Introduction to the LibraryHuntingdon

Cornelia Penner & Nicole HachéSeptember 2011

Today you will learn about:

• researching a topic–Finding background information (CREDO)–electronic books: ebrary–articles: periodical databases like Ebsco

• citations: avoiding plagiarism• getting help

Background information:encyclopedias, dictionaries, and other reference books

We have access to lots of encyclopedias and dictionaries through CREDO Reference.

For example, in something like the Dictionary of Contemporary History, you could find information on China’s Cultural Revolution.

This is especially useful for topics you don’t know very much about.

To get to the Library website, start at the main College webpage (http://www.champlainonline.com) and click on “Library Services”.

Library website

When accessing the library’s electronic resources, you’ll need to log in with your student ID number and the password for college computers (available on your Course Schedule in Omnivox).

Enter your search term(s) in the search box.

CREDO will look for your term(s) in all its encyclopedias and dictionaries.

The results come from different encyclopedias and dictionaries.

This is an encyclopedia entry on eating disorders from the Encyclopedia of Women’s Health.

Topic Pages include many different resources on the same topic.

You can also get to Topic Pages from the link along the top menu bar in Credo.

Try the Concept Map option.

The concept map may help you when you are deciding what aspect of a topic to focus on. Each of the words is linked to a different encyclopedia or dictionary article in CREDO.

: electronic books

Ebrary is accessible from the Library website

Use the search box to search for your topic.

You’ll get a list of books that contain your search term(s).

Use the arrows to move from page to page, or click on a chapter title on the right to skip straight to that chapter.

You may also need to find articles in periodicals.

newspapers

magazines

Academic journals

Academic journals

• also called scholarly journals• “peer-reviewed”: articles are evaluated by experts before being published

You can search for articles in periodical databases.

• Academic Search Premier: lots of academic journal articles

• Canadian Newsstand, CBCA: lots of Canadian articles

• newspaper and magazine articles in French and in English.

The periodical databases are accessible from the Library website.

EBSCOhost Academic Search Premier

Enter your search terms in the search boxes.

Click on the “Full Text” link to read the whole article. Use the buttons on the right to print, email or save the article.

Use the “Add to folder” function to print/email/save several articles at once.

You can limit your search results to only academic/scholarly articles.

You can also limit by date, choosing only articles published within a certain range of years.

Citing your sources: Why?

• Avoid plagiarism.• Allows readers to locate the sources

you used.• Adds evidence and credibility to your

arguments.• Standard practice in a community of

scholars and researchers.

When do you have to cite?

• Quoting: when you give a direct quotation of someone else’s words

• Paraphrasing: when you use someone else’s ideas in your own words

• Summarizing: when you summarize someone else’s ideas

• Facts and statistics: information that is not “common knowledge”

Three citation styles

MLA APA Chicago

Citation styles: handouts available on library website

Need help? Ask a Librarian.

reference@champlaincollege.qc.ca

or

Image CreditsSlide 1: •studying by English106 http://www.flickr.com/photos/english106/4357228667/ •Friday is Paperwork Day by moogs http://www.flickr.com/photos/anjin/737036688/ Slide 22:•Green Edition by aleksander http://www.flickr.com/photos/aleks/485909060/•Akron 389 Karl Gerstner - Programme as city planning by watz http://www.flickr.com/photos/watz/2382012565/•my first magazine! full page!!! by Gustty http://www.flickr.com/photos/gustty/2573319595/•Travel Mags by Telstar Logistics http://www.flickr.com/photos/telstar/733638993/ Slide 23:•Bound Journals by diylibrarian http://www.flickr.com/photos/diylibrarian/1403798100/ Slide 33:•The Chicago Manual of Style, 16th edition, 3rd photo. by sdknex http://www.flickr.com/photos/31340126@N06/5122958497/ Slide 36:•Keyboard detail by jiihaa/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/jiihaa/2746390952/

All images used in accordance with a Creative Commons license.