Research Help for LIBA 102, First Year Seminar

Take the Virtual Library Tour or last link on library instruction homepage: to learn about library etiquette, services offered by the library, and the location and function of essential areas in the library.

Look at the library catalog tutorial [TBA] to learn how to find books and check them out.

Learn how to choose a topic and identify the key concepts of your topic from “Choosing a Topic”

Need to find articles? See “Choosing a Database” which will tell you where you need to go to find articles on a particular subject, how to find a database your professor wants you to use, or how to find an article that you already have the citation for.

Suggested full text (whole article) databases:

• EbscoHost Academic Search Premier for articles on everything
• Business Source Premier for business articles
• Contemporary Literary Criticism for articles about literature
• CQ Researcher for articles on current issues
• ERIC for articles on education issues
• Lexis Nexis for newspaper articles
• PsycInfo for psychology articles

Evaluating what you find:

• If you professor wants to you to find a “scholarly article” see “Scholarly Journals vs. Popular Magazines”
• If you are allowed to use free web sites in your project, “Evaluating Web Sites” will help you make good choices

Resources on citing, quoting, paraphrasing and not plagiarizing:

• “Using MLA” http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/research/r_mla.html
• “Using APA” http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/research/r_apa.html
• “Avoiding Plagiarism” http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/research/r_plagiar.html