| Toni Olivas
Education Librarian
KEL 3427
tolivas@csusm.edu
760-750-4333 Office Hours:
Tue. 12-1pm
Wed. 3-4pm
*Appointment and drop-ins welcome
|
|
What is the GEL Library Module?
The Library Module will introduce you to the basics of
college-level research.
The skills you learn during the module will help you for 2
main reasons:
- Specifically, for the research project
and presentation you will do in this class.
- In general, for the papers and projects you will be
expected to do for the rest of your college career.
By the time you finish the Library Module, you will be
able to:
Expectations for Classroom Environment
Schedule and Assignments
| In-class activities/attendance |
50 pts |
| Final annotated bibliography assignment |
50 pts |
| Quiz |
50 pts |
| Total |
150 points |
Note: The
Office
of Disabled Student Services provides a variety of
services and resources to students. Students with
disabilities should contact me immediately to ensure
appropriate accommodations are made during the Library
Module.
Advanced
internet searching
|
Search Engines |
Subject Directories |
| Compiled by
computer "spiders" that "crawl"
the web, constantly adding websites |
Compiled by
people, selectively adding websites |
|
"More is better" or "Quick and easy" |
"Less is more" or "Quality, not quantity" |
| Websites often
listed by popularity or paid sponsors |
Websites often
listed by subject categories |
BEST FOR:
- very specific searches (e.g. person or org.)
- phrase searches (e.g. "Martin Luther King Jr")
- you know exactly what you're looking for
|
BEST FOR:
- broad topic or concept searches
- need background information (e.g. history of, types of)
- you're not sure what you're looking for
|
|
Try out:
|
Try out:
|
Top
Evaluating
websites
From your own Internet searching,
you probably realize there is an overwhelming
amount of information available online.
You might feel comfortable searching online-- but doing a Google search
and using the first few results for your
paper does not constitute college research!
Anyone can put up a website. How
do you know that its information is accurate,
legitimate or current? Learn how to
evaluate a web site before choosing
to include the information you find in your
research project.
Ask yourself these questions:
1. Who made this site?
2. What is its purpose?
3. Where does the information come from?
4. How current is the website?
In-class activity: Log in to WebCT (available
only during class)
Top
Identifying
keywords
For any research topic, you must
first think of
alternative keywords (synonyms) to search for.
Let's say your topic is how blind people are treated. You
need to search for different combinations of keywords:
| blind |
AND |
treatment |
|
| visually impaired |
stereotyp* (e/es/ical) |
| disabled |
social perceptions |
| handicapped |
myths |
In-class activity: Log in to WebCT (available
only during class)
Top
Finding books
Find books by searching the
Library Catalog. A good strategy
is to:
|
Enter
a keyword or two |
housing and Hispanic
bilingual education
gender and role |
Scan
the list for one good
title of interest |
'Clear and convincing evidence: measurement of
discrimination in America'
'The
Hispanic child: speech, language, culture, and
education'
'Gender
and domestic life : changing practices in families
and households'
|
Click
on the subject
headings for that
book |
Discrimination In Housing United States
Education Bilingual
Sex role -- United States -- History |
Top
Writing an Annotated Bibliography
An annotation is a brief summary of a
book, article, or other publication. Its purpose is to
describe the work in such a way that the reader can decide
whether or not to read the work itself.
Annotations often appear as part of a bibliography,
the list of sources that is standard in scholarly books and
articles, including most student papers.
When a bibliography includes annotations it is known as an
annotated bibliography.
These are 6 points to help you write your annotated
bibliography (not necessarily in this order):
1. What are the qualifications of the
author?
2. What is the main purpose of the text?
(summarize in one or two sentences)
3. How does this source relate to your topic?
4. What is the viewpoint or bias of the
author?
5. Who is the intended audience of this
work?
6. What is your final comment on this work?
Here is an extended
explanation and examples 
Basically, keep it short and straightforward by using the 6
points above.
Top
Scholarly vs Popular articles
Journal articles include the latest
research in the field. To find articles, you need to start
with a
research database. Each will allow
you to search hundreds or even thousands of journals at once
by searching for keywords relevant to your topic. Databases
can have BOTH scholarly and non-scholarly articles.
|
|
Scholarly (peer-reviewed,
refereed, empirical) |
Non-scholarly (popular) |
|
Audience |
academic readers |
general audience |
|
Author |
researchers, experts, specialists |
journalists, free-lance
writers, generalists |
|
Vocabulary |
professional
jargon; may be
difficult to read |
common; easy to
understand |
|
Structure |
specific structure (e.g.
abstract, methodology,
data, results, conclusion, references) |
structured like a story; can look
glossy with pictures and ads; comparatively shorter |
|
Sources
|
long list of
bibliography, references, footnotes |
no bibliography or
references listed |
| Examples |
Ethnic and
Racial Studies; Gender & Society;
International Migration Review;
American Journal of
Public Health;
Latin American Perspectives |
Time; Newsweek; Business
Week;
US News & World Report; New York Times;
Christian Science
Monitor |
Some databases provide a 'peer-reviewed' or 'scholarly
only' limit function that can narrow the results, but will
still bring back non-scholarly materials that were published
in a scholarly journal (e.g., editorials, letters to the
editor, book reviews.) When in doubt, ask a librarian!
Top
Finding articles
Journals articles include the latest
research in the field. To find articles, you need to start
with a research database. Each will allow
you to search hundreds or even thousands of journals at once
by searching for keywords relevant to your topic.
The following databases are useful for this class. Try searching for
keywords related to your topic:
Most Useful
Academic Search Premier
Magazines, Newspapers, Academic Journals (Limit your results by clicking 'Scholarly/Peer Reviewed')
ERIC
Good
source
for sociological and educational topics (Click 'Journal articles only' for scholarly
articles).
LexisNexis
Great news source: Newspapers, newsletters and magazines (all full-text but no scholarly/peer
reviewed articles)
CQ Researcher
Good for 'sides' of a hot topic and statistics
PsycINFO
Available via EbscoHost: A comprehensive international
database of psychology, covering the academic, research,
and practice literature in psychology from over 45
countries in more than 30 languages.
Sociological Abstracts
Use 'Thesaurus Search' to find descriptors for your
topic.
Click 'Journal articles only' for scholarly articles.
JSTOR
Use the 'Advanced Search' to limit disciplines and
article type.
Blackwell
Blackwell includes over 800 journals in Arts, Business,
Health Sciences Humanities, Social Behavioral Sciences,
and Science and Technology.
Sage Journals Online
Sage Journals Online includes over 460 journals in
Business, Humanities, Social Sciences, and Science,
Technology and Medicine.
Newspapers
A selected list of resources for finding news and
newspapers, also called "popular press" or media
coverage.
NOTE:
Depending on your topic, other databases might be more
relevant.
You can choose a
database by subject.
See an article you want in one of
these databases?
- Look for "Full Text" in
PDF,
 HTML,
 Linked
or 
- If all else fails, fill
out an Interlibrary
Loan article request form. You'll get it within 5-10 days for FREE.
- Or, any time you need
help, ask a librarian!
Top
Citing sources
For every college paper and project, you will need to
document from where you got ideas and quotations.
There are different ways, or styles, of citing your
sources-- including styles from the American Psychological
Association (APA), Modern Language Association (MLA), and
Chicago Manual of Style.
For every source you use in
your paper, you need to include a citation in your list
of references. Most sources need the following information:
-
Author(s)
-
Title (of article, book, journal...)
-
Publication information (when it was
published, by what publisher, in what journal, volume)
 |
APA: Publication manual of the
American Psychological Association.
5th ed. Washington, DC : American
Psychological Association, 2001.
Try
KnightCite,
a free online citation
tool to help create your bibliography.
In order for the citation to be accurate, you will
still need to understand the difference between a
journal and magazine, volume and issue number, and
so on. You will
need to review the results for
accuracy. |
Top
Academic honesty
A major principle of higher education is student
development of critical thinking skills and original
scholarship. According to our
Academic Honesty Policy: "The integrity
of this academic institution, and the quality of the
education provided in its degree programs, are based on the
principle of academic honesty."
Academic honesty includes:
- accurate use and representation of quotations.
- explicit citation of sources when paraphrasing and
describing ideas or any aspect of the work of others.
- all forms of academic work-- exams, papers,
presentations, and other projects.
To best understand academic honesty, you must know what
is considered dishonest, or academic misconduct.
Plagiarism and other forms of cheating are defined
here in the General University Catalog.
Related resources:
| |
What is it? |
Tips |
|
Quoting |
Using the author's exact
words. Always cite it
and use "quotation
marks." |
Some good reasons to
include a quote are:
-
You want to support
or add credibility
to your arguments
-
The original is
difficult to
rephrase
-
The original is so
good that you want
to preserve the
language
Quoting in moderation is
acceptable, but
stringing a bunch of
quotes together without
analysis and
well-crafted transitions
is bad. A paper is
supposed to be your
work, so limit quoting
to the minimum needed as
per the above reasons.
|
|
Summarizing |
Condensing the author's
words or ideas without
altering the meaning or
providing
interpretation—you use
your own words for this.
Basically, presenting
the original information
in a nutshell.
When you summarize, you
must always cite the
author of the material
you are summarizing. |
In academic writing,
there are a few things
to keep in mind when
summarizing outside
sources:
-
Use your own words
-
Include the key
relevant elements of
the original and
keep it brief—you're
just going for the
original's essence
-
Do not include your
interpretation/analysis
within the summary—make
a clear distinction
between your
thoughts and someone
else's
-
Vary how you
introduce or
attribute your
sources, like
"according to…," or
"so-and-so concludes
that..." so your
readers don't get
bored
-
Always include a
citation.
|
|
Paraphrasing |
Restating, in your own
words, the author's
words or ideas without
altering the meaning or
providing
interpretation.
Paraphrases are about
the same length as the
original.
When you paraphrase, you
must always cite the
author of the material
you are paraphrasing. |
Paraphrasing is
similar to
summarizing in that you: |
Paraphrasing differs
from summarizing in
that you: |
-
Do NOT include your
interpretation/analysis
within the
paraphrase—make a
clear distinction
between your
thoughts and someone
else's
-
Should vary how you
introduce or
attribute your
sources, like
"according to…," or
"so-and-so concludes
that..."
-
Always include a
citation
|
-
Usually write about
the same length as
the original
-
Use your own words,
but you may
occasionally want to
include a sequence
of words or a brief
quote from the
original (Remember
to use "quotation
marks" if you decide
to include any
sequence of words
from the original.)
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Top
Need more help?
Don't hesitate to contact me
for research help.
Top
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