SMALL GROUP COMMUNICATION

Research & Resources

Presented by Megan Lowe, Coordinator of Public Services

Where to Begin? At the Beginning!

Let’s say you need some research resources for a project or speech or paper. You have a topic, and you know you need resources, but you aren’t sure how to get started.

Your impulse would be to start with the Internet, but instead, first consider what you need to find:

quality, credible articles about or related to smoking policies on college campuses

The Topic

This presentation will walk you, step-by-step, through the research process. It will use the following thesis as its object:

Smoking policies on American college campuses need to change.

Making the Topic WORK for YOU The topic – also called a thesis or research

statement – is the backbone of your paper From the thesis statement, you can generate

keywords Keywords are the most important parts of your

thesis statement and are what you use to conduct searches when looking for resources (but we’ll talk more about keywords and keyword searching later)

One more thing – keywords composed of more than one word are keyword phrases and need to be put in quotation marks: “smoking policies”

More on Keywords

Don’t limit yourself to the words in the thesis: include synonyms, phrases, and related words, too

Policies = rules “Public health” “No Smoking policy” Smoking / “chewing tobacco” / cigars

Example Keyword Breakdown

Smoking policies on American college campuses

smoking

tobacco

policy

“smoking

policy”

American

“United States”

college

university

campuses

More on Keywords

So a keyword search for our topic could look like any of these search strings (which are combos of keywords with operators, AND, OR, and NOT):

college AND smoking AND policy

university AND tobacco AND policies

smoking AND America AND campus AND policy

Order and capitalization are not important, but

spelling and number are, so be careful.

NEXT STEP: *NOT* Searching YET

That’s right – we’re not searching yet. Hold your horses! There’s something you need to know.

Know how most professors (and librarians) cringe when you use Google and other search engines and rely too heavily on websites for your research?

The reason for this is that the Internet is NOT moderated or quality-controlled, and there’s a lot of GARBAGE and RUMOR and outright MISINFORMATION floating around.

*NOT* Searching YET

You don’t want to write a paper or conduct research with GARBAGE, RUMOR, or MISINFORMATION, do you? OF COURSE NOT!

You wouldn’t feed a baby GARBAGE, would you? OF COURSE NOT!

You would feed a baby healthy, safe, clean food, right? RIGHT!

Think of your paper like a baby – you want to fill it with healthy, safe, clean things!

*NOT* Searching YET

“healthy, safe, clean things” = scholarly, peer-reviewed, research-oriented resources

There ARE scholarly, peer-reviewed, research-oriented resources on the Internet – but it usually takes extra effort and time to find them

However, starting with the Library’s resources means that you’re heading straight for those resources right out of the gate – the Library is CHOCK-FULL of scholarly, peer-reviewed resources!

So…what are scholarly resources?

Written by experts Focus on a particular field, topic, or

discipline Intended for others in that field or career “Proper” language, technical vocabulary No ads RESEARCH ORIENTED

* Journals are scholarly

POPULAR resources are the opposite

Written by journalists Usually cover broad topics, fields, issues,

or disciplines Usually appeal to a wide audience Everyday language, slang, even profanity LOTS of ads NOT RESEARCH ORIENTED

* Magazines and newspapers are popular

A few more tips…

DO create a list of keywords DO underline/highlight/bookmark DO take notes/sticky notes DO get organized

DON’T multitask DON’T procrastinate DON’T plagiarize

LET’S DO THIS

We know we need scholarly resources on our topic

Smoking policies on American collegecampuses need to change.

We know keywords and search strings we can use.

We have the skills we need to get started.

So we start with the Library’s websitehttp://www.ulm.edu/library

After the Searching’s Done…

You have the resources you need, either digitally or physically, if you’ve printed them out

This is when underlining/highlighting comes into play, as well as notes and sticky notes

Documentation is also important, in order to avoid plagiarism – several of our databases (like Ebscohost) will generate citations for you

Need a Hand?

If you need help with the research process – at ANY point in the research process – you can ask the librarians for assistance – that’s what we do!

We also check documentation (quotations and citations) for accuracy

If you’d like someone to check your writing (grammar, spelling, and syntax), you can go to the Write Place on the 1st floor of the Library

RECAP

When doing research, make sure you have a manageable (narrow) topic

Create a list of keywords and search strings

Bear in mind that you need scholarly resources, which can be found in the Library

Search the Library’s resources using the keywords and search strings, bearing in mind the tips we discussed

Make sure you document your resources!

RECAP

Select databases based on your research needs – for a topic like the “no smoking” policies on college campuses, education databases work well, but so would health sciences (think outside the box)!

Use parameters like “scholarly/peer-reviewed” and “full text” – and even publication date – to make the results lists more manageable

Some databases will create citations FOR you – take advantage of that for accurate citations!

RECAP

The librarians can help you with research, from start to finish!

The librarians can also help you with citations and documentation

The Write Place can help you with writing – they can check spelling, grammar, and syntax

All of these services can be found on the 1st floor of the Library (that’s also where you check out books, study rooms, and make copies)

Library Databases for COMM

EDS – comprehensive search of electronic resources

Ebscohost Academic Search Complete Communication and Mass Media

Complete Psychology and Behavioral Sciences

Collection JSTOR

Question & Answer Time!

Remember, if you need research help, all you have to do is ask the librarians. You can…

Visit the Reference Desk, Library 1st floor Email us at reference@ulm.edu Call us at (318) 342-1071

Thanks for your cooperation!