ENG 150: Mobile Journalism Research Workshop

“Books in a stack” by austinevan. www.flickr.com/photos/austinevan/1225274637/

Librarian: Lisa Molinelli lmolinel@sju.edu

What will we learn today?

• How to navigate the online resources available to St. Joseph's students.

• Search strategies and tips for finding and evaluating scholarly and popular sources.

• How to get help when you need it!

Information Cycle

The Information Cycle explains the way that a particular event, study, or piece of information starts.

Event:

Japan Earthquake Online sources TV, Radio

Scholarly journals Magazines Newspapers

Books, Dictionaries and Encyclopedias

Japan Nuclear Disaster: March 11-12, 2011

Same Day: • Online, TV and radio: • Quick factual information

24 hrs/Week:• Daily Newspapers,

Magazines:• Factual information with some

analysis

6 months –year:• Scholarly Journals and books• Within larger context, in-depth

research and analysis

Website EvaluationIt's important to view web sites with a critical eye. Things to think

about.

1. Accuracy2. Authority3. Objectivity4. Currency5. Coverage

The domain can provide more information on the site:

.edu = educational institution.gov = US government site.org = organization or association.com = commercial site

Web Evaluation Activity: http://librarytoolkits.sju.edu/webevaluation

Home Base

www.sju.edu/resources/libraries/drexel/

Popular vs. ScholarlyPopular (Newspapers) Scholarly•Written for a large, general audience

•Written by journalists or generalists

•Little to no use of citations

•Often are glossy magazines, with advertisements and photographs

•Cover more current events

•Subjects of articles are more general in nature

•Written by and expert in the field, usually has advanced degree or experience

•The article has often gone through an extensive editorial process (peer review) by other experts (peers) in the field

•The author cites sources in the article, as well as uses footnotes, endnotes or in-text citations

•The subject can be very specific and because of the editorial process, not very current.

Database Searching

• Remember: We pay a subscription to these sources! Most are not available for free on the open web (google, etc.).

• Newspaper articles are a little easier to find on the open web, but not scholarly articles.

• As a SJU student, you have access to these sources.

Expanding and Narrowing: Scholarly Databases

• Separate out the scholarly stuff.

• Need it now? Full text. Remember: this may limit your results.

• Use database Subject Terms to your advantage.

• The tricks used here can be used in almost any database!

Discover!

Citing Sources

We are here to help!

• Friendly librarians at the reference desk

• Chat from the library homepage

• Call: 610-660-1904

• Text: 610-983-8422

• Email: lmolinel@sju.edu

• Schedule a research appointment

Thank You!

“Thank you note for every language” by woodleywonderworks www.flickr.com/photos/wwworks/4759535950/