Library Resources & Searching for Information

COMP 2903 – Computers and SocietyMaggie Neilson

October 24, 2015

What we’re going to talk about…• Information formats you might encounter• Magazines (popular) vs. Journals (scholarly) • Newspapers• Using library resources:

– Finding scholarly articles– Finding books– Finding journals & magazines

• Honesty & integrity in your work• Your library assignment – some tips!

Your Academic Librarian• Introduce you to library services & resources

• Help you find information for assignments

• Help you evaluate information

• Help you cite sources properly using a citation style chosen by your professor

• Provide information on plagiarism and copyright

There are SO many information types & formats!

• Books • Scholarly journals & articles• Newspapers• Magazines • Websites • A/V• White papers & other grey lit• Tech reports• Theses & dissertations • Images• Conference proceedings• and many many more….

It can be a bit overwhelming!

UUUUUUUUUUGHGHGHGH!

Books

Scholarly Articles

Newspapers

The difference between a journal & a magazine

A journal...

• Contains *original research * and other kinds of articles

• Long articles • Written by experts in a

given field• Written for other experts• Bibliographies • Editors are professionals

in the field• No illustrations or

advertisements https://editlib-media.s3.amazonaws.com/sources/JCAL.jpg

The difference between a journal & a magazine

A magazine…

• Non-scholarly articles • Short articles• Written by journalists or staff

writer • Written for a general audience • No bibliographies• Editors are often fellow writers

or staff• Photos & Advertisements Retrieved from:

http://www.magsathome.co.za/magnet/dbimages/1385.jpg.ashx?preset=cart_magpricingcover

The biggest difference between a journal and a magazine…

…Peer Review!

Newspapers / News Sources• Many newspapers/news sources out there• Some are reputable, other less so• Corroborating a story is important• 3 news sources

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/7c/72/0e/7c720e6d039b49c4ad6973b077b56c46.jpg

News Papers/Sources• National

Globe & MailToronto StarNational PostCBC (particularly good with analysis)

• US/International

The IndependentThe GuardianReutersNew York TimesWashington PostThe EconomistThe Times

Sorry, DOESN’T count!

Finding Newspapers through the Library

Finding Scholarly ArticlesBefore you get started:

• Think of a topic, then formulate a research question – what do you want to find out?

• Isolate your research question into 2 or 3 concepts

• List words and terms to describe these concepts

Finding Scholarly ArticlesExample:

I want to find out more about how elderly people use social media to combat isolation or its impact on loneliness and mental health

Question:

Does social media alleviate feelings of isolation or loneliness in the elderly?

Bad search: Does social media use alleviate feelings of isolation or loneliness in the elderly?

Better search: Does social media use alleviate feelings of loneliness in the elderly?

Isolating ConceptsElderly Social Media LonelinessSenior or senior citizenAgedOld ageAdvancedGeriatricPensionerRetireeOlder adult

TwitterFacebookInstagramSnap ChatYik YakOthers?

Internet?Online?

IsolationDepressionAnxietySadness

Relationships?“mental health”?

Using Boolean when you search

• OR – using OR in a database allows you to use more than one term or phrase to describe one concept or idea.

• Example: senior OR elderly

Using Boolean when you search

• AND – allows you to combine two concepts together to search for them simultaneously.

• Example: senior AND twitter

Even better search:

(elderly OR "senior citizen" OR retiree OR pensioner OR "old age") AND ("social media" OR twitter OR facebook OR instragram OR internet OR online) AND ("mental health" OR loneliness OR relationships OR depression OR anxiety OR isolation).

Into the databases we go!Today we are going to use Academic Search Premier & Science Direct

There are many many more – check out the list of databases on the LibGuide!

Finding books• Novanet – Books at the Vaughan Memorial Library

Internet addiction

• Novanet – Books at other Nova Scotia Universities or Colleges

Online Dating

• WorldCat – Books from outside of Novanet (Universities in the Atlantic Provinces, and beyond!)

The Wiley Blackwell Handbook of Psychology, Technology and Society

Finding Journals &

Magazines• Databases gather up millions of

articles from thousands of journals – what if you’re looking for just one?

• We have a journals tab – look up journals and magazines by title!

Academic Integrity

• Paper/essay mills:

• Properly paraphrase, quote, and cite the materials you are using!

• For more information on plagiarism and academic integrity, see the student’s guide to plagiarism at Acadia: https://library.acadiau.ca/research/guides/plagiarism/student/

APA Citation StyleDalhousie’s fantastic APA tutorial:

http://libcasts.library.dal.ca/Biology/APA/index.php

Resources at Acadia:

• Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association – 6th ed. (Located at the reference desk)

• LibGuide – writing & citing

• Reference desk

• Me!

Your Assignment You are going to try and hunt down websites, videos, magazine articles, and journal articles…

Tips:

italicized words in a citation signal a journal OR a magazine. Volume and issue numbers signal a journal.

Some of the magazine articles you might have access to through the web, others you might need to try the library

Your Assignment Not all books can be found through Novanet

We have ways to hunt down specific journals and magazines on the library homepage

Videos can be available online OR as DVDs

You can always send me an e-mail for help!

Your Assignment Not all books can be found through Novanet

We have ways to hunt down specific journals and magazines on the library homepage

Videos can be available online OR as DVDs

You can always send me an e-mail for help!