TSEM 190: Finding (Good) Sources

Laksamee Putnam, lputnam@towson.edu 9/16/2016

http://bit.ly/tsem190fall16c1

First…

Laksamee Putnam lputnam@towson.edu Cook Library Reference: 410.704.2462. IM/email Phone: 410.704.3746. Twitter: @CookLibraryofTU Albert S. Cook Facebook profile!

A quick plug…

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Agenda

Questions about finding a book and article Creating Keywords Trying different databases Following the research trail

Found a book? Found an article?

What problems did you have finding the book in the library?

How confident are you that the book will contain relevant information?

Did you have any issues accessing the article?

Is it a peer-reviewed journal article?

Keywords are critical!

Sample topic: Can air pollution regulation affect climate change?

First, break the question down into key concepts: Concept #1: air pollution Concept #2: regulation Concept #3: climate change

More on keywords… Expand your list to include synonyms then add to it once

you have done some background reading.

Can air pollution regulation affect climate change?

air pollution regulation climate change

smogcarbon dioxideozone

Clean Air ActClean Power PlanNational Ozone Standard

global warminggreenhouse effect

Putting it all together… Can air pollution regulation affect climate change?

“air pollution” OR “carbon emissions”AND

regulation OR “Clean Air Act” OR “Clean Power Plan”AND

“climate change” OR “global warming”

air pollution regulation climate changesmogcarbon emissionsozone

Clean Air ActClean Power PlanNational Ozone Standard

global warminggreenhouse effect

Create keywords

Take a look at your book and article On your worksheet, start by listing any keywords you find in the first box

(STEP FOUR)

After creating an initial list of keywords, choose the most important ones. These key concepts are what you want to find in your next resource. On your worksheet, separate your keywords into key concepts (STEP

FOUR) Each concept should be a different idea

Create synonyms

As you search, you will find many synonyms for your key concepts! On your worksheet, try to fill in a few synonyms (STEP FOUR) Remember to go back and add synonyms to your list as you find them

Having trouble thinking of a synonym? Try some of these websites: Power Thesaurus: https://www.powerthesaurus.org/ Moby Thesaurus: http://moby-thesaurus.org/ CAB Thesaurus: http://www.cabi.org/cabthesaurus/ MeSH Browser: https://www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/MBrowser.html

Try a new database. Find a new article! There are more databases that Cook OneSearch. Some of them are

subject specific.

Use a Subject Research Guide to help you find a relevant database Here is the Environmental Science Research Guide

Try using your new keywords in the Science Direct database

On your worksheet enter the information on a new article you found.(STEP FIVE)

What does your article cite?

In Science Direct, look at the reference list for the article you think best fits your research

Pick an article from the reference list you think could also be relevant to your research topic On your worksheet enter the information on the article you found (STEP

SIX) Can you find the full test of this article?

What cites your article?

Check to see if any articles have cited one of your three articles! This is easiest in Scopus or Google Scholar If using Google Scholar remember to set the library access link to Towson

University

Find an article relevant to your research topic, that cites one of the articles you have found already! On your worksheet enter the information on the article you found (STEP

SEVEN) Can you find the full text of this article?

What did you learn today?

How to find a book and article using Cook OneSearch The importance of coming up with a variety of keywords to describe

my research topic How to use ScienceDirect to find an article Backward and Forward Citation searching in Scopus and Google

Scholar

A little feedback

Please let me know how I can make the session better!

http://bit.ly/tsem190feedback

Thanks for listening

Next Library Session on Plagiarism

Feel free to contact me: Laksamee Putnam lputnam@towson.edu 410.704.3746. Twitter: @CookLibraryofTU

Or any reference librarian: Visit Cook Library Reference Desk 410.704.2462. IM – tucookchat