Demons in Our Midst

INQS 125 – Fall, 2008

Demons in Our Midst

LIBRARY DAY ONE: Books

Search Library Catalogs:

Wildcat - Linfield college library's resources

Summit - Shared catalog for three dozen academic libraries in the NW

Worldcat - Shared catalog for literally thousands of libraries in the world!

SEARCH TIP: To find literary criticism in books, use the author's name (last name, first name) as a SUBJECT search in these library catalogs. For some authors, there will follow a breakdown by titles of the author's works.

LIBRARY DAY TWO: Web Sites

Search the Web: Use Google or your favorite search engine. Once you find something that appears useful, the trick is to evaluate sources carefully to be sure they are acceptable to support academic work.

SEARCH TIP: When searching for a particular phrase (for instance, an author's name or the title of a book) place the phrase in quotation marks, thus:

"Robert Louis Stevenson" or "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde"

SEARCH TIP: When searching for scholarly information on the Web, try http://scholar.google.com and compare the results with the 'regular' Google searches.

Evaluation Assignment

LIBRARY DAY THREE: Periodical Articles

Search Periodical Indexes for Journal Articles:

Linfield subscribes to dozens of periodical indexes.

From the Library's home page, select the most appropriate indexes:

Ebscohost

Select Academic Search Premier or MLA International Bibliography.

Research Databases

Select “Language and Literature”. In addition to the EBSCOhost databases listed above, you may find JSTOR and the Literature Resource Center particularly useful.

SEARCH TIP: Checks for relevance can be made from the hit lists on search engines, catalogs or indexes. Look at the journal titles, the length of the articles, the dates. Once you get your hands on the actual items, evaluate more deeply for author credentials, publisher type (scholarly, news, commercial), and the article's appropriateness to your needs.

To get articles not available in full text through the database you searched you have various options. If you aren’t sure whether we own a journal for the date you need, check the Periodicals@Linfield link from the library’s home page. This database will inform you about whether we have electronic, print or microfilm access to the periodical you seek.

Central Search on the library's home page.

Federated searching means searching across many databases at once. Central Search provides citations and abstracts from many of the databases we own, as well as linking opportunities to full-text articles and e-books. You can choose which resources you want it to search. A disadvantage is that some of the more sophisticated techniques within each database may not be available through the Central Search interface. Often it is wise to note which sources are turning up the best information for you via Central Search and then go search more deeply into those sources. More about Central Search.

REMEMBER: As you gather information, keep notes with the bibliographic information necessary to cite your sources in your finished project. Use your Easy Writer book & its online resources.

ASK QUESTIONS!

Jean Caspers | Reference Librarian | jcaspers@linfield.edu | 503-883-2262

Jean Caspers. Reference Librarian.

You can call me at x2262 or email jcaspers@linfield.edu

Web Site Evaluation Assignment

In class presentation due October 10:

Part One: Group Work

Your group will be assigned a Web Site to evaluate for:

authority, bias, currency, accuracy & relevance.

Be sure to respond to ALL five points.

For more detail see http://www.linfield.edu/library/classpage.php?id=74

Your group will have no more than 10 minutes on October 5th to present your findings in class with your partner in the library's classroom.

The library will provide a computer, projector and screen for you to use to project the Web site, so your preparation for this part of the assignment needs to be no more than the notes you need. Based on the 5 criteria, please be prepared to explain to the class:

Was this site created and/or maintained by entities (authors, organizations, etc) with sufficient authority to be cited by a college student writing a paper? How does the site measure up on the other 4 criteria (bias, accuracy, currency & relevance)?
In which category would you place this site:

excellent site with authoritative information to support college work

useful to get ideas but not something you would cite in a paper

useless to support college work

Part Two: Individual Work

Each of you will hand in a paragraph evaluating a Web site (including all the points listed above) separately for credit. You may write about the site your group did together, or you may pick another site related to your author or his work. The site you choose can be, but does not have to be, from this list. In any case, be sure to indicate clearly the Web address of the site you use.

The individual assignment is also due in class on October 10th.