Prof. Hazzard’s COM 1113 Class

Databases discussed in class: 

CQ Researcher (Congressional Quarterly) – Online reference work containing non-biased coverage of political and social issues.

Opposing Viewpoints Online reference work containing various viewpoints of political and social issues.

Academic Search Premier Multidisciplinary database containing articles from journals, newspapers and magazines.

Searching tips in our databases

Remember the examples we did in class…

Well, here’s another!

When we add a * to the end of words such as disorders and sororities.

“eating disorder*” soror*

The database is now looking for the words: disorder, disorders, sororities, sorority, etc., etc.

Another trick we added was that OR

“eating disorder*” or bulimi* soror*

Now the databases is searching for anything dealing with eating disorders/disorder and sororities/sorority OR bulimia/bulimic/bulimics and sororities/sorority

Looking for a book, cd, dvd, etc.?

UCO Library Catalog Searches for materials in our library including books, DVD’s, CD’s, government publications, archives and special collections, etc.  Does not search for articles.

APA Citation Help

APA Style Guide – Consult our library guide for correct information on citing sources (http://library.ucok.edu/instruction/APA5th.pdf).

OWL (Online Writing Lab at Purdue) - Offers examples of citing sources using APA (http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/)

APA Website Gives updated information not included in the latest APA print manual (http://apastyle.apa.org/)

Knight Cite (http://www.calvin.edu/library/knightcite/) and Son of Citation Machine (http://citationmachine.net/) 

Remember when using the automatic citation in EBSCOHost– Always check your results with the APA manual!!

Please remember that if you ever need a hand in with research, you can always contact us at the Reference desk via email, phone (405-974-2878), chat, or text! You can even comment on this blog’s posting and we’ll get back to you! 

We’ll see you around the library!

Allan & Amanda

COMM 1113– Dr. Lawrence’s Class

You need to find information for your informative speech, heh?

Well, the library is a definite place to start!

A search example…

If you decided you wanted to do your speech over tornadoes, where should you start first?

Books

Books are great when you want an in-depth look at your topic. Books, however, go through a publication process; thus, they don’t always have the latest up-to-date information.

A quick keyword search in our online catalog would pull lots of results. Some relevant and some not, so you might consider a “stricter” search using the Library of Congress Subject headings. ** Make sure to put #2 on the Library of Congress Subject Headings” option!**

Once you complete your LOCSH search, you will find specific subject headings pertaining to tornadoes such as

Tornado warning systems–Oklahoma.

Tornadoes–Forecasting–Research–United States.

And, finally just Tornadoes.

Articles

Articles are great for when you’re looking for current, more “narrow” information. Instead of an entire book bout tornadoes, maybe you’re just interested in the hook echo patterns? Thus, you would want to turn to our databases to search for articles.

Remember you can sort that long list of databases by using the “Database by Subject” drop-down box in the upper left-hand corner!

When searching in our databases, just pick the key terms associated with your topics and plug these into the database’s search string:

Easy as pie! If you, however, feel you need more help with keyword searching via our databases please refer to page 2 of this handout.

Reference Sources

Reference sources are things such as encyclopedias, atlases, dictionaries, directories, etc., etc. Reference sources are great for a general overview of a topic.

Just think Wikipedia with authority– There aren’t random people writing these sources!

If you want to turn to a reference source such as an encyclopedia please visit the encyclopedia/atlas alcove on the north-east side of the Reference area near the restrooms.

Or limit your search in our online catalog to Reference (#3) to find other reference sources!

The Internet

Google ain’t all bad and neither is the Internet. You just need to be weary of who is behind your information.

Would you trust a .com for medical advice? An Obama supporter blogger on a biographical sketch of John McCain?

When using Internet sources, look to the authority of the page’s author, the accuracy of the content being provided, the objectivity of the content itself, the currency and finally the coverage. For more help, see this website evaluation page put together by the Libraries at the University of Idaho.

Alrightie, well I wish you all luck on your research adventures!

Please remember that if you ever need a hand in your research process, you can always contact us at the Reference desk via email, phone (405-974-2878), chat, or text!

And, you can always email me personally @ alemon2@ucok.edu!

I’ll see you around the library!

Amanda

COMM1113 Fundamentals of Speech – Homsey (Massad)

Library Resources

 Note* Direct links to Academic Search Premier, CQ Researcher and Opposing Viewpoints will only work on campus.  If off campus select Find Articles (Databases) then Current Events (from choose a subject drop down menu) and then choose your database.

Academic Search Premier - Multidisciplinary database containing articles from journals, newspapers and magazines.

CQ Researcher (Congressional Quarterly) – Online reference work containing non-biased coverage of political and social issues.

Opposing Viewpoints Online reference work containing various viewpoints of political and social issues.

UCO Library Catolog - Searches for materials in our library including books, DVD’s, CD’s, government publications, archives and special collections, etc.  Does not search for articles.

Basics an overview of library researching techniques

Resources for citing sources

APA Style Guide - Handout given in class

The OWL (Online Writing Lab at Purdue) Provides additional examples and offers additional tips on writing academic papers.

KnightCite or Son of Citation Machine are citation creators that can assist you in formatting your reference or bibliography page.  These may not be 100% accurate so alway check your results with your MLA manual.

If you need additional assistance please contact us through the Ask Us! link on the library homepage or come visiti us at the reference desk.  For more practice on the topics covered in this class try out our self-paced Searchpath Tutorial.