Research Catalog

Title

Student guide to research in the digital age : how to locate and evaluate information sources / Leslie F. Stebbins.

Author

Stebbins, Leslie F., 1958-

Publication

Westport, Conn. : Libraries Unlimited, 2006.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

xiii, 202 p. : ill.; 24 cm.

Subjects

• Information resources > Evaluation > Handbooks, manuals, etc
• Electronic information resource searching > Handbooks, manuals, etc
• Bibliography > Methodology > Handbooks, manuals, etc
• Report writing > Handbooks, manuals, etc
• Information retrieval > Handbooks, manuals, etc
• Library research > Handbooks, manuals, etc
• Computer network resources > Handbooks, manuals, etc
• Research > Handbooks, manuals, etc

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (p. [167]-177) and index.

Contents

• 1. Research and critical evaluation -- Follow the seven steps of research, but be flexible! -- Step one : define your research question -- Step two : ask for help -- Step three : develop a research strategy and locate resources -- Step four : use effective search techniques -- Step five : read critically, synthesize, and seek meaning -- Step six : understand the scholarly communication process and cite sources -- Step seven : critically evaluate sources -- 2. Finding books and ebooks -- Books and scholarly research -- Use books as a shortcut -- Use a subject encyclopedia to start your research -- Use bibliographies and Web guides to locate key resources -- Use reference books to locate quick factual information -- Find reference books -- Use scholarly books for a broad and deep overview -- Use ebooks for research -- Do not read the entire book -- Don't use books if ... -- Use filtering devices to deal with information overload -- Critically evaluate books -- 3. Scholarly and popular articles -- Identify and use scholarly journal articles -- Use magazine and newspaper articles when appropriate -- Choose databases to search for articles -- Develop effective search strategies -- Locate articles -- Use open access journals, preprint servers, and institutional repositories/university Web sites -- Evaluate articles -- Understand the role of informal information sources : personal Web pages, blogs, and wikis -- 4. Primary sources : online tools and digitized collections -- What are primary sources? -- Understand the types of primary sources -- Plan your research strategy -- Find digitized primary source collections on the Web -- Find primary sources using the online library catalog -- Visit your special collections department -- Find historical newspaper and magazine articles -- Use special microform collections of primary sources -- Critically evaluate primary sources --
• 5. Biographical research -- Develop a strategy -- Find critical essays and brief factual information -- Find published autobiographies and biographies -- Find biographical writings by lesser-known individuals -- Critically evaluate autobiographies and biographies -- Find diaries -- Critically evaluate diaries -- Find oral histories -- Critically evaluate oral histories -- Validate biographical writings using secondary sources -- Use biographical Web sites with caution -- Critically evaluate biographical Web sites -- 6. Legal research -- Find primary and secondary legal resources -- Find case law -- Use secondary sources to find related cases and analysis on points of law -- Understand citations to court cases -- Use a legal dictionary to decipher legal terms -- Find Supreme Court cases -- Find lower federal court cases -- Find state court cases -- Determine whether a case is still "good law" -- Critically evaluate legal resources -- 7. United States government documents and statistics -- Find federal agency documents -- Find presidential information sources -- Find legislative information -- Find government documents from other countries and resources from intergovernmental organizations -- Critically evaluate government documents -- Find statistics -- Critically evaluate statistics -- 8. Citing sources, avoiding plagiarism, and organizing references -- Develop a system for taking notes -- Steer clear of all types of plagiarism -- Choose a style manual -- Choose a documentation style -- Use the following examples form the Chicago Manual of Style to format your references -- Use bibliographic software to cite your sources -- Bring evaluation into the process -- Appendix. Specialized journal article databases : indexes and full text -- Glossary.

Call Number

ZA3075

ISBN

• 1591580994 (pbk. : alk. paper)
• 9781591580997 (pbk. : alk. paper)

LCCN

2005030844

OCLC

62152874

Author

Stebbins, Leslie F., 1958-

Title

Student guide to research in the digital age : how to locate and evaluate information sources / Leslie F. Stebbins.

Imprint

Westport, Conn. : Libraries Unlimited, 2006.

Bibliography

Includes bibliographical references (p. [167]-177) and index.

Connect to:

Table of contents only

Research Call Number

*R-RMRR ZA3075 .S74 2006