Recap: Finding Articles and Books, In-Class 2/13

Book Searching Tips in the UWG Library Catalog:

Not just keyword searches. Use the drop-down menu to limit to Title, Author, Journal Title or Subject. Or click "Advanced Search" for more options.

After doing a search, use the limits on the left side of the screen to narrow your search:

• Format (different type of source ex. Book, Electronic, Microform, Video, Journal)

• Call Number (sorts by the discipline of the book)

• And More

Click the "Sort" drop-down menu in the center and order by "Date Descending" for the most recent results first

Once you've found a promising book

Click on the title to see the book details. For print books, click Google Preview to look inside the book or view the Table of Contents. Make sure the status reads "Not Checked Out" and note the call number (you can text or email the call # to yourself)

Read the call number to see if it is located on the 2nd or 3rd floor. Here's an example:

LB1044.87 .C735 2012 

First step: the letters at the beginning. Find out where the LB section is. (Those letters tell you the category of the book; LB is "theory of education," if you wanted to know.)

 

A-H call numbers are shelved on 2nd floor; J-Z on 3rd

Find the LB section and then look for the numbers immediately following the first letters: 1044.87 (Read it as a whole number with two decimal places: 1,044.87)

Then look for the next group of numbers and letters (.C735) (By letter alphabetically and then the number as a decimal: .735)

and finally the year (2012)

For ebooks, read it instantly by clicking "An electronic book accessible through the World Wide Web; click to view"

Finding more books that are like it:

In the catalog:

In the book details page click "Subjects" to find more books like it. Also look at the "Similar Items" on the right side.

In the library:

Since the books are grouped by subject, so the ones next to it on the shelf will cover similar topics and you might find them useful.

Databases- Where You'll Find Journal Articles  

Database - a searchable, organized collection of data. In this class we are talking about article databases, but in addition to scholarly sources they also have magazines, newspaper articles and other published works.

GALILEO (our virtual library) -->  Database (ex. Academic Search Complete) --> Journal (The Journal of Neuroscience) --> Article ("Reduced CHT Expression Impairs Attention" by
Vinay Parikh et. al.)

General/Interdisciplinary databases - contain some information about all topics (ex. = Academic Search Complete, ProQuest Research Library)

Subject-specific databases - focus on one topic and include more specialized information (ex. = Sociological Abstracts, MLA International Bibliography)

Also impotant: Vendor (EBSCOHost) vs. Database (Academic Search Complete)

Where to find databases?

From library homepage:

1. GALILEO & Databases (best if you know the title of a database, or want to browse all the databases by type or subject)

2. Research & Citation Guides (best for browsing a subject and finding the most relevant databases)