It’s Week 6, and while some of you have refined your library search skills over the last several weeks, some are visiting the library for the first time. And that’s okay. As mentioned in our 5 tips for getting the most out of your library blog post, we launched this Tips of the Week series to meet you at your point of need.
By reviewing our Librarian Chat transcripts, we determined that we should revisit some of our previous tips orienting students to the library. So, if you are new here, this blog post is for you! A quick caveat before we dive into the tips: We are here to help you with search strategies. If you need help understanding the assignment, please contact your professor. That said, let’s go back to the basics—below are your Week 6 research tips.
Tip 1: Review the How to Do Library Research Guide
Our How to Do Library Research guide is a one-stop shop for everything library. It provides how-to tutorials for researchers of all levels, including step-by-step instructions with screenshots, FAQs, videos, and interactive tutorials. Like all guides on the library website, the dark-colored boxes under On this Guide in the left-hand navigation menu represent the pages, and the light-colored boxes represent the sections of the pages. Here’s a quick breakdown of what you will learn with each page:
- Navigating the Library: Are you looking for a specific database like CINAHL or trying to find your program guide? If so, this page will help you find those with ease.
- Choosing Where to Search: Learn the ins and outs of the research process, particularly what to expect and where to start.
- Starting Your Search: Master the art of the library search with these step-by-step instructions.
- Using a Specific Database: Take a virtual tour of our most popular databases.
- Evaluating Your Sources: Learn how to evaluate information, determining if a source is scholarly, peer-reviewed, credible or authoritative.
- Citing Your Sources: Learn how to identify the elements of a citation.
Tip 2: Watch the Finding Articles Video
Watch the Finding Articles video below or from the Starting Your Search page when reviewing the How to Do Library Research guide. This video further explains how to narrow your search results to articles only.
Tip 3: Find Peer-Reviewed Articles
You may have to find peer-reviewed journal articles to use as evidence for your assignments. Our How do I find peer-reviewed articles FAQ offers a clear guide to the peer review process, along with step-by-step instructions for finding peer-reviewed articles in the library.
Tip 4: Learn to Use Databases
Some assignments may require you to find sources in specific databases. While our Search Everything box on the library homepage searches across many of our databases, you have to access the individual database to search that one only. You can access the Database A to Z page from the homepage. But before you do, watch our Database Search Strategies playlist for videos describing our databases and the best search methods.
Tip 5: Get Help With APA
Psst, the library has an APA citation generator. It’s true. We do, and you can find instructions for finding and using it in the Where is the APA citation generator in the library FAQ. While this tool may be convenient, it is important to note that citation generators are not always 100% accurate. So, please make sure to double-check your APA manual for accuracy.
Note! The librarians cannot assist with APA. Fortunately, we have a Writing Center that can help! Go to the Writing Center to access the Essay Review Service, writing tools, APA and formatting tips, a breakdown of the writing process and more.
Still have questions? No problem! Please use the Get Research Help button in the upper-right corner of the website to contact us!