains challenging terms and concepts
To find books on IMMIGRATION, carefully select search terms (keywords)
Besides “immigration,” how can you find other search terms or phrases to use?
Search the Library Catalog
keywords
Natural language words describing a topic
A good way to start your search
They add flexibility
You can combine terms in many ways
Keywordsimmigration
Database search engines can look for keywords anywhere in a record
In title, author, subject FIELDS, etc.
Often too many or too few results
Often many irrelevant results
More on Keywords
Definition: Pre-defined "controlled vocabulary" words assigned to describe the content of each item in a database or catalog
Example: The Library of Congress Subject Headings used in the online catalog
Subject Headings
Drawback: Less flexible. You must know exact controlled vocabulary term or phrase
Process: Databases look for subjects only in subject heading or descriptor field, where the most relevant words appear
Advantage: Results usually highly relevant to topic
More on Subject Headings
To Find Controlled Vocabulary for IMMIGRATION
Search the Online Catalog
Enter Keywords in Query Box
On search results page, click on the title. to view the full information.
Click on “Catalog Record” to view the detailed record.
List of Subject Terms for a Particular Title
Immigrants Assimilation Emigration and immigration Illegal aliens Minorities – United States Racism Ethnicity Cultural pluralism
Look at a number of records to create a list of possible search terms
Use controlled vocabulary/subject terms to search for books
The LC Call Number indicates location of book on shelf. Also: a note identifies
the holding library.
To find reference resources, use “Advanced Search”
An Advanced Search for Reference Resources With a Limit to Reference books
Search results: Reference books with information on IMMIGRATION
Britannica Online
Credo Reference
Gale Virtual Reference Library
Oxford Reference
Find them by clicking “Databases A-Z” on Library home page
The Library also has many electronic reference books:
Databases A-Z: An alphabetical listing of NYIT Library databases
Note hereTitle links to:
Britannica Online Credo Reference Gale Virtual
Reference Library
How do you do that?
First, understand how to combine search terms using logical connectors called
Boolean operators:
and…or…not
Want to find journal articles?
Want info on cats and dogs? Use the Boolean OR operator to find sources discussing cats, dogs, and both cats and dogs.
Use OR to broaden a search. Example: Adolescents 97 hits, Teenagers 75
hits, Adolescents OR Teenagers 172 hits.
Boolean Search Logic: OR
If you want only information that discusses both cats and dogs, use the AND operator.
AND is used to narrow a search. Example: Television 999 hits, Violence 876
hits, Television AND Violence 123 hits.
Boolean Search Logic: AND
You want information about cats, but not information about dogs.
Example: High school 423 hits, Elementary 652 hits, High school NOT Elementary 275 hits.
Boolean Search Logic: NOT
Select “ProQuest Central” from the “Databases A-Z” list
Use Advanced Search to enter your search query
Limit by full-text articles and by scholarly journals
Let’s say you want scholarly journal articles about assimilation of people from Asia in the United States…
Use the Advanced Search screen & limit search to full text & scholarly
263 scholarly, full text journal articles are
retrieved
Example: How does the process of assimilation for Asian Americans and Hispanic Americans compare?
Now that you have done some preliminary research, state your topic in the form of a question…
Citing Your Sources
Your research paper will incorporate ideas, concepts, quotes, etc., taken from your SOURCES.
In other words, you’ll use the thoughts of OTHERS in YOUR paper.
To avoid PLAGIARISM, you must CITE these sources. That is, you must credit them with in-text footnotes and list them at the end of your paper on a References page.
Your in-text footnotes will likely take the form of parenthetical references.
More on Citations Each References page source listing must be properly
formatted according to MLA style.
EXAMPLE (assume you quoted this source, a book, in your paper):
King, Samuel P., and Randall W. Roth. Broken Trust: Greed, Mismanagement, and Political Manipulation at America‘s Largest Charitable Trust. Honolulu: U of Hawaii P, 2006. Print.
On your References page, list your sources (works cited) alphabetically, usually by author’s last name.
Help with Citations
The NYIT Library provides and/or links to these BIBLIOGRAPHY GENERATOR tools. These are fill-in-the-blank solutions:
RefWorks (Very robust! Link provided on Library home page.)
KnightCite (“Citing Sources” link, Library home page)
Landmarks Citation Machine (“Citing Sources” link, Library home page)
Find many more helpful citation tools by clicking the “Citing Sources” link on the Library home page.
Apt QuoteThe longest journey begins with a single step. – Lao Tzu