Library Research Guide for Writing 137:
Introduction to Writing in the University
http://www.library.cornell.edu/olinuris/ref/writing137esz.html

First edition dust jacket	Research Skills and Techniques: Beyond Google Research Strategies Database Searching Tips Library and Information Resources: CU Library Gateway CU Library Catalog Reference Resources Find Articles Find Databases Find e-Journals Find Image Resources Internet Search Engines Processing Information: Evaluating Sources Citing Sources Writing Workshop Answering your questions: Help

Research Skills and Techniques:

The purpose of this web page and our library instruction session is to get you to think about Information: what you need, where you get it, and how you use it.

We live in an Information rich society. We are literally surrounded and saturated with multiple choices, options, and strategies for finding and getting information.

Where do you get your Information?

The Web can provide excellent starting places to do your research.

But if you are only using Google and Wikipedia to find your information, you may not be finding all of the information that is available on your topic. Especially if you are being asked to do scholarly research.

Three very important facts to remember about information:

• Search Engines only retrieve a portion of the information available on the web.

  A lot of useful information is not freely available on the web. It is proprietary, meaning someone--an author, a publisher, or institution--owns the information.

• Not all digitized information is created equal.

  You need to critically analyze and evaluate the information you intend to use.

• Not all information has been digitized.

  There are still books in the Library. And other print and analog resources that do not exist on the Web.

You are now affiliated with one of the largest and one of the best academic research libraries in the world. By being at Cornell, you now have access to more information resources than you can imagine. The Library and Information Resources listed below are here for you to use and explore.

Know better.

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The ability to identify, locate, access, evaluate, and use information effectively is an essential skill. It is a measure of your information literacy.

An information literate individual is able to:

• Determine the extent of information needed
• Access the needed information effectively and efficiently
• Evaluate information and its sources critically
• Incorporate selected information into one’s knowledge base
• Use information effectively to accomplish a specific purpose
• Understand the economic, legal, and social issues surrounding the use of information, and access and use information ethically and legally"

Research Strategy Tutorial

Research Strategy and Process -- CU Library Gateway Help

1. Choose your topic

2. Find background information

3. Find books on your topic

4. Find periodical articles (journals, magazines, newspapers)

5. Find relevant web sites

6. Evaluate your sources

7. Cite your sources

See the following sites to learn more about how to find information and how to do scholarly research in a large academic library:

• Guide to Library Research at Cornell
  
• Research Strategy: The Seven Steps of the Research Process

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• Introduction to Database Searching Skills

• Search Strategies

Interpreting Your Search Results

• How to Interpret Search Results (Humboldt State University Library)

• Interpreting Citations Tutorial (Chris Niemeyer, University of Missouri-St. Louis.) Offers a general introduction to the components of journal citations.

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Library and Information Resources:

| Library Catalog |Find: Articles Databases e-Journals | MyLibrary | Ask a Librarian | Individual Libraries

The Cornell University Library Gateway is the Library's homepage on the World Wide Web. It is the Library's interface for connecting Cornell faculty, students, and staff to our digital and print collections.

	Use your class's Blackboard site to link to the Library Gateway. You can also find the Gateway linked from Bear Access, UPortal, the Cornell University homepage, etc.

Use the Gateway to:

• Connect to our digital library--thousands of databases, e-books, e-journals, online exhibits, and collections.
• Access the physical library--20 libraries, 7.5 million books, maps, microforms, and media.
  • Map of the Libraries
• Learn more about the information Services the Library provides to connect you with the information you need.
• Contact our knowledgeable staff who are here to assist you with any questions you have.

Gateway navigation: Follow the links to layers of detailed information

• Individual Libraries connects to web sites for all of our libraries, divisions, collections, and programs.
  • Division of Rare Book and Manuscript Collections (University Archives)
    
  • Olin & Uris Libraries
    
    • Class Bibliographies
      
    • Subject Guides
      

Ask a librarian | Report a problem Connecting | Send us feedback | CU Info| Cornell University Homepage

Copyright © 1998-2004 by the Cornell University Library | credits

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The Cornell University Library Catalog is a database that contains records for materials held in 19 of the 20 of libraries that collectively comprise the Cornell University Library. The Weill Cornell Medical Library, located in New York City, has a separate catalog.

Use the Library Catalog to:

• Find records for books, journals, maps, government documents, DVDs, databases, networked resources (e-journals, e-books, digital collections), sound recordings, etc.
  • Obtain call numbers to locate physical materials. (books, print journals, Reserve items, DVDs, etc.)
  • Note any special locations. (Periodicals Reading Room, Reserve, Oversize shelves, etc.)
  • Check dates and volume numbers to see what issues we have in our holdings.

• Link to full text digital materials from their catalog records.

This symbol tells you that a resource is either available full text online or that an online Table of Contents exists for the material.

Finding the books on the shelves

• Library of Congress Classification
  The letters and numbers that make up a Library of Congress call number represent subjects. Books with similar call numbers will cover similar subject matter.

• Understanding Library of Congress Call Numbers
  Call numbers supply an item's "physical address" or location on the shelf in a library.

  Books are arranged in call number order. Use a library's stack guide to find out where the books are shelved.
  

  Uris Stacks Guide

  Olin Stacks Guide

Services linked from the Library Catalog

• Patron Info Manage your Library account, renew materials.

• Requesting Items (Recalls, Library Annex, Library to Library Book Delivery, Borrow Direct, Interlibrary Loan, and MyDocumentDelivery)

• Interlibrary Services Borrow materials--books, journal articles, DVDs, etc.--from other libraries.

• Borrow Direct Specialized rapid loan for BOOKS.

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Background resources like encyclopedias and dictionaries will help you understand the broader context of your research and tell you in general terms what is known about your topic.

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Find Articles allows you to search for articles from selected journals and magazines in MULTIPLE databases simultaneously.

Find Articles Quickguide

About Find Articles/Find Databases

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Find Databases provides access to the Cornell University Library's online indexes and abstracts, almanacs, catalogs, dictionaries, directories, and encyclopedias. Entries for these resources provide descriptive information, dates of coverage, and links to the databases. You can find databases in your areas of interest by either searching by title or keyword or browsing through the subject menus.

Searching Find Databases allows you to find online databases in your subject area but will not search within them.

Find Databases Quickguide

Selected resources from Find Databases that are recommended as starting places for finding and retrieving articles:

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Find e-Journals allows you to search or browse for the 26,000+ electronic journals licensed by the Cornell University Library.

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Use Find Image Resources to browse for Image databases and collections owned or licensed by the Cornell University Library. (These databases can also be found in the Library Catalog and Find Databases.)

Other Visual Resources: American Memory NYPL Digital Gallery Wikipedia:Public domain image resources

Image Search Engines: Ask Images Google Images Seekful.com

TASI: Finding Images Online (Technical Advisory Service for Images)

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Use web portals, search engines, blogs, or Internet subject guides to find resources on the World Wide Web on your topic.

• Tool Kit for the Expert Web Searcher
  This ALA sponsored site directs academic users to the best resources for web searching. Resources are listed by categories such as subject guides, search engines, news searching, metasearch engines, global searching, multimedia searching, the invisible web, and search engine news

• Search Engine Tutorials
  This page by Search Engine Watch provides a guide to better web searching.

• Choose the Best Search for Your Information Need
  Suggestions for selecting web search engines.

• Deep Web (or Invisible web) is the name given to pages on the World Wide Web that are not indexed by most commonly known search engines. It includes web pages that are not linked to from regular web pages and sites that require registration or a paid subscription. Most of the web resources listed in the Library's databases, including the Library Catalog, Find Databases, Find Articles, and Find E-Journals are part of the Deep Web.

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Processing Information

Be Critical. Analyze and evaluate your search results. Have you found the most authoritative, accurate, objective, up-to-date, scholarly information available on your research topic?

• Why critical thinking?

• How to Critically Analyze Information Sources lists some of the critical questions you should ask when you consider the appropriateness of a particular book, article, media resource, or Web site for your research.

• Distinguishing Scholarly from Non-Scholarly Periodicals: A Checklist of Criteria shows how to evaluate periodicals by looking at their format, intended audience, and appearance.

• Evaluating Web Sites: Criteria and Tools lists ways to analyze the Web sites you find.

• See Evaluating Web Resources for additional information.

• Five Criteria for Evaluating Web Sites offers a table of suggestions.

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Give credit where credit is due.

By properly citing the sources you use in your research projects you are both identifying the resources that you used to complete your work and you are formally acknowledging the authors or creators of those resources. This allows others to find what you have found and to verify your research.

Cornell University Code of Academic Integrity

Cornell Policy Notebook: The Code of Academic Integrity (pdf) and Acknowledging the Work of Others (pdf, p. 16)

Here is information about the two citation styles most frequently used at Cornell:

APA citation style

• Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (5th ed.)

  CU Library Reference locations include Africana, Hotel, Management, Olin, and Uris Libraries at call number:
  BF 76.7 .P83x 2001x. Also in ILR and Mann Reference at BF 76.7 .A51 2001.

• APA citation style (Gateway Help)

• APA Reference Examples for Electronic Source Materials Excerpted from the new 5th edition of the Publication Manual.

• APAStyle.org

• MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers (6th ed.)

  CU Library Reference locations include Olin and Uris Libraries at call number: Z253 .M68 2003 .

• MLA citation style (Gateway Help)

• MLA Style (MLA's web site)

See Online! for other commonly used and popular citation styles.

RefWorks is a web-based program that allows you to easily collect, manage, and organize bibliographic references by interfacing with databases. RefWorks also interfaces directly with Word, making it easy to import references and incorporate them into your writing, properly formatted according to the style of your choice. For more information and to sign up for an account: http://www.refworks.cornell.edu/ Fall 2006 RefWorks workshops schedule

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The Writing Workshop offers its Walk-in Service in Olin Library Room 106, Sunday through Thursday, from 7-10 p.m. during the Fall and Spring semesters. Open to all Cornell students, staff, and faculty with questions about writing. Get help writing your academic research papers and course assignments, letters of application or personal statements for graduate and professional schools, creative writing, proposals and reports, etc.

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Answering your questions

Reference Desk Directory Reference Desk Schedules in Olin and Uris Libraries Olin Library Reference phone number: 255-4144 Uris Library Reference phone number: 255-2339 Olin & Uris Libraries Reference e-mail address: okuref@cornell.edu Request a Research Consultation Or find your answers in our online Help: Return to Top

F. Scott Fitzgerald