Research Tutorial: Step by Step
Contents:Picking a Topic
Finding Background Information
Finding Articles
Finding Books
About the Library's Collections
Interlibrary Loan (ILL)
Evaluating Sources
Evaluating Web Sites
Citing Your Sources
Picking a Topic
Step 1: Identifying a topic
- Discuss your topic ideas with your class instructor
- Browse journals that specialize in the subject area or discipline related to your topic area
- In the E-Journal Portal, choose "Browse by Subject"
- A UC Librarian can also help you find journals in your topic area
- Use UC Library's search tools (the online catalog and databases) to help you find databases and other online resources
- State your topic idea as a question
- For example, to find out about the use of alcoholic beverages by college students, you might pose the question, "What effect does use of alcoholic beverages have on the health of college students?"
- Identify the main concepts or keywords in your question
- In the example above, some keywords are alcoholic beverages, health, and college students
Testing your topic will help you see what kind and how much information is available.
- Search your keywords in the Library's online catalog and databases.
- A UC Librarian also can help you select the right resources for your topic
Too much information?
- Try narrowing your topic by using the "and" operator:
- Example: beer and health and college students
Too little information?
- Try broadening your topic
- For example, search for the keyword "students" rather than "college students"
- Consider synonyms to use in place of keywords
- Example: search for "beer" and "wine" in place of "alcoholic beverages"
Background information helps you:
- Understand the context of your topic
- Define what is already know about your topic
Key Steps in Finding Background Information
- Keyword searching in Library's online catalog and databases, including subject encyclopedias
- Read articles found for context
Key Strategies for Finding Background Information
- Use lecture notes, text books, and reserve materials for additional sources
- Note relevant articles in the references (at the end of each chapter, e.g.)
Finding Articles
Key Steps in Finding Articles
- Searching the Library's online catalog
- Searching databases
- Finding print and online articles
Key Strategies for Finding Articles
- Filter your catalog and database searches (peer-reviewed, recent, etc.)
- Using the UC Library's E-Journal Portal to find e-journals with full text online
- Search the library's online catalog for print journals and newspapers
UC Library offers more than 100 databases and other online resources. How do you know which one is right for your research?
- Use UC Library's Online Resources tool:
- Browse online resources by subject
- Search by title keyword
- Keyword Title Search Tip: use a term associated with the broad subject area, such as, Psychology, History or Nursing
Using Filters and Limits in Your Searches
Limiting to Scholarly (or Peer-Reviewed) Publications
- Displays articles published in scholarly or academic sources
- Removes articles published in popular or non-academic sources
- Useful if your assignment indicates that citation or sources must be from scholarly or academic publications
Limiting Date Range
- Finds articles published before or after a specified period
- Useful if your assignment is to find articles older or newer than 5 years
Full text in a Database
- Many of the Library's Online Resources include full text articles
- If full text is available, a link to the article will appear under or next to the citation
Full text Online
Just because an article isn't available full text in one Online Resource doesn't mean the Library doesn't have access to full text in another resource
- Use UC Library's E-Journal Portal to find e-journals with online full text
- Tip: you're searching the e-journal portal for journal title, not performing a keyword search for full text articles!
- If UC Library subscribes to the e-journal, you'll find links to the full text
- If the Library does not subscribe to the e-journal or the e-journal coverage is wrong, see if the Library subscribes to the journal in print
Print Journals
- UC Library subscribes to over 1200 journals in print
- Search the Library Catalog by Periodical Title
InterLibrary Loan (ILL)
- If UC Library doesn't own the journal you need, ILL allows you to request a copy of the article from another library.
- Go to InterLibrary Loan (ILL)
Locating books on your topic adds context and overview to your research project.
Key Steps in Finding Books
- Searching the Library Catalog
- Searching WorldCat database
Key Strategies in Finding Books
- Subject searches
- Locating materials in the UC Library
- Using InterLibrary Loan (ILL)
UC Library Catalog
- Lists all the books, journals and newspapers available in the UC Library
- Allows you to search by keyword, subject, title and author
- Tells you the location and status of the item
- Location: the general location of the item in the Library building
- Call Number: the exact location of the item in the Library Collection using Library of Congress Classification
- Status: whether the item is available, for in-library use only (Reference or Reserves) or checked out
Keyword searching is a great place to begin, but subject searches can
- help you narrow results to those in your specific topic area
- Help tailor results to your topic area
- Provide a range of topic options and similar subject areas
- Search the Library Catalog by subject
- Type a subject term in the box
- Select "Subject" from the drop down menu
- Hit the Search button
- Tip: your keywords or broad topic area terms are a great place to start a subject search
Keyword Searches
- Provide general results in a topic area
- Provide the broadest range of results
- Search the Library Catalog by keyword
- Type your keyword into the box
- Hit the Search button
- WorldCat is a national and international version of the UC Library Catalog
- The WorldCat database lists all the books, journals, newspapers and other library materials owned by hundreds of library's worldwide
- UC Library's library materials are listed in WorldCat
Searching WorldCat
- Open WorldCat
- Enter your keyword or keywords into the search boxes
- Select any limits you'd like
- Hit the Search button
Getting the Book
UC Library Owns the Book
- Note the location and call number of the book
- Use the How Do I ... Find Materials in the Library guide
UC Library Does Not Own the Book
- InterLibrary Loan (ILL) is a free service where UC Library borrows a book from another library on your behalf
- Go to InterLibrary Loan (ILL)
About the Library's Colllections
UC Library collects materials in several formats, or material types:
- Online
- Microform
- Using the right search tools
- Learn How to ... Find Materials in the Library
UC Library Collection
The UC Library Collection is broken down into types of materials:
- Print
- Books, journals (current and older), newspapers (current), indexes
- Available in the Library
- Microform
- Indexes, older journal and newspaper content
- Available in the Library
- Online
- Databases, e-journals, e-newspapers, websites
- Available using the Internet
Searching the UC Library Collection
Find Print Books, Journals, Newspapers
- Search the Library Catalog
Find Microform Journal and Newspaper Content
- Search the Library Catalog
Find E-Journals and E-Newspapers
- Use UC Library's E-Journal Portal to find e-journals with online full text
- For more help finding articles, Go to Finding Articles
- For more help finding books, Go to Finding Books
Finding Materials in the UC Library
Materials are organized by Library of Congress Classification and alphabetical by title
- Use the How Do I ... Find Materials in the Library guide for more help
InterLibrary Loan (ILL)
This section is scheduled for updating. Please see:
www.utica.edu/academic/library/services/ill.cfmInterLibrary Loan (ILL) allows you to request journal articles, newspaper articles and books from other libraries when what you need is not in the UC Library Collection.
Key Steps in Using InterLibrary Loan (ILL)
- Is the article or book you want in the UC Library Collection?
- Completing the ILL Article or Book Request forms
Key Strategies in Using InterLibrary Loan (ILL)
- Search the Library Catalog for journal articles and books in print and microform
- Using the E-Journal Portal to find e-journals with online full text
- Go to InterLibrary Loan (ILL)
What's in the UC Library Collection?
To learn if a journal article, newspaper or book you need is in the UC Library Collection, you need to:
- Search the Library Catalog for:
- Journals with articles in print
- Newspapers with articles in print
- Journals and newspapers in microform
- Books
- Use UC Library's E-Journal Portal to find:
- E-journals that offer online full text articles
- E-newspapers that offer online full text articles
InterLibrary Loan (ILL) is used when the article or book you want is not in the UC Library Collection. ILL is:
- Free to all current UC students, faculty and staff
- Easy - complete the ILL Article or Book Request form
- Go to InterLibrary Loan (ILL)
You've found books, articles and websites. The next step is evaluating their authority and appropriateness to your research.
Key Steps in Evaluating Books & Articles
- Examining author, date and audience
- Distinguishing scholarly content from other content
- Looking for quality indicators
Key Strategies in Evaluating Books &Articles
- Decoding the bibliographic citation
- Learning to decipher relevance and authority
The Internet offers both valuable and unfortunately questionable content. As a researcher, you need to establish a web document's:
- Validity
- Authorship
- Timeliness
- Integrity
Key Steps in Evaluating Web Pages
- Evaluating search results
- Evaluating site and page characteristics
- Determining authorship, validity and integrity
Key Strategies in Evaluating Web Pages
Critically examining:
- Search results
- Site and page characteristics
- Content
- Authenticity
Citing Your Sources
As you conduct your research, you need to keep track of your references by creating a bibliography, references list, or works cited list
Key Goals in Citing Sources
- Avoiding plagiarism
- Selecting the right citation style
- Formatting your bibliography or works cited
Key Strategies in Citing Sources
- Understanding plagiarism
- Using citation management software such as RefWorks