Finding Resources for my Research Paper

Finding Sources for Writing Assignments

Other Options for Book Sources

Using WorldCat with the Interlibrary Loan Request Form may take a couple of weeks to process and send your desired book. So, if you are pushed for time and will not be able to wait for book sources to come in from other campuses, there is another option. E-Books are available through the Motlow library catalogs. The process is easy for both Motlow Online Library and WorldCat.

Other Options Continued

This online source option works similarly in WorldCat.

First, select your source

Simply follow the link under the 'View Online' tab.

Using Motlow's databases and Library Catalog

Interlibrary Lone Request Form

How do you access books from other libraries? Simple. The "Interlibrary Lone Request Form" is here to help. Select the "Library Services" tab in the sidebar. Scroll down the list and click on the link under "Interlibrary Loan".

Next, select the option to read as E-Book.

Worldcat Libraries

The source will appear in a new window with the "Table of Contents" listed below. Select the desired sections and you will be able to either read online or print the text as a PDF.

Fill in as much of the form as you can. This ensures the correct book will be located. Motlow library will contact you, via your Motlow email, when your book has been delivered.

If the source states "Online Access" here, you will be able to download the source as a PDF.

After choosing a source, use this information for the interlibrary lone request form.

Finally, a new window will open with a "Table of Contents", allowing you to view or print your source from a PDF.

In the event that Motlow doesn't have a specific book you are looking for, have no fear!There is another way to find book sources from all over the state, and with your Motlow ID you can borrow books from other college libraries.

Let's begin with finding those sources.

Under the Library tab "Databases A-Z" you will find a list of all database available to Motlow students in alphabetical order. At the very end you will see "Worldcat". This is the BEST source when in need of a book.

You will need the author, publication, ISBN number, and your personal student information. Make sure to fill in ALL required ares of the form.

Congratulations!

Worldcat allows Motlow students to borrow any book available in the system from libraries all over the country. All you need is an inter library loan form and your Motlow I.D.

Worldcat works in much the same way as the Motlow Online Library. A search engine will appear, and you may enter a specific title or key words related to your topic of search.

Finding credible, academic sources may have seemed like a daunting task. Hopefully,this presentation has helped make research a much simpler, stress-free activity!

Good luck, and happy searching!

A Book as a Source

Databases are great for finding credible article sources, but you may come across an assignment requiring multiple books as a source instead (History 1110 and 1120 are examples of such classes.)

You may be asking yourself, "How do I find academic books for research?" Well thankfully, Motlow's numerous catalogs can help with that too!

APA Citation

• You may select an option from the tab on the left to narrow your search.
• The search results will be listed by Motlow availability first, followed by the remaining results from other colleges libraries.
• If Motlow carries the book you are looking for, it will appear in green at the bottom of the result information.
• If the book is found in another library outside of Motlow, the location will simply state: Worldcat Libraries.

Beginning Your Search

Catalogs to look for:

1. Motlow Online Library

2. WorldCat Libraries.

Lets begin with Motlow's Online Library.

Author Last, First Initial, Middle Initial. (Date of publication). Title of article. Title of Journal, volume number, page range. Retrieved from http://www.websitename.com/full/url/

Example:

Bibb, B. (Spring 2012). Bringing balance to the table:

comprehensive writing instruction in the tutoring session. Writing Center Journal, 32.1, 92+. Retrieved from http://go.galegroup.com/ps/retrieve.do?tabI D=T002&resultListType=RESULT LIST&searchRes ultsType=SingleTab&searchType=AdvancedSearchForm&currentPosition=4&docId=GALE%7CA35645 3260&docType=Article&sort=RELEVANCE&contentSegment=&prodId=AONE&contentSet=GALE%7C A356453260&searchId=R1&userGroupName=tel a _mscc&inPS=true

Note: Depending on your database, the URL may be somewhat long.

MLA Citation

Both catalogs are easy to access,

and make research a piece of cake.

• First, click on the "Library" tab on Motlow's home page.
• Then, select the "Find Books" tab in the top left hand corner.

The following page will appear. You may enter the title of a book or simply the subject you are researching.

Author’s Last Name, First Name. “Title of the source.” Title of the first container, First name Last name of any contributors, Version, Numbers, Publisher, Publication date, Location. Name of Database, URL or DOI.

Example:

Bibb, Bethany. "Bringing Balance to the Table:

Comprehensive Writing Instruction in the Tutoring Session." Writing Center Journal, UDEL Writing Center, Spring 2012, 92. Academic OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/retrieve.dotabID=T002&resultListType=RESULT_LIS T&searchResultsType=SingleTab&searchType=AdvancedSearchForm&currentPosition=4&docId=GALE%7CA356 453260+&docType=Article&sort=RELEVANCE&contentSegment=&prodId=AONE&contentSet=GALE%7CA356 45326+0&searchId=R1&userGroupName=tel_a_mscc&inPS=true&authCount=1&u=tel_a_mscc

Note: Do not put the http:// in the URL in your citation.

Note: Depending on your database, the URL may be somewhat long.

Continuing Your Search

How Do I Narrow Down My Search Results?

• Everything available at Motlow, from books to articles and even e-books, will appear in the results.
• To narrow your search, use the tab on the left hand side to select a specific source you are looking for. (Click "books" to see only book sources.)

Along the right side of the page you will see many different ways you can limit your search options. They can be somewhat tricky, and this part will help you decode what they mean.

How Do I Cite Database Articles?

It’s important that you say where your sources are from. If not, you could get a reduced grade (or no grade at all) on your paper. More importantly, plagiarism is against Motlow College policy because it’s a form of stealing.

However, databases can be pretty tricky to cite! This section of the presentation will help you figure out the right way to cite your sources.

How Do I Use LexisNexis?

Need it right away?

Narrow the selection to books only

available at your campus. Or, ask a librarian to order a book from another campus for you. The courier usually arrives within 24 hours.

This part narrows down whether you want the articles shown to be from academic journals or from newspapers and news sites.

Here you can search the results, and make them fit your topic more closely.

Here you can pick the kind of document you want. "Full text" is usually the best choice for English students.

Are your sources supposed to be recent news, or are they supposed to be ancient news? Here is where you get to choose when the publication dates of the sources displayed are.

This part lets you pick the topic. It lists the number of documents with certain topics.

This part lets you choose what kind of document is shown. Want something short? Choose “Brief Article”. Need something longer? Choose “Article”. You’ll get a variety of options under this section.

If you need your source to come from a particular publication, you can choose that here.

The Lexile score is a way of figuring out the reading level of the sources. You probably aren’t going to need this information when writing papers, but it’s here if you’re interested!

How Do I Use Academic OneFile?

This is how your search page should look, with your keywords in the search boxes.

1. Click the advanced search button.

2. A keyword is the search term you use to find an article. After you choose the topic you want to write about, use it as a keyword in the searchbox. If you have several different facets you want to cover, put each facet in as a different keyword. You can choose as many keywords as you like – typically one to two is enough to find some helpful articles.

3. Under “More Options”, click the box next to “Full Text Documents”.

4. Click the “Search” button.

This one's very simple! Type your topic into the search box, then click search.

...And Why Do I Need It?

How Do I Narrow Down the Results?

What Database Do I Want?

For college writing assignments, it’s important that you use reputable sources. Instead of digging through pages and pages of Google results, you can take the easy way out and simply use Motlow’s databases instead. For both English 1010 and English 1020, you’ll be required to do papers that will need some research.

These databases will help you in many of your other classes as well. This presentation goes through the ways to use two of the databases often used for freshman English courses here: Academic OneFile and LexisNexis.

If your professor recommends that you use a different database, much of the information about Academic OneFile and LexisNexis in this presentation can be applied to other databases.

There are a lot of databases to choose from on the website! However, for research papers in English 1010 and English 1020, as well as other research papers, Academic OneFile and LexisNexis are very useful.

How Do I Get to the databases?

Along the left side of the screen, there are several different things you can select to narrow down your search results.

“Sources by Category” lets you choose what kind of documents are shown – newspapers, magazines, website articles, and so on.

“Publication Name” lists every publisher that the results are published by.

“Subject” lists how many articles are on a single topic that has to do with your topic.

“Industry” tells you which of your results have to do with a certain industry.

“Company” finds articles that mention the companies listed in this subsection.

“Geography” finds articles that were published in certain locations. Need something published in Sri Lanka? This is where you find that!

“Language” gives you the options to find articles written in other languages.

“People” allows you to find articles that reference certain famous people. If you ever need this, “People” is the place to look.

What Is a database?

1. Go to at the top of the MSCC homepage.

2. At the bottom of the first column, you can find the link entitled “Library”. Click this.

3. In the top left corner of the page, the fifth option down, “Database Description A-Z” is where you click next.

4. Select the database you want to search for an article.

Motlow has 58 databases at your disposal! Wait, what? You don’t know what a database is, and why you need one?

A database is a search engine that, similar to Google, helps you to find articles that would be appropriate to use in a writing assignment. For all of your research papers, it’s important that you use reliable sources. When you Google a topic, you’ll get any number of Wikipedia pages and blog posts about the topic. However, since these pages can be edited by everyone, written by someone who isn't an expert on the topic, or have a strong bias, they aren’t very reliable sources. Unlike Google, the databases you have available to use are filled with reputable sources.