UNIV 1011

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UNIV 1011 Using the Library

• Charlotte Innerd
• charloti_at_nipissingu.ca

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Welcome to the Library!

• This PowerPoint will introduce you to what is in
  the Library and how to find information for your
  courses.
• This is an introduction only. If you have more
  questions, please contact me!

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Whats in the Library?

• Computers
• Laptops that can be borrowed
• Quiet Study areas
• Group Study areas

• Books
• Videos and DVDs
• Journals and Magazines
• Photocopying
• Puppets
• etc

Click for a Map of the Library
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The Library Website
How Do I? look here for help with using the
Library
E-Resources where you search for journal,
magazine and newspaper articles
Catalogue where you search for books, DVDs, etc.
Journals by Title look here to see if we have a
specific journal.
Newsflashes from the Library
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Searching Students and Diets

• I am going to search various resources and tell
  you how I am approaching my searching and
  introduce you to some of the resources.
• I have chosen the topic of students and eating.
• I am going to start by briefly showing you the
  catalogue, but I am going to spend more time on
  searching for articles.

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Terms

• Keyword(s) this the word or words that you use
  in your search. I usually do a keyword search.
• Subject Search this refers to a search using
  the specific subject term created by the
  database, NOT the subject of your paper.

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The Catalogue

• Look in the catalogue to find books, CDs, DVDs,
  puppets, etc.
• Click on the link on the Library website that
  says Catalogue
• Start with a broad keyword search and then narrow
  down
• I have a specific book in mind, so I am going to
  put in the keywords from the title.

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• This is what the Catalogue looks like.
• It defaults to a keyword search. I use
• this search most of the time.

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This is the record of the book
Call Number you need this number to find the
book on the shelf
Publication Information
Title
Author
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Notes about searching the Catalogue

• When searching for a book, you are only searching
  the information that appears in the record.
• This is important when choosing your search
  terms. (Start broad and then narrow.)
• Always record the author, title and publication
  information of items you use as you will need
  these for your bibliography.

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Journal Articles

• In many of your courses, you will be expected to
  use journal articles.
• These are written by experts and published in
  subject specific journals.
• The Library subscribes to many journals. Most of
  them are available online, but some are in print
  or microfilm in the Library.

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Finding articles

• Choose a database.
• Start with a broad search term. Make sure that it
  gives you the results that you expected.
• Narrow your search.
• Choose articles that are relevant to your topic.
• Find out if we have access to the article.

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Choosing a database
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Choosing a database

• The databases are grouped by subject.
• I am going to go into General and use Academic
  Search Premier.
• Academic Search Premier is a large database that
  covers many topics.
• Try different databases to see what results you
  get!

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Start with broad search terms

• To start I am going to put in the two terms from
  my topic students and eating.

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Number of results. Since there is 1225, I know
that I can narrow my search.
Types of results returned. If I clicked on
Academic Journals, I would get only articles from
Academic Journals.

• Notice on the left hand side there is a list of
  subjects. These are important to pay attention
  to as they will give you ideas of what to search.

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Search Terms - Students

• One of the subjects said College students,
  remember this is an American database and that
  college will be a better term than university.
• I am going to use this for my search (though I am
  going to use it as a keyword) because I am
  interested in this group of students, not
  teenagers or children.
• A plural word can have an effect on the results.
  In this case I think students will work, but
  watch for this when you are searching.

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Search Terms - eating

• It is important to know what aspect of the topic
  you are interested in.
• One of the subjects that came up was Eating
  disorders. However, I am more interested in the
  idea of healthy eating.
• There are two terms that I want to try diet
  and food habits, this means trying two
  different searches. I am going to try them as
  keyword searches and not click on them to do a
  subject search.
• I got interesting results for both but in the
  following slides, I am going to use food
  habits. Note that this is not a term that I
  would have come up with on my own, but that I
  picked up from the database.

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Some Results
Get it! Will allow you to check for the
availability of the article in the Library. (See
next slide.)
This article is available by clicking on this
link.
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Get it!

• This icon will allow you to see if the article is
  available through the Library.
• If it is available electronically it will provide
  you with a link to the article.

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Narrow your search

• You may at this point find enough articles that
  are all on your topic. Sometimes you will still
  have too many results. There are many ways to
  narrow your search.
• Limiting it to Academic Journals and you will go
  from 85 results to 69.
• Choosing College Students as a subject and you
  are down to 36.
• You can also add another search term, such as
  nutrition or women depending on how you want
  to narrow it.
• There are lots of strategies to try, separately
  or together.

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Choosing relevant articles

• This is a very important step in the process and
  one where you should spend some time.
• Look at the results and see which ones match your
  subject.
• Doing this will save you time in writing your
  assignment because the more relevant the articles
  the easier it is to write.
• Hint reading the abstract (a short summary of
  the article) will let you know if you want to
  read the whole article.

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Off Campus Access

• You can access the databases from off campus.
  Your login and password will be the same as for
  WebAdvisor.
• Having trouble, let me know.
• More about logging in from off campus.

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Questions? Contact me!

• charloti_at_nipissingu.ca

The week of the module, I will make sure to check
my email in the evening and on the weekend! I
will also be monitoring the discussion board in
WebCT. So if you have any questions, please let
me know.