Prepared by:
Sarah Brick Archer
Assistant Professor of Library Services
Office: L308B
Phone: ext. #3267
General Library Tutorials
English Comp 1213:
General
Overview for English 1213 -- Reviews basics skills such as
the physical library, searching for books, and locating periodicals.
Research
Strategy -- Provides steps and concepts involving the
research process.
Evaluation
of Sources -- Provides criteria for evaluating the quality of
any resource.
Plagiarism
-- Description of plagiarism and suggestions about how to avoid it.
Citations
-- How to cite most common resources using MLA and APA
How is the NSU library organized?
Maps
Physical
Overview to the Library CLIP Tutorial
Library of Congress
Hours
Why do research?
Research can lead to information; information can lead to knowledge,
and knowledge is powerful. All of the informational resources available
originated from someone being curious about something, exploring it,
and
sharing the findings.
Where does information come from?
The cycle of information is an interesting one. Research starts
with an idea. Someone becomes curious about something and wants
to
explore it. Literature reviews are conducted, empirical evidence
is
gathered. The researcher may wish to cross disciplinary lines and
take a literary theory and apply it to another field. The
researcher
writes an article. If the article adds to the body of knowledge
or
presents a new concept, a journal in that discipline might be
interested
in publishing it. Article submissions go through a reviewing process in
which multiple reviewers will read and comment on the article.
This
is an example of a refereed journal article. If it passes the review
process,
the article is published in the journal. Indexers read journal
articles
and assign subject headings to the articles and place the citation in
indexes
(such as
MLA Bibliography). Researchers comb indexes to
find
articles, and the whole cycle starts over. This is a cycle that
occurs
right here at NSU. Our faculty and students are publishing.
You
can become a part of the process, too. Exciting, isn't it?
The
Flow
of
Information (from the UCLA College Library and NWACC) depicts how
information about an
event can be represented in different types of resources. Understanding
how
information is disseminated helps to know where to look and the
attributes of each format.
How do I find a movie in the library?
Do a title search on the name of the movie using the
Library Catalog.
American
Beauty
Matrix
Star
Wars
Wizard of Oz
We do not
own all of the movies listed by your teacher, but we do have a few of
them. Searches can be limited to the audio visual
collection. Movies are located at the Reserve Desk and can be
checked out for seven days.
How do I find an overview to the movie or information about the
director?
Who's Who in Entertainment Ref. PN 1583.W47
Halliwell's Who's Who in the Movies Ref. PN 1993.45H3
Future
of the Movies
Return
of the Heroes
How do I find reviews of movies?
"
Popular Metaphysics"
Movie reviews are often found in magazines and newspapers. For movies
within the last ten to twenty years, try going to
EbscoHost
and choosing
Academic
Search Premier, Masterfile
Premier, and
Newspaper Source.
Do an advanced search, and enter one or two important words from the
title. Limit the search to "entertainment review" under document
type. Follow the yellow guides on the left side of the screen to
find relevant subject headings.
Another useful database is
Reader's Guide which indexes
magazines. When using the
Reader's Guide, search a
prominent word from the title of the movie and limit the document type
to "film review." The search can also be limited to full
text.These databases would also be useful for finding information about
the writer or director of the movie.
For older movies, try
A Guide to Critical Reviews: Part IV:
The Screenplay
(early days to 1980) Ref. PN 2266.S34 Vol. 4. Older print
editions of the
Reader's Guide
would be useful, too. Reviews are usually published the year that the
movie was released.
(Check reference books to determine when the movie was released.) For
instance, in 1941 the subject heading used was "Moving picture
plays--Criticism--Single works." By 1980, the subject heading was
"Motion picture reviews."
How do I find information about philosophy and/or religion?
The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy
Ref.l B41.C35 1995
The Oxford Companion to Philosophy
Ref. B51.O94 1995
Do a subject search in the
Library
Catalog on
Existentialism.
or
Taoism.
The Encyclopedia of Religion
Ref. BL 31.E46 1987
The Oxford Dictionary of World
Religions Ref. BL 31.O84 1997
Academic
Search Premier and Humanities
Full Text would index journals articles on philosophy or religion.
How do I find information about the time period in which the movie
was produced?
The
Encyclopedia of American Facts and Dates, Ref. E 174.5.C63 is a
chronology that lists major events that occurred during specific years.
Using the Library Catalog, try some of the
following subject headings:
United
States--history or United States--Social life and customs. For
biographies, search for the person by subject, last name first.
Use the magazines indexes to find articles about the time period.
Where do I find sources on the Internet?
Internet
Public Library: Movies
Internet
Public Library: Movie Reviews
Best Information on the
Net
Infomine
The Internet Public Library
Librarians' Index to the Internet
How do I determine the quality of what I find?
1. Identify authors who are outstanding in their fields, determine the
credentials of the author. Does the author have a degree in the field,
is the author a professor?
2. Date of publication--is it recent? On Web pages, do the links work?
3. Does the publisher have a good reputation? Is it published by a
professional association or university press? Is the journal refereed?
On Web pages, check the domain (.edu is educational, .gov is
government, .com is commercial, .net is network, .org is
organizational)
4. How was the resource received by the critics?
5. Completeness of the material. Does the source have an index,
bibliography?
6. Is the language slanted or biased?
7. Does it include well known facts or research studies? Is the
information complete, accurate, objective?
8. What is the purpose of the resource? Is it for the general
public, children, scholars? Is the goal to market persuade, educate?
How do I get materials not available at NSU?
Interlibrary loan
is available free of charge in which books and copies of articles can
be borrowed from other libraries. Allow approximately two weeks
for interlibrary loan requests to be received.
How do I cite resources?
The
CLIP
Tutorial on Citations provides a good overview to citing resources.
The
M.L.A. Handbook for Writers of Research Papers is located
on the first floor at the call number, Ready Ref. LB 2369.G53.
Also, try the
MLA Web site. For
additional help
in citing sources, try
KnightCite
Bibliography Machine.
Prepared by Sarah Brick Archer, April 6, 2007. Revised April 16, 2008.
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