Upper School Library

 

Research Links and Tips for Senior Integrative

 

General Tips:

  • Keep a research “notebook”.  Keep track of where you search, how you search and what you find.
  • Write down important Keywords and Search Terms as you use them.
  • Search Multiple Times, using different search terms: One person’s “Black Death” is another’s “Bubonic Plague”
  • Take down Citation information as you find it. Don’t wait until the end to make your Works Cited page.  This will help you in several ways.
    • It keeps your found information found.  You don’t have to hunt for the source material later on, or remember where you got an idea.
    • It helps your librarians and teachers help you. An up-to-date bibliography shows the research you’ve already done, and prevents duplication of work.
    • It helps prevent laziness plagiarism, by immediately connecting ideas to proper citations.
  • Use the Works Cited pages of your research materials to your advantage:  if you read a good article, book etc. and it has footnotes or a bibliography (and what good source wouldn’t) use that as a starting point to find more materials.   A good Works Cited is like a roadmap to further information.

 

 

 

How to use the Databases (and use them well):

We have many different databases that cover a variety of media types and a variety of subject areas

  • Scholarly Journals:  ProQuest Platinum Periodicals, ProQuest Psych Journals, EBSCOHost Web (MAS Ultra, APSource), etc.
  • Newspapers:  ProQuest Newspapers, ProQuest Historical New York Times
  • Reference and Specialized Reference:

 

 

Interfaces: Our databases have a variety of different interfaces. Although they look different, most have a similar set of capabilities.  Anytime you use a new database for the first time, you should always stop and look over the features on the page. Databases many features beyond the text-box and “search” button.

Features most databases have

·        Basic and Advanced Searches.

·        Boolean search capability and capability to search within specific parts of a document (ex. Search in just the title, just the abstract, or in the entire article)

·        Subject Headings that describe documents and link to similar documents.

·        Ability to Browse the publications offered.

·        Ability to narrow searches by material type (for example “only scholarly journals”)

·        Ability to arrange/sort search results (by “relevance” by “most recent” etc.)

·        Ability to email documents, or citation lists.

Many databases have:

·        Multimedia (images, video, maps, primary source documents, etc)

·        Ability to “save” searches (though this may require the creation of an individual account)

·        Ability to notify you when new information is published on a Topic

·        Content created specifically for the database

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