Research

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The Basics Books
Research
Shelley Roseman, Reference Librarian
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Presentation based on Research 101
http//www.lib.uconn.edu/using/tutorials/research/
HTML/Search/Search00.htm
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Online Options
.gov
.org
.edu
.com
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• Who can publish on the web?
• 1. businesses universities
• 2. organizations government agencies
• 3. middle school students
• 4. anyone who has technical
• skills and an opinion

?
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• When searching the web, what
• should keep in mind?
• 1. you can find everything online?
• 2. everything online is reliable?
• 3. everything online is free?
• 4. your author may not be an expert worth
  quoting?

?
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"On the Internet, nobody knows you're a dog".
Published in The New Yorker July 5, 1993
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The Library Option
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Who needs books?
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Library Home Page
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www.lib.uconn.edu
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Library Home Page

• HOMER, Libraries Catalog
• Where you find books (and anything else UConn
  owns)
• 2. All Databases
• Arranged by subject, lists online resources for
  finding articles, essays, etc.

• Interlibrary Loan (ILL)
• Service for getting books from other libraries
• 4. VPN (Virtual Public Network)
• The way to use the library from home

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Are library Databases.
? ? ?
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Are library databases user friendly?
(Sort of, theyre just not yet)

• They dont correct spelling mistakes
• They are restricted to UConn users
• They assume that you know how to search
• They dont always provide full text
• They dont always look the same
• They dont charge for anything
• They provide material from reputable sources

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• BOOKS Strengths
• Broad overviews of topics
• Long enough to explore ideas in depth
• Scholarly books contain bibliographies which are
  helpful for finding more information
• Scholarly books have been carefully edited, so
  information is generally accurate

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• BOOKS - Weaknesses
• You wont find coverage of the latest events or
  very current authors
• They take longer to read than articles
• The topic may be too broad and may only touch on
  your topic
• Popular books are often not well-researched, but
  may give you ideas

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What about reference sources?(1st floor of the
library)

• Encyclopedias (online print)
• Dictionaries
• Yearbooks
• Handbooks
• Chronologies
• Criticism (online print)

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Reference Sources

• Good starting points for research, particularly
  in unfamiliar topic areas
• Good sources for quick facts, dates, statistics,
  etc.
• Good for discovering new vocabularies that are
  used for key words
• Provide lists of books or articles in
  bibliographies

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How computers generally think.
http//www.gracebiblefellowship-tx.org/Jack20Hamm
20Graphics/Prevent20Cloudy20Thinking.gif
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AND, OR, NOT
Boolean Operators
AND situation
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Wildcards/Truncation (shortcuts)
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AND, OR, NOT
Boolean Operators
OR situation
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AND, OR, NOT
Boolean Operators
NOT situation
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(No Transcript)
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Key Words
and
biography
Shakespeare
Shakespeare
and
(biography or life)
and
biograph?
Shakespeare
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Finding Books HOMER
Know shortcuts
Identify the keywords
Figure out your search strategy
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Research 101

• This presentation was based on an online
  tutorial http//www.lib.uconn.edu/using/tutorials
  /research/HTML/Search/Search00.htm

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• If you need help