As discussed in class, half of Thursday's class will be our library "orientation"--an online training experience designed to get you familiar with how to use the library. Even if you have used the library before, please complete this exercise. Often, people don't realize every possible way to utilize library resources and conduct research effectively.
Please go to the tutorial found here: http://www.lib.uci.edu/uc-research-tutorial/begin.html . Please note that this is a different one than listed in the course reader assignment sheet, as it was literally just posted online. The previous one is good (Searchpath), but in evaluating them both, I think this new one is even more user-friendly.
Once you go to that site, please complete all aspects of the tutorial. There are a handful of overall "chapters" (as indicated by the multi-color bars near the top of the page), and within them, a number of "slides." Each "chapter" culminates in a "quiz"--be sure to take this to test out what you've learned and know.
By 10 pm Thursday, please post a comment to this post below, including your name, and at least two things you learned through the tutorial. Hopefully, you will gather numerous helpful tools for research through the exercise, but for the purposes here, just listing two is fine.
Knowing how to use the library effectively will make a huge impact on your ability to find sources. Take your time with the tutorial...
Thanks!
Janai Harris
ReplyDeleteTwo of the most important things that I learned after visiting the online tutorial were understanding and identifying what approach you will be taking when writing your paper. The discipline that you choose to write your paper from makes a difference in what will be said and more importantly, how you say it.
I also learned about the numerous databases that are present for finding articles and that UCSB's database is connected to numerous outside sources, which allows for finding lots of data!
This will be important when searching for scholarly articles about the films of one particular director; I can search her name, her films, or her body of work as a whole.
Molly Rose Morrissey
ReplyDelete-Librarians still exist and are there to help
-The fine line between too broad, too narrow, and just right. You don’t want to box yourself in but you also don’t want to be overloaded with information
-Switch topic into a question by asking who what when where and why
-General = websites, encyclopedias, details= newspapers, specific= scholarly journals
-Encyclopedias are the last to report on generalized facts on a certain event, if you want specifics and more recent findings go for scholarly journal
-Books = overview of topic (aka, don’t get bogged down in the fine print)
-Use Boolean to help narrow searches (and, or, not)
-Truncation is a good way to broaden search and not exclude certain things
Kevin Wang
ReplyDeleteTwo things that I have learned from the online tutorial are how brainstorming keyterms can be very helpful and what the definition of real primary resources are. Searching for synonyms not only help with avoiding reuse of the same word but it can help broaden ideas for the topic at hand. I also learned that it can produce more information since they are related terms and some sources may use similar words.
Primary sources as defined from the tutorial are original documents created from the event being researched. They are usually first-hand observations or viewpoints of the time of the event. These sources include interviews, reports, speeches and diary entries.
Reikan Lin
ReplyDelete1) The symbol ? can be used for internal truncation to include alternate endings and forms of words (e.g. wom?n)
2) Academic Search Complete is a database that covers many topics. Instead of limiting research in the social sciences, using broader, more relevant databases can be crucial to finding qualitative research specific to the course theme
3) Subject searching can be a potent and effective tool once one is familiar or has some knowledge of the field
4) The UC library website is incredibly slow and error-prone (or my computer just sucks)
Have a great night, and have an amazing weekend/Fiesta! Be responsible
Trang Nguyen
ReplyDeleteTwo valuable importances that I have learned from the library tutorial were:
1) The particular minor tricks of what to type in when searching for an article. For example, you can use AND/OR in between keywords in order to narrow or expand your search. Another search method would be "truncation", which means adding the asterisk symbol after a word and it will search the word with all different endings (-ism, -er, -ing, etc.)
2) Along with the knowledge of how to search for journals and articles, there was also learning how to read the results screen after your search is filtered. Normally I am really stressed out by all the text that shows up, but the tutorial has a step-by-step practice page indicating what we should be looking for, such as the authors name, title of the book in the citation. It also advises us to read over the abstract to see if this is related to our topic. Then, we can see if the library holds these publications or not. It reassured me that using these databases are not as difficult nor intimidating as they may seem.
I think getting comfortable with doing the actual research will help in terms of efficiently completing a research paper, so thanks for the tutorial!
Catherine Pohlman
ReplyDeleteLearning about some techniques to develop and refine a topic for a research paper was really interesting to me. For my first research paper in high school, I was really overwhelmed by the process of narrowing a really broad subject into a much more specific topic. So, I will definitely be returning to this page for some guidance later on.
Another suggestion that will more than likely prove very valuable mentioned reading the abstract of articles, so I do not waste my time with an article that is not even relevant. Sounds like a good idea to me!
Chloe Pappas
ReplyDeleteI though it was cool that the symbol ? can be used for alternate endings and forms of words. The wording of your topic can make a huge difference on the search so using synonyms and other choice of words are important to play around with. Using and/or can really narrow down the search and make it more specific for the topic. I haven't done a research paper in college yet so this tutorial helped! Thank you!!
Jason Elperin
ReplyDeleteSome things I learned from the online tutorial were:
1) The best resources/articles about an event come months to years after the event occurred. Months to years after the event are when experts start researching.
2) All periodicals such as magazines, journals and newspapers will not be found in a library catalog.
3) I learned that truncation could help for searching a topic. Truncation is being able to search different forms of the same word at the same time. Symbols such as “?” and “#” are used to truncate.
Misty Schubert
ReplyDeleteTwo interesting things I learned from the tutorial:
1. How to use truncation to refine your search (simply brilliant) The symbol * can be used to find variations of a word, with different endings and the symbol ? can be used to represent different vowels. This will broaden my search.
2. You can click on the title of the article you are interested in to search for other similar articles. I thought this was an effective way to refine a search.
3. I am not computer savy. Posting to this blog took longer than the tutorial.
Jessica O'Day
ReplyDeleteTwo things that I learned through the tutorial were:
1) Most database searches can be limited to finding only peer-reviewed articles, which ensures that only scholarly articles are chosen.
2) One can search by subject headings in most databases for more focused results. However, combining the subject heading searching and keyword searching techniques can lead to the most relevant results.
I think that internal truncation of a search term was one of the most valuable and time saving tips I learned through the tutorial. I knew you could truncate the end of a term, but I didn't know you could do so in the middle of one.
ReplyDeleteI also didn't know about the difference between field searching and keyword searching. These are two items that will help me save time on research.
Stephany Simmons
ReplyDelete1) i learned that in a database one can search by journal title, article title, and author, keyword and subject
2) A boolean means using AND, OR, or NOT in your searches and helps to better what your looking for.
I learned that these two things can be used to help increase the chances of obtaining accurate and efficient search results!
Alyssa Hinojos
ReplyDeleteTwo things that I learned in the tutorial were:
1) There are two types of catalogs that you can use. One searches for the collections within the UCSB library and another searches for collections from the UCSB library, other UC libraries, and libraries all over the world.
2) Using Boolean operators (AND, OR, or NOT) helps your research go faster. I thought it was very interesting to learn that Google even uses a hidden Boolean operator (AND).
Kris Lai "with a K"
ReplyDelete(1) I realized that I could save the UC-elinks via flash drive or e-mails so I don't have to look up the citation over again.
(2) The most helpful part of the tutorial is truncation, which allows us to use symbols (*,?,#) to have the search look up the word we are looking for in different forms.
If I have any more questions, I will be sure to shoot you an e-mail, and I will possibly look over this tutorial again in the future refresh myself on the research process. Thanks!
Sean Cheng
ReplyDeleteOne thing I learned that will help me with my research is checking similar subject headings for a book using the library catalog. The related subjects that are listed are useful in helping me find other materials that might aid my research.
Another important thing I learned from the tutorial is searching with boolean operators and truncation. This allows me to either widen or narrow my searches easily. I can't wait to try it out.
Michael Follansbee
ReplyDelete1. Word choice can make a big difference and by using and/or you can narrow down your search.
2. Periodicals can't be found in the library catalog.
Amanda Levy
ReplyDeleteTwo things that I learned while completing the library tutorial was that;
1. As a UC student I am not only able to research the database of ucsb but also of any university of California institution. I am also able to request books or other materials from those locations. This will be helpful as it opens up the range of credible information I am able to look thru for material on my research topic.
2. I learned about the progression through time that the effect or perspective of various knowledge will obtain. First an even occurs then there is the seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, and years after the event. Each time frame accounts for specific observation and analysis on such. A wide array of historical prospective will aid in gaining the largest frame of information to write a valid and credible research paper.
3. I learned about Boolean logic, and or/not. Which will be helpful when searching topics on search engines.
Diane Cordero
ReplyDelete1. Using Boolean expression can help you look for synonyms or help you exclude topics that you don't want to research. I didn't know that Google automatically used the Boolean operator AND.
2. I learned the usefulness of using truncation. It's cool how you can just use the root of the word followed by an * and you get an expanded search of similar words.
Justin Phang
ReplyDeleteTwo important things I learned from the tutorial:
1) Boolean expressions and truncations are very useful tools for controlling exactly what a person wants to search for. It definitely makes searching for scholarly journals and associated credible sources much easier.
2) More credible information becomes available as time passes on after an event. Usually academic sources take months or years to produce.
Brandon Rude
ReplyDelete1) This tutorial taught me that I can use Boolean operators narrow my search results in library and database searches.
2) I learned how to use the (?) and (*) operators to truncate searches to broaden returned results when keyword combos are too specific.
Linda Huynh:
ReplyDeleteSeveral Techniques I learned from the tutorial-
1. Search for related key terms in order to not over use same word
2. Typing and, or, and not in the Boolean bar helps narrow down wanted informations.
3. Truncation technique- using symbols like (* ? #) to improve search
ex: vege* gr?y
Andy Wang:
ReplyDeleteLearned how to search for articles using the database. I used to have a hard time with this as Google Scholar only showed links to abstracts without showing links to the full article. Also learned how to use the boolean and truncation methods to expand or focus my search.