Accessing Information Resources at Central Methodist University

A guide for distance learners

What do I need to do to find Quality Information?

o Overview: What is the “Big Picture”o Identify your topic and keywordso Decide what resources you needo Gather your resources, check credibilityo Reject any duds, refine search if needed

Overview: The Big Picture

What kind of paper are you writing?– Case study, compare/contrast, lit review, position

How many resources do you need? What kind of sources can you use?

– Print, web, articles, scholarly, etc.

What is your timeframe for writing the paper?

Identify Topics and Keywords

Write down your topic Identify the main concepts Write down synonyms for your search terms

– Example: You want to write about how juvenile offenders are punished.

Make a List of Main Concepts and Additional Terms To Describe Your Topic

Topic Chart

Concept 1

AND

Concept 2

AND

Concept 3

JuvenilesOR

AdolescentsOR

Teenagers

OffendersOR

Criminals

LawOR

Punishment

Boolean Connectors

The Or Connector Tells The Computer To Retrieve Items With Either Term. 

Example:  Gets articles with (teenagers or juveniles or adolescents)

The And Connector Tells The Computer To Retrieve Items With Both Terms. 

Example: Gets articles with both law and punishment.

What kind of resources do you need?

Books– Check the Quest and Mobius Catalogs

Articles– Check the databases

Web Resources– Use the links available on the library webpage

Finding Books

The library has two catalogs for books on its web page– QUEST: This smaller catalog is for our cluster

and contains items from CMU, UCM, MO Valley, and SFCC

– MOBIUS: This larger catalog contains items from libraries all over the state

Both catalogs are linked off the “Catalogs and Databases” web page.

Library link

CMU webpage

Click here to search

Or use the

Quick Links

Use these to find books

Type your

search terms here

These are the search results

Enter search terms here

Click here to request

an item

Choose your Cluster(we are QUEST)

Enter your name and ID number plus CMU

Choose your pickup cluster & location.You can choose any

MOBIUS library

Click submit. You will get an email when the book has arrived

Finding Articles

Databases are services the library subscribes to, in order to provide access to quality information

They are not the same as web pages or web resources

The biggest general database we have is Academic Search Premier, under EBSCOhost

Scroll dow

n for databases

Click any of these links to

reach a specific

databases

Click on any of these links

to access the database

Choose this option

Choose the database(s) you want to use and hit continue

Enter your search terms

Or choose “advanced

search”

Advanced search lets you choose more terms and

options

You can also limit your search to “full-text” or to

scholarly journals

These are all the results

Narrow to scholarly resources by clicking “Academic Journals

The yellow column contains related subjects. Click to add them to your search

If you click on a result, it will look like this. Some articles are full-text. Click the link to see the whole article

You can also click on these subject terms to find more

results

Stuck? Click here to ask a question

Your can also use the visual search to browse for items

similar to your topic

Finding Web Resources

Go to the Library Webpage Click on “Web Resources”

– The links included are safe to use for research papers

– They are organized by subject area

If you find results using Google, evaluate the web site carefully

Click here for “Web

Resources”

Click any of

the links

Interlibrary Loan

If you find a citation for a book or article and its not in MOBIUS, QUEST, or full-text in the databases, you can request it through our Interlibrary Loan form

Interlibrary Loan searches libraries all over the world to get the materials you need.

Just click on the “Interlibrary Loan” web page

Click here for Interlibrary

Loan

Scroll D

own to the form

Fill in all the blanks as

completely as you can

Hit Submit

In conclusion

Identify your search topic and terms Look in the QUEST and MOBIUS Catalogs

for books Look in the databases for articles Can’t get it? Interlibrary Loan Questions or Problems? Ask Us!

Contact Information

Cynthia Dudenhoffer– cmdudenh@centralmethodist.edu– 660-248-6292

Smiley Library– library@centralmethodist.edu– 660-248-6271

Webpage– http://www.centralmethodist.edu/cmlibrary/index.html