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English 155/ Sivan Salibian
Librarian Speaking today is : Marcia Henry
http://library.csun.edu/mhenry/tipseng155Salibian.html
Assignment: 4-6 page Essay (Use at least 2 outside sources -Online sources must be from reputable journals, newspapers or websites, and offer a A “Works Cited” page in MLA format). Choose a position on one (1) of these three topics to write a reasoned argument:
- Qualities and characteristics the ideal Presidential Candidate? or
- what is academic or professional success (discussion on meritocracy in Nickle and Dimed)
- Is import of Chinese products beneficial to the U.S.’s economy?
Goals of Library Session:
- Learn different researching techniques to help find sources
- Learn about differences in periodical sources -scholarly journals, popular magazines, newspapers
- Learn about database tools to help quote your citations in MLA
Choosing a Topic
MAKE A LIST! Write down every possible word or phrase you can think of related to your topic before you start searching. As you research, add to that list the other words and phrases you are finding used. Tip
Finding Background Information
Learning more about your topic before you begin can help you formulate your arguments and can help you pick additional search terms. Tip - Learning more about your topic before you begin can help you formulate your arguments and can help you pick additional search terms. Read both sides of an issue. You need to know the opposition's view to effectively argue your own.
- CQ Researcher - covers current controversial topics and includes pro/con section and a bibliography.
- Gale Virtual Reference Library - contains encyclopedia articles on a wide range of topics that can give you an overview of an issue.
Search Tips: Boolean Searching and Truncation
Boolean Operators
Boolean operators are words (or, and, not) used to connect search terms to expand (or) or narrow (and, not) a search within a database to locate relevant information. Boolean operators are also called logical operators or connectors.
It is helpful to diagram the effects of these operators:
voter behavior and elections
And retrieves records that contain all of the search terms. It narrows or limits the search. Therefore, use "and" in between terms that are required to make the search specific.
imports or free trade
Or retrieves records that contain any of the search terms. It expands the search. Therefore, use "or" in between terms that have the same meaning (synonyms) or equal value to the search.
Truncation
- Most databases allow for a symbol to be used at the end of a word to retrieve variant endings of that word. This is known as truncation.
- Using truncation will broaden your search. For example, vote* will retrieve: vote or votes or voter or voters.
- Databases and Internet search engines use different symbols to truncate. In general, most of the Library's databases use the asterisk (*) ; however, the exclamation point (!) is used in LexisNexis and Science Direct. Check the database help screen to find the correct truncation symbol.
- Be careful using truncation. Truncating after too few letters will retrieve terms that are not relevant. For example:
cat* will also retrieve cataclysm, catacomb, catalepsy, catalog, etc. Therefore it's best to use the boolean operator "or" in these instances (cat or cats).
Find Books and Periodical: Check the Library Catalog
Library Catalog
Search for the Library's book and journal titles
How to use the Library catalog
Links to other library catalogs
World Cat, LAPL and more!
Find Articles: Journal and Magazine Articles (Full Text)
- AcademicSearch Elite (EbscoHost) Full-text and citations from journals and magazines, may limit to only search full-text, within a specific date range and peer reviewed journals
- Opposing Viewpoints Full-text database of selected newspapers, magazines and journals of the ethnic, minority and native press in the United States. Alternative to mainstream media so gives a different perspective
- General OneFile Includes Expanded Academic. Full-text and citations from journals and magazines, may limit to only search full-text, within a specific date range and refereed journals .
Get help with citing by using the citation tools to the right when you view a record.
For more database ideas check out the Find Articles & Reseach Data page and the Databases A to Z
If the full-text is not available for the article you want to see, click the 
button or the "Find Text" link to see if the full-text is available in another database.
Web Resources
Use Google Scholar Advanced Search Searches for scholarly materials such as peer-reviewed articles, theses, books, preprints, abstracts and reports across many disciplines and sources. Freely available; however, many of the links that lead to full text resources are not. On your first visit go to Google Scholar Preferences and use the Library Links box to set CSUN as the source for no-fee access to many full text articles.
USAGov U.S. Government's Official Web Portal for government documents
Society's Issues Web page developed by Mary Finley
Works cited list
Use MLA format. Print up the MLA citation cheatsheet. Some databases have citation creators. These are great time saving tools, BUT they are not perfect. The MLA format is not always correct and will need to be edited before submitting your paper. Check your citations against our cheatsheet or the MLA book available in the library. Also check out our Creating an Annotated Bibliography page.
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