library research
Posted publicly at the request of a classmate...
RESEARCH IN THE VCU LIBRARY WEBSITE SETTING
john glover
jglover2@vcu.edu
ref desk: 828-1101
http://www.library.vcu.edu/
Click "ask a librarian" to get in touch with them
look for more sources than you need... hard to find the best ten sources when you only use 10 sources.
don't be afraid to look at the footnotes and bibliography of your sources... you can get more in-depth and find more resources and greater context for the particular source.
Library catalog
start on the library site (http://www.library.vcu.edu/)
the main search bar, you can search "animals" and get a whole mess of stuff to sift through.
if you put in "puppies AND kittens" you'll find only sources that contain BOTH--fewer results
"puppies OR kittens" you'll find more results; you might find sources that contain BOTH but you'll also find sources that contain EITHER
TRUNCATION: cutting down and getting to the root of your ideas. "victorian*" you will get the victorian, victorians, victorianism, etc. The ASTERISK is key for truncation. Helps you find MORE results.
use OR to broaden search, AND to narrow, ASTERISK to greatly broaden the results
wom*n will bring up woman, women, womyn, womin.
You need to know the NAME of what you're searching. This will help you in finding subjects.
SUBJECTS will help you find more specific results. "History and criticism" for instance. "Nursing ethics"
To search by subject, click "Browse" and type in your subject, and in the drop-down menu, select "Library of Congress Subject" or just plain "subject" to get the most results.
Note the "Advanced Search" tool; it saves so much time!!
"words adjacent" insures that whatever you type in that particular text box will be searched together. "robert louis stevenson" w/ words adjacent will search for only things that have those three words together, not a book about robert smith by a guy named stevenson.
LONG SEARCHES:
in the main search bar...
(collins OR carrol) and criticism
looks for everything inside the parentheses first, and then combines those results with whatever is outside the parentheses.
CALL NUMBERS
note the decimal points.
If the book is not in its proper place, search nearby. side to side, shelf above, shelf below, and if it's laid horizontally.
If not, look on the reshelving section on the third floor of the library.
Borrowing books
To see where the book might be in another library nearby, search WorldCat.org and WorldCat (via FirstSearch) vcu. The VCU version will show you when the book is at VCU and nearby. You can also get a pass for other nearby university libraries (RALC).
To get there, from the main page of the library site, click Databases A-Z, then click W. WorldCat is on the next page.
Interlibrary loans
from main page, click "ILLiad" to search and make requests for books, articles, etc, from other libraries
In the "Not Wanted After Date" don't leave it at the default six month limit if you need it in less than a month.
Scholarly Sources
Magazines are NOT scholarly sources (possible exceptions: National Geographic, Science, Nature, etc that sometimes have original research)
Scholarly journals. Almost exclusively text, has footnotes. Book reviews, editorials, bibliographies.
TRADE JOURNALS are published for people who work in the field.
ACADEMIC, SCHOLARLY. They were published in academic or scholarly settings.
REFEREED, PEER-REVIEWED. Reviewed by editors and experts in the field, and the feedback is given back to the author anonymously. The author edits it, and sends it again. Sometimes the process repeats for months or years to improve the quality of the article. These are among the best scholarly sources.
To find what kind of source it is, click on "Databases A-Z" and click U. Ulrich's International Periodicals will tell you what kind of source it is.
MLA International Bibliography is a source for citations. "Databases A-Z" click M. Includes abstractions, not usually the entire article. Click the box that says "to refereed publications" to get only articles in peer-reviewed settings. "Get it at VCU" allows databases to talk to each other and makes your life much much easier, and help you find it either online or where you can find it in the library. You can look by author or subject. If you want to do a keyword search, go into "Advanced Search."
You can have the citation from MLA emailed to you.
"Databases A-Z" L. Literature Resource Center helps you find works by a particular author... biographies, literary criticism, articles, work overviews, bibliographies, additional resources (to other sites, but to actually useful sites), literary-historical timeline, and MLA International Bibliography.
"Databases A-Z" A. ABELL. Search and see text (there will be an icon) or get it at VCU
"" L. Literature Online (Lion). includes some things by the actual author.
"" J. JSTOR. 100% academic, 100% full-text.
"" G. Google Scholar. If you have a gmail account, you can customize google scholar to recognize your ID, and you can access "Get it@VCU Online" from wherever you want to.
RESEARCH IN THE VCU LIBRARY WEBSITE SETTING
john glover
jglover2@vcu.edu
ref desk: 828-1101
http://www.library.vcu.edu/
Click "ask a librarian" to get in touch with them
look for more sources than you need... hard to find the best ten sources when you only use 10 sources.
don't be afraid to look at the footnotes and bibliography of your sources... you can get more in-depth and find more resources and greater context for the particular source.
Library catalog
start on the library site (http://www.library.vcu.edu/)
the main search bar, you can search "animals" and get a whole mess of stuff to sift through.
if you put in "puppies AND kittens" you'll find only sources that contain BOTH--fewer results
"puppies OR kittens" you'll find more results; you might find sources that contain BOTH but you'll also find sources that contain EITHER
TRUNCATION: cutting down and getting to the root of your ideas. "victorian*" you will get the victorian, victorians, victorianism, etc. The ASTERISK is key for truncation. Helps you find MORE results.
use OR to broaden search, AND to narrow, ASTERISK to greatly broaden the results
wom*n will bring up woman, women, womyn, womin.
You need to know the NAME of what you're searching. This will help you in finding subjects.
SUBJECTS will help you find more specific results. "History and criticism" for instance. "Nursing ethics"
To search by subject, click "Browse" and type in your subject, and in the drop-down menu, select "Library of Congress Subject" or just plain "subject" to get the most results.
Note the "Advanced Search" tool; it saves so much time!!
"words adjacent" insures that whatever you type in that particular text box will be searched together. "robert louis stevenson" w/ words adjacent will search for only things that have those three words together, not a book about robert smith by a guy named stevenson.
LONG SEARCHES:
in the main search bar...
(collins OR carrol) and criticism
looks for everything inside the parentheses first, and then combines those results with whatever is outside the parentheses.
CALL NUMBERS
note the decimal points.
If the book is not in its proper place, search nearby. side to side, shelf above, shelf below, and if it's laid horizontally.
If not, look on the reshelving section on the third floor of the library.
Borrowing books
To see where the book might be in another library nearby, search WorldCat.org and WorldCat (via FirstSearch) vcu. The VCU version will show you when the book is at VCU and nearby. You can also get a pass for other nearby university libraries (RALC).
To get there, from the main page of the library site, click Databases A-Z, then click W. WorldCat is on the next page.
Interlibrary loans
from main page, click "ILLiad" to search and make requests for books, articles, etc, from other libraries
In the "Not Wanted After Date" don't leave it at the default six month limit if you need it in less than a month.
Scholarly Sources
Magazines are NOT scholarly sources (possible exceptions: National Geographic, Science, Nature, etc that sometimes have original research)
Scholarly journals. Almost exclusively text, has footnotes. Book reviews, editorials, bibliographies.
TRADE JOURNALS are published for people who work in the field.
ACADEMIC, SCHOLARLY. They were published in academic or scholarly settings.
REFEREED, PEER-REVIEWED. Reviewed by editors and experts in the field, and the feedback is given back to the author anonymously. The author edits it, and sends it again. Sometimes the process repeats for months or years to improve the quality of the article. These are among the best scholarly sources.
To find what kind of source it is, click on "Databases A-Z" and click U. Ulrich's International Periodicals will tell you what kind of source it is.
MLA International Bibliography is a source for citations. "Databases A-Z" click M. Includes abstractions, not usually the entire article. Click the box that says "to refereed publications" to get only articles in peer-reviewed settings. "Get it at VCU" allows databases to talk to each other and makes your life much much easier, and help you find it either online or where you can find it in the library. You can look by author or subject. If you want to do a keyword search, go into "Advanced Search."
You can have the citation from MLA emailed to you.
"Databases A-Z" L. Literature Resource Center helps you find works by a particular author... biographies, literary criticism, articles, work overviews, bibliographies, additional resources (to other sites, but to actually useful sites), literary-historical timeline, and MLA International Bibliography.
"Databases A-Z" A. ABELL. Search and see text (there will be an icon) or get it at VCU
"" L. Literature Online (Lion). includes some things by the actual author.
"" J. JSTOR. 100% academic, 100% full-text.
"" G. Google Scholar. If you have a gmail account, you can customize google scholar to recognize your ID, and you can access "Get it@VCU Online" from wherever you want to.