P. Gleason, Instructor Student_______________________

This tutorial will familiarize you with the Library's webpage, catalog, and select online research databases. It will also give you a jump-start on your argumentative essay. Please return it to the Reference Desk of the Library by Thursday March 14^th

If you have any questions, please refer to the class research guides for English 1A or contact me:

Carolyn Salus Singh, Librarian, ph 225-4896, singh@library.shastacollege.edu

I. The Library Catalog provides author, title, and subject access to the more than 70,000 items that comprise the bricks and mortar collection of the Shasta College Library. Use this resource to locate an entire book or video on a topic.

Go to the library's webpage, http://library.shastacollege.edu, and click on Library Catalog.

Suppose you are interested in the topic of gun control. Click on Search/Home. Enter gun control in the textbox. Click on Search.

1. How many items did you retrieve? _____
2. Examine the Full Details of the book by Henderson that was published in 2000. Give the call number for this book_______________

Catalog welcome screen and click on the Or, Switch to Power Search button.

Enter gun control in the first text box (it is labeled words or phrase).

Scroll down to type, click on VIDEOCASS, and click on the Search button.

7. How many videos did you find? _____

For this exercise, you are asked to research a topic for your argumentative paper. Think of a topic that interests you.

List possible keywords or subject headings that describe the topic

Keywords ___________________ ______________________

___________________ ______________________

Search the library catalog to find:

1. At least two books
2. One article from a reference book or specialized encyclopedia
3. One video.

edition, place of publication, publisher, year) and call number for each resource found. Although our library holds over 70,000 items and is growing daily, our video and reference collections are small. You may not find an entire book or video on your topic. If you are unable to find an item in any of the three categories, ask the reference librarian for assistance.
 
 

	Author. Title. Publisher. Date	Call #
Article in Reference Book	Also include: Article author:_____________________ Article Title:__________________________________ volume _____ pages_____ Comment:
Book	Comment:
Book	Comment:
Video	Also include: Video director_____________________ Narrator or producer____________________________ Running time ______ minutes Comment:

 

Online Research Databases

If you are seeking information that is more up-to-date or on a subject that is not well covered in the Library’s book and video collection, you can try journals, magazines, and newspapers. The Library subscribes to over 25 premier online databases. These databases draw from a variety of sources including reference books and journal articles that appear simultaneously in print.

EBSCOHost, a general interest database, is strongest in current events but it does contain some reference materials and a few journals in the humanities.

Consider the following search topic: Gun bans on airplanes may have contributed to the devastation of the attacks of September 11. Anti-gun activism after the attacks of September 11^th is a threat to our national security

How will you research this topic? Before logging in, jot down some terms that will help you retrieve articles on the topic. I've listed some few below. Please add two more:

________gun control_____ ____ gun lobby_____

__gun bans _______security _____________

_______________________ ______________________

Logging In:

Go to any computer with Internet access (that includes all computers in the Liberia and Writing Center).

• Go to the Shasta College Library Webpage [http://library.shastacollege.edu/]
• Click on Articles and Databases. Scroll down to Magazines and Periodicals (Ebscohost)
• If you're working from Shasta College, click On Campus Access.
• Click on Ebscohost Web.

• If off-campus click Off Campus Access.

• Enter your 14 digit library card number (don't include spaces)

• Click on Ebscohost Web.

Tips for broadening include:

• adding synonyms with the connector OR (gun or firearms)
• truncating a word at its root with an * (ex. gun* yields gun or guns)
• searching within the text of an article (most databases default to searching the title and assigned subject headings)

• Limiting by year, type of publication (peer reviewed), or to full text only

• Adding another subject heading with the connector AND (gun*and legislation)
• Using quotes to retrieve terms that are both adjacent to each other and in a specified sequence (ex. "gun control")

Enter "gun control" in the text box, limit results to Full Text, and click on Search.

1. How many articles did you find? _________

 

 
 
 

Skim the titles of the first 10 articles. Do any seem to discuss anti-gun activism? _____no _____ yes If "yes", how many?______

2. Let's narrow the search. Click on Refine Search, add and "anti-gun" to your original search and click on Search. How many articles did you find? _________

 

 
 
 

Skim the titles of the first 10 articles. Do any seem to discuss anti-gun activism? _____no _____ yes If "yes", how many?______
 
 

3. Let's broaden the search. Click on Refine Search. Click on Guided Search. Scroll down to Expand Your Search and select search within full text articles.

Scroll down to Special limiters for MasterFILE Premier and select Peer

Reviewed. Click Search. How many articles did you find? _________
 
 

Pick one article from the most recent search.

4) Email this article to Carolyn (the librarian): singh@library.shastacollege.edu

Note: In the subject line, enter: [your name], engl1a gleason

ex.: Lionel Tiger engl1a

Complete the following:
 

Title of article: Author of article: Title of the print magazine: Date published_________________ Page on which article begins: _________ Length of article:________ BONUS Cite the article in MLA format (sample given below):             Sample Citation: Article from an online subscription service  Author. "Title." Print Journal, Volume(issue) Date Published: pages. Database,  Library where database consulted. Date Viewed <url of library's webpage> Chadd, Edward A. "Manifest Subsidies: Government Subsidies on Private  Companies. " Common Cause Magazine, 21(3) 1995: 18-21. EBSCOHost Shasta College Library, Redding, CA 23 August 2001  <http://library.shastacollege.edu >

Searching, Revising, and Documenting in CQ Researcher explores a single "hot" issue in the news in depth each week. Reports are well researched, documented, and balanced. Each report features comments from experts, lawmakers, and writers on various sides of the topic. Also included are a pro-con insert, a chronology, and a bibliography. While this is a small database and often slow to load, it's a great place to start your research on current events topics.

Logging In:

Go to any computer with Internet access (that includes all computers in the Liberia and Writing Center).

• Go to the Shasta College Library Webpage [http://library.shastacollege.edu/]
• Click on Articles and Databases. Scroll down to CQ Researcher.
• If you're working from Shasta College, click On Campus Access.

• If off-campus click Off Campus Access.

• Enter your 14 digit library card number (don't include spaces)
• Click on Submit Query

1. How many matches did you find? _________
2. Examine the report titled: "Gun Control Stand-Off."

1. Who is the author of this report? ____________________
2. What are his qualifications to discuss this topic?

 

 
 
 

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

3. Scroll down to the Chronology section. When did President Clinton sign the Brady Act?_________ _

Find articles to use as background information for your argumentative paper.

1. State the topic for your argumentative paper:

________________________________________________________________

2. List keywords that describe the topic:

________________________ ________________________

________________________ ________________________

3. Combine keywords into a search statement using operators (and, or, "", *) as appropriate:

 

 
 
 

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

4. Try your strategy in EBSCOHost.

Was your search ____ too broad? ____ too narrow? ____ just right?

6. Revise your search as necessary. Record alternate strategies below:

_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
 
7. Record at least one useful article from your EBSCOHost search in the table below. Try your search in another database (CQ Researcher or General Reference Center Gold would be good choices). Record at least one useful article from this new database in the table below.