Using Summon, our library search and discovery interface, you will find items including scholarly journal articles, newspaper articles, books, and eBooks. Please remember that Summon searches many but not all library resources. Comprehensive searches should be done in subject-specific databases, especially for our video collections.
View video to see instructions on a Summon Basic Search
Not all sources were created equal. When determining how or if you should use a specific website in your work, run it through the CRAAP test. Does the site pass the test, or is it a bunch of...?
(originally from the LOEX 2008 wiki)
Find It Fast by
Go beyond Google to mine big data and social media Author Robert Berkman gives expert advice on how to search the internet to locate the best information sources, how to find and utilize the professionals behind those sources, and how to combine these techniques to complete an information search on any subject. This fully updated 6th edition includes how to search beyond Google, leveraging big data in the search process, and how to search the social web. Readers will also find expert advice on how to know if a site is a trusted source; understanding how and why sources differ; using precision search strategies and taming information overload; and finding, evaluating, and identifying experts. Whether it's consumer advice, information for a job or project, facts for starting a new business, or answers to questions on obscure topics, Find It Fast is the perfect resource for learning to hone one's internet searching skills.
The Oxford Guide to Library Research by
The information world has undergone drastic changes since the publication of the 3rd edition of The Oxford Guide to Library Research in 2005, and Thomas Mann, a veteran reference librarian at the Library of Congress, has extensively revised his text to reflect those changes. This book willanswer two basic questions: First, what is the extent of the significant research resources you will you miss if you confine your research entirely, or even primarily, to sources available on the open Internet? Second, if you are trying to get a reasonably good overview of the literature on aparticular topic, rather than just "something quickly" on it, what are the several alternative methods of subject searching - which are not available on the Web - that are usually much more efficient for that purpose than typing keywords into a blank search box, with the results displayed byrelevance-ranking computer algorithms?This book shows researchers how to do comprehensive research on any topic. It explains the variety of search mechanisms available, so that the researcher can have the reasonable confidence that s/he has not overlooked something important. This includes not just lists of resources, but discussions ofthe ways to search within them: how to find the best search terms, how to combine the terms, and how to make the databases (and other sources) show relevant material even when you don't know how to specify the best search terms in advance. The book's overall structuring by nine methods of searchingthat are applicable in any subject area, rather than by subjects or by types of literature, is unique among guides to research. Also unique is the range and variety of concrete examples of what to do - and of what not to do. The book is not "about" the Internet: it is about the best alternatives to the Internet - the sources that are not on the open Web to begin with, that can be found only through research libraries and that are more than ever necessary for any kind of substantive scholarly research. More than anyother research guide available, this book directly addresses and provides solutions to the serious problems outlined in recent studies documenting the profound lack of research skills possessed by today's "digital natives."
Research Strategies by
Online resources have given us access to more knowledge than ever before. We're buried in data, and defining what is and what is not genuine information becomes more of a challenge all the time. In this fifth edition of Research Strategies, author William Badke helps you make sense of all of the available information, shows you how to navigate and discern it, and details how to use it to your advantage to become a better researcher. Badke focuses on informational research and provides a host of tips and advice not only for conducting research, but also for everything from finding a topic to writing an outline to documenting resources and polishing the final draft. Study guides, practice exercises, and assignments at the end of each chapter help reinforce each lesson. An experienced research instructor who has led thousands of students to become better researchers, Badke uses humor to help you gain a better understanding of today's complex, technological world. Research Strategies provides the skills and strategies to efficiently and effectively complete a research project from topic to finished product. It shows how research can be exciting and even fun.
Scholarly - This material will be written by an expert in field, usually someone with an advanced degree or someone who has a plethora of experience. It is written to educate others academics and share ideas within the academic community. Scholarly material can be found books or scholarly journals
Peer-reviewed - Peer-reviewed is often considered the most reliable information. Not only was this written by an expert in the field, other experts in the field reviewed the articles methodology and information. It is written to educate others academics and share ideas within the academic community. Most academic journals require that any article they publish first be peer-reviewed.
Popular - Written to entertain or inform a general audience. This material is usually written by a journalist, enthusiasts, or freelance writer and can be found in magazines, online news outlets, blogs, and many websites.