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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