For 1101 & 1102 students on Research

In addition to visiting your reference librarians with assignment sheets in hand and a fairly focused idea of what you're researching, I want to encourage you to use the library's online databases for research, too.

Not only that, use the card catalog to search for books.

How to instruction is included on Blackboard in the General Research and Academic tab; however, here's a quick primer for reaching the library's online databases. Go to the library's website. (If you are not on campus, SIGN IN using the "Login from Home" feature at the top of the web page. You must do this to access the databases.)

On the left column - "FIND INFORMATION" - come down and click on "Articles, Papers, Reports." (For books, which is a GREAT idea, too, click the first link: "Books, Catalog...")

Now click "Writing". This takes you to a page where you can make use of a good how-to resource called "Research Guide for Writing". Included on this link (in addition to another link to the actual how-to Research Guide", is a link to "Resources for Controversial Topics". Here you will find a good list of popular, reputable magazines (organized by their editorial bent - i.e. conservative to liberal) and you can follow those to search and find sources for your topics.

Now, back to the page you reach from clicking on "Writing": Notice the Databases in the list beginning with "Academic Search Premier". Read through the descriptions of each database and see if one is more helpful than another for your topic.

In general, the most basic and helpful databases are:

1. Academic Search Premier
2. MasterFILE Premier
3. Newsbank

Note that the more specialized databases (Science Direct for anything related to any kind of science; Business Source Premier for business articles; PsycARTICLES for mental health related topics) are excellent, too.

Once you've selected a database and connect to it, then use search terms related to your topic and you should find many sources depending upon your topic. (For example, "Alcoholism" will bring up TONS of articles. "Alcoholism" AND "symptoms" will bring up more specialized topics.)

What I personally find most helpful are those that offer immediate access to FULL-TEXT html or PDF documents; however, the reference librarian will show you how to access any that do not immediately take you to the full article.

Don't delay on your research. The earlier you do it, the more focused and comprehensive your papers are, which makes for better evaluations.

Dig?