Library Research Instruction
(Eng097, Eng098, Eng155)

• Library Home Page
• Library Hours
• Library Services
• Help with Computers, Starting research and more!
• Accessing Library Subscription Databases off Campus Activate your 14 digit barcode!
  

• Choose your topic
  • Talk with your instructor
  • Explore your personal interests
  • CQ Researcher

    offers current hot topics with pro and con arguments
  • Read an encyclopedia article
• Formulate a question
  • How has advertising affected children ?
• Identify search term
  • How has advertising affected children?

Finding Books

• CSUN Library Online Catalog
  • Keyword Searching vs. Subject Searching
    • Keyword searching means that the words you enter in the computer are searched regardless of word order. The search may be performed on a combination of fields (such as the author and title fields)
    • Subject searching means using controlled vocabulary terms (subject headings or descriptors).
  • Boolean Operators, Truncation, and Wild Cards
    • Boolean operators are used to logically include, exclude, or link search terms. This enables you to broaden or narrow your search. There are three frequently used Boolean operators: AND, OR, NOT.
    • Truncation allows you to shorten a term by using a symbol. This allows you to search for singular or plural forms or different spellings of a word or name. For example, searching for cloth* will result in matches with cloth, clothes, and clothing. The asterisk * is a common truncation symbol.
    • Some systems also allow a type of internal wildcard symbol for the substitution of letters. For example, searching for wom?n will result in matches with woman and women.
Finding Books Using Library of Congress Classification
(http://library.csun.edu/Research_Assistance/LCC.html)

Finding Articles

• Scholarly vs.Popular?
  • Two key attributes of scholarly articles: (1) articles published in scholarly journals are reviewed by scholars or experts in the same field prior to publication. These are called peer-reviewed or refereed journals. (2) authors cite the sources they use, using a list of references at the end of each article.
• Searching an Index Database
• EBSCOHost Academic Search EliteFull-text and citations from journals and magazines, may limit to only search full-text, and scholarly, peer reviewed journals
• InfoTrac OneFileFull-text and citations from journals and magazines, may limit to only search full-text and scholarly, peer reviewed journals
• CQ Researchergood overview articles of contemporary issues
• LexisNexis Academiccurrent newspapers including local California newspapers
• MetaSearch (Research Portal)
  • Search multiple databases simultaneously
  • Save records to your own E-shelf
  • Create search stratgies to rerun later
• Locating Periodicals
  • While searching a database, click on the link to full text (HTML or PDF) or check library holdings;
  • While searching a database, click the button to display a menu with links to either full text or the location within the Library for the print version of the periodical;
  • Search the periodical title in the Library Online Catalog
  • Search the periodical title in the CSUN List of Electronic Periodicals.
    

Evaluating and Documenting Information

• Evaluating Web Sites
  • Currency
  • Relevance
  • Authority (Examples: .com .edu .gov .org .net)
  • Accuracy
  • Purpose
• Documenting and Citing Source
  • MLA Citation Style Examples (http://library.csun.edu/Research_Assistance/MLAstyle.html)
  • Avoiding Plagiarism
    • CSUN Policy on Plagiarism
    • Bruin Success with Less Stress (UCLA Libraries' guide to avoiding plagiarism)
      

    Librarian speaking to you today is Marcia Henry, Health Sciences Librarian