Current Index to Journals in Education (I/A 370), Psychological Abstracts (I/A 150) , and so forth. CQ Researcher (Ref 306 Ed 48ica) may also indicate current issues and concerns, as will, Facts On File (Ref 071 F11) or Editorials on File (Ref 071 F11e)
To find titles of periodicals covering your field as well as indexes which provide article-level information for those titles, use a serials directory such as Ulrich's International Periodicals Directory (R 016.05 UL7) or The Serials Directory (R 050.25 Se67r) in the Reference Collection. Ask a Reference Librarian for assistance if necessary.
Once appropriate titles have been identifed, check the Serials Holdings Database to see if IUP Libraries currently subscribes to that title. Obtain recent issues from the Serials Department.
Look for
- issues
- concerns
- controversies
- differences of opinion
Using Encyclopedias to explore and examine the background, and to find key words and concepts
Encyclopedias can provide background information on your topic, but more importantly, they will give you key words and concepts which you can then use to find additional information. Although general encyclopedias such as Encyclopedia Brittanica . andThe Academic American Encyclopedia .will do this to a certain extent, subject-specific encyclopedias are available in the Reference Collections of the IUP Libraries which will focus more specifically on the field.
To find subject encyclopedias, use the Voyager Catalog. Select the keyword option, and use a keyword appropriate for your subject area (i.e., biology ) and the truncated title keyword encyclop? (Note: truncated keywords allow retrieval of all variations of the spelling.) The example given would retrieve, among others,
- Encyclopedia of human biology / editor-in-chief, Renato Dulbecco.
- San Diego : Academic Press, c1991.
- Stapleton Reference
- 612.003 En19c
Using Bibliographies to find information contained in books and periodicals.
Bibliographies are also good guides to books, book chapters and periodical articles on certain topics. Usually, bibliographies are found in the 016 area of the Reference Collection, followed by a decimal and then the number appropriate for the topic. For example, since the Dewey number for Art is 700, a bibliography of books on art would be found at 016.7, and so forth. Bibliographies can also be found using the same procedure outlined above for encyclopedias, substituting the subject keyword bibliograph? for the title keyword "encyclop?".
Using Books to get an overview of the topic area.
Generally speaking, information found in books will be outdated the day the item appears on the library's shelf, due to the long process required to manufacture the product (an average of three years from the time the work was written.) However, books are useful in providing an overview of the field, and will indicate issues and areas of concern.
Use the keyword anywhere option in the Voyager Catalog. Use keywords to define your topic as narrowly as possible, ie., genome and human. Then use the full record details screen to identify the Library of Congress Subject Headings. Conduct a new search using the Subject option to find additional related material.
Finding current and specific information using Periodicals
Current information and information much more narrowly specific to your topic will be found in journal articles. Use print or electronic indexes such as The Reader's Guide to Periodicals, the Science Index, Psychological Abstracts, ABI Inform, and so forth to find article-level citations. Then use the Serials Holdings Database or its earlier print equivalent to determine if the library owns the item and where it is located. Fill out the appropriate Request Forms and take them to the Serials Department.
Evaluating your information
While you are gathering your material, evaluate, evaluate, evaluate. Look for appropriate content and the credentials of the author(s). Look at institutional affiliations of the author, training and education, current position and research conducted. Examine who may be citing that person, and their credentials. And, as mentioned previously,
Look for
- issues
- concerns
- controversies
- differences of opinion
Examine your position again and again in light of the information you have retrieved. Have you changed your opinion? If so, gather more material appropriate to your new insight. Then build your paper by introducing the topic, examining the sides, stating your position, supporting your position with the material you have found, and ending with the conclusion. Congratulations! - you've crafted a paper with relative ease!
Remember, one of your most important resources in the library is the Reference Librarian. Reference librarians are there to assist you - if you've spent more than 20-30 minutes looking for material and haven't found it, ask for assistance at the Reference Desk.
Good Luck!
Library
| FAQs
| Voyager Catalog
| IAC Databases
|
|
| PA SSHE
URL=http://libs0400.acadlib.iup.edu/collections/guides/research.html
GUIDE