WORK FROM THE GENERAL TO THE SPECIFIC.
Find background information
first, then use more specific and recent sources.
RECORD WHAT YOU FIND AND WHERE YOU FOUND IT. Write out a complete citation
for each source you find; you may need it again later.
TRANSLATE YOUR TOPIC INTO THE SUBJECT LANGUAGE OF THE INDEXES AND CATALOGS
YOU USE. Check your topic words against
a thesaurus or subject heading list
Research Steps:
1. What is my assignment? -
What will I have to present?
What information will I need to be able to do
this?
After
considering these questions, choose a topic.
Remember these questions: Who,
What, Where, Why, When, and How.
Identify key words to
use in your search. Remember: a key word has to contain at least
3 characters
2. Where is the best place to find information?
Start with a general resource,
such as an encyclopedia.
Evaluate other resources, such as: books,
the Internet, The Public Library, electric library, Sirs Discoverer,
etc.
Assess the value of the resources which you locate.
What resource(s) best meet your needs?
3. Locate a variety of resources which contain pertinent information.
Can I find enough information
to complete my assignment?
N0 - Go back to step #1
YES - Go to step #4.
4. Is the information in this resource relevant to my needs?
NO - Use a different resource.
YES - Find key words/concepts.
Take notes.
Prepare a bibliographic note card
for each resource you actually use.
Repeat for each resource.
5. Organize your notes.Create your product - a paper,
poster, web page, chart, graph, slide show, database, spreadsheet, table,
etc.
6. Evaluate your product
- Does my product meet the requirements
of my assignment?
NO - Edit and revise your work.
Would there have been a better way to have done this assignment? YES - go to step #7
7. Hand in your assignment.
Library Vocabulary:
Bibliography - A bibliography is a list of citations for books,
periodical articles or other materials. Published bibliographies on specific
subjects are often found in the reference collection.
Call Numbers - Each item in a library collection is classified
in a subject area by some classification system. These call numbers are
placed on the spine of the book to locate it on the shelves. The IMC uses
the Dewey Decimal Classification System.
Citation - Information which fully identifies a publication; a
complete citation usually includes author, title, name of journal (if
the citation is to an article) or publisher (if to a book), and date.
Often pages, volumes and other information will be included in a citation.
Circulation Desk - A service desk where books and other materials
are loaned or charged out to library users. Library materials which do
not circulate (reference books and some periodicals, for example) can
be used within the library.
Field - A part of a record used for a particular category of data.
For instance, the title (ti) field displays the title for each record
in the database.
Operators - Words such as AND, OR, and NOT that are used to combine
search terms to broaden or narrow the results of a search. Combining terms
using operators is sometimes called Boolean searching.
Record - A collection of related data, arranged in fields and
treated as a unit.
Truncation - Typing a special symbol at the end of a word to retrieve
all possible endings of that word. If you wish to truncate a word while
searching the IMC Catalog, use the asterisk (*).
Evaluating Web Pages
Accuracy
The author is listed
The author can be contacted
Don't confuse the author with the webmaster
Authority
Is the domain one of these? (.edu, .gov, .org, or .net)
