|
Library Research Exercise:
Overall process: 1. Copy/paste this exercise into a Word document on your computer.
In Class Lab Exercise:
1. Specify Search Terms The key to doing an effective search is to make your topics/keywords as specific as possible, and to determine alternative terms. Example: You don't want to search with global warming as your only key term/s: the search will generate way too many hits to sift through, many of which will be unrelated to your actual topic. To make it more specific search for:
To extend this search you will need to look at alternative terms:
or ozone layer and government or legislation or greenhouse effect and research findings So, specify your keyword terms and possible alternative terms.
______________ and ______________ and ______________ and ______________ 2. Refine Search Terms In addition to using the "and" to specify/narrow down your keyword searches, you can also use Truncation and Phrase. Truncation usually operates by adding a ? on the end of a keyword or by dropping an ending and adding a ? For example, politic? will find all pages/papers with politic, politics, or political on them. Also designating key phrases will help refine your search. Adding quotes to "global warming," for example, only brings up pages with those words together rather than appearing randomly throughout the article. Further refine your initial search terms using Truncation and Phrases:
______________ and ______________ and ______________ and ______________ 3. Find Books in Mason's Library Now go to http://library.gmu.edu and click on Library Catalogues, and then select George Mason (all libraries). Using your above keywords, find 4 books related to your topic--select keyword, enter keywords, and hit enter. As you find relevant books, copy/paste all relevant works cited info that is available as well as the library location and the call number (so you can go find the books!). Be sure to select books that are "not charged," i.e. not checked out).
__________________________________________ 4. Find Magazine and Journal Articles via Databases For any paper, you should generally look for both popular and academic articles. Popular articles are in magazines or newspapers published for profit (Times Magazine, Washington Post); academic articles are in specialized journals published for the distribution of information rather than profit (Journal of Applied Ethnography, Cultural Studies). Expanded Academic ASAP and Periodical Abstracts are two general databases that have both types of articles. Some of their articles will be full text online, some won't. Some will have abstracts--short summaries of the articles--some won't. Go to http://library.gmu.edu. Click on databases. Select E and scroll down to select Expanded Academic. Do a search with your key terms and find 4 relevant articles. Be picky, make sure they are relevant, and make sure you have a good mix of magazines and journals. Copy/paste all relevant citation info for each one, note whether or not the full text article was provided, and note whether the article is from a journal or magazine.
__________________________________________ Go back to the alphabetical list of databases. Select P for Periodical Abstracts. Do another search and copy/paste works cited info for 4 articles.
__________________________________________ 5. Find Journals in Mason's Library You will need to look up the journal in the Mason library for all of the above articles you found that are not full text online. Don't get sucked into only choosing full text articles. Most of the better ones you will have to look up on foot--you will have to see if Mason has the print journal, find the call number for the journal if we do have it, go look up the specific volume/issue, and photocopy the article. Go to http://library.gmu.edu and click on Library Catalogues, and then select George Mason (all libraries). Select title from the menu (as opposed to keyword like you did before). Type in the JOURNAL title (not the title of the article) for each of the above articles that were not full text. Again, note all citation info, library location, and call numbers for the journals you need that the library owns.
__________________________________________ 6. Search for Online Journals Finally, go to http://library.gmu.edu and click on E-journal Finder. Many of the journals that your above articles are in will have more relevant articles on your topic. To find out if any of these journals are stored in online databases with full text electronic articles, put the journal title in the top box and hit enter. If nothing comes up, try the keyword search to see of there are any journals relevant to your topic that are archived online. List four online journals here:
__________________________________________ Finding a journal you already know has articles on your topic will allow you to do searches within that particular journal. Select two journals to search for your topic. Many will be full text. Record works cited info for two additional articles here. If they are full text online, be sure to record the URL or the search path that lead you to them.
__________________________________________ 7. Email Findings Don't forget: Now copy/paste all of your findings in an email to me and CC yourself.
8. TEC Tutorial For more information and tips for doing searches see TEC Tutorial.
Homework Assignment: Go to the library and look up all the books and journals that you have listed above. Check out the books, and photocopy the articles. There are various signs throughout the library, usually close to main help desks and elevators, that tell you which call letters are on which floors. There is a machine to the right as you walk in the library that will allow you to put money on your GMU ID card for the photocopy machines. Once you have all the books/articles you need, complete a 10 entry bibliography. This will be
due when you come to your teacher conference. I will grade them on the spot based on full and proper MLA
citation. See the MLA pages in your handbook for properly citing sources. Different types of entries have different forms. Be sure to match the proper type and form.
|