Library Navigation Exercise
Gulf Bravo
library_navigation_exercise1.docxLibrary Navigation Exercise
Part I: In Class
One good academic resource is all that you need to begin a thorough review of the research available in your field of study. From there, you simply follow the trail…
STEP 1: List your topic and tentative argumentative proposition.
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STEP 2: Library of Congress Subject Headings
The words you use for your search can make or break your project. To save yourself hours of fruitless searching under vague terms, use the Library of Congress Subject headings website. The LCSH lists the standard headings used by most libraries to organize their collection of information. The LCSH is an easy way to find one or more subject search terms that will quickly yield useful sources on your subject. Go to http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects.html and type your topic into the search bar at the top (making sure LC Subject Headings is highlighted). The results will give you alternate search terms (under the labels); clicking on a label will provide variants and narrower and broader search terms, as well. Click on Consult the LCSH with your topic in mind and jot down some search terms that seem promising.
List promising search terms: __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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Part II: In the Library
STEP 3: Reference Books. The reference section of the library is one that students tend to avoid for as long as possible. It is tedious and so filled with information that it can be difficult to navigate through all the muck. But you need to know it. So I’m forcing you in. Now that you’ve found subject terms that might help narrow your electronic search down, look on the supplemental “Library of Congress Classification System” handout (below) and find the general subject heading that most accurately reflects your topic. Note the call letters for that topic and go to the corresponding reference section of the library and take a look around (for example: if you are writing about the impact of music on the actions of human beings, you might look at “Music” and find that the call letters that best suit your topic are “ML”). When you seek out that section of the reference material, you will find a variety of possible reference material.
The twenty-one branches are:
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A – GENERAL WORKS B – PHILOSOPHY, PSYCHOLOGY, RELIGION C – AUXILIARY SCIENCES OF HISTORY D – HISTORY: GENERAL & OUTSIDE THE AMERICAS E – HISTORY: UNITED STATES F – HISTORY: UNITED STATES LOCAL & AMERICAS
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G – GEOGRAPHY, ANTHROPOLOGY, RECREATION H – SOCIAL SCIENCE J – POLITICAL SCIENCE K – LAW L – EDUCATION M – MUSIC N – ART P – LANGUAGE & LITERATURE
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Q – SCIENCE R – MEDICINE S – AGRICULTURE T – TECHNOLOGY U – MILITARY SCIENCE V – NAVAL SCIENCE Z – LIBRARY SCIENCE & INFORMATION RESOURCES
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* If you aren’t sure what subject heading your topic belongs to, ask a librarian and see how you might best proceed.
Write the Subject Heading for your topic (Example: M, L, T) ________________
Once you’ve found the relevant section of reference sources, skim at least one book in particular and write down the kinds of information you find in that book.
Type of Source (circle one):
Index Almanac Bibliography Dictionary
Encyclopedia Directory Handbook Other
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STEP 4: Books certainly hold a lot of promise in yielding valuable information, though the publication process often makes that information less timely than journals and articles.
Our library (like most college libraries) uses the Library of Congress catalog system to organize the bookshelves (as opposed to the Dewey Decimal System). This system, which relies on the use of both letters and numbers, is one you need to become familiar with. Each call number begins with one or two letters, signifying a category of knowledge, which is followed by a whole number between 1 and 99,999. A decimal and one or more Cutter numbers sometimes follow. The Library of Congress system is pretty complex, but it’s not hard to use. As you get deeper into your research for this class, you’ll begin to recognize call numbers that consistently yield useful books. It is often helpful to simply browse those shelves for other possibilities.
Head to the area of the library (upstairs) that corresponds to the Subject Call Letters for your topic. Just browse the shelves for a book in that section that might be helpful to your research (or look one up in the library’s catalog). List that book below.
Call number:
Author(s):
Title:
Place and date of publication:
Publisher:
*TIP: Remember that you can use Prospector to get your hands on a book that we don’t hold here.
Now retrieve the book from the stacks. Grab a book off the shelves that looks promising. Then, write down the first full sentence of the first full paragraph on p. 10 (just for kicks).
Sentence on page 10: __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Checking bibliographies: while you have a real book in your hands, look at the back for a bibliography or list of sources that contributed to the work. Often bibliographies can be mined for additional sources that might be useful to you. Look at the back of the book you found and scan the titles in order to write down at least one promising source you find.
Source from Bibliography: _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Part III:
Searching the Internet—Responsibly
STEP 5: General Encyclopedias. Using a general encyclopedia is a little like looking through a pair of binoculars from the wrong end. You get the long view of the subject. They are often too general, yet they are an excellent point of entry. Wikipedia is easy and simple, but not reliable. Instead, use the GVRL (Gale Virtual Reference Library) by clicking on “Database List” from the Auraria Library homepage and typing GVRL under “Search for Databases by Keyword.” Do an Advanced Search on your topic and write the following:
The search term(s) you used. _____________________________________________________________________
One resource from the GVRL on your topic. _____________________________________________________________________
STEP 6: Magazines and Journal Articles. We have also become well acquainted with the electronic databases that compile periodicals of all sorts. Please visit one of the multi-subject databases (try Academic OneFile Plus or Academic Search Premier Plus, but not LexisNexis quite yet) and do the following steps. Remember to use the Boolean operators (like AND, NOT) to help narrow your search.
Find a general database, such as Academic OneFile Plus or Academic Search Premier Plus. Use the keywords you have discovered in the reference section and search for relevant articles on your topic. Find one useful full-text citation and record the following information about it.
Keywords:
Author:
Title:
Title of periodical in full:
Volume or issue number and date:
Pages covered by the article:
Now search in that same database, but limit yourself to only scholarly journals (by checking the “peer reviewed” box). Find one useful full-text citation and record the following information about it.
Keywords:
Author:
Title:
Title of periodical in full:
Volume or issue number and date:
STEP 7: Newspaper Articles. If your tentative exploratory topic is local, current or controversial, then newspapers can be useful sources. You’ll rarely get much in-depth information or analysis from newspapers, but they can often provide good quotes, anecdotes, and case studies as well as the most current printed information available on your topic. Newspapers are also sometimes considered primary sources because they provide firsthand accounts of things that have happened.
Search LexisNexis (a database that focuses on newspaper periodicals) for a newspaper article that pertains to your topic. Seek a suitable article and record the source here. If you try and feel strongly like your topic does not lend itself well to newspaper sources, look up your birth date and list an interesting article from the news that day.
Keywords:
Title of article:
Newspaper:
Date and page number:
STEP 8: Government Documents. The United States government is the largest publisher in the world, and our library is indeed a depository for government documents (something like 40%). So anyway, the great thing about government documents is that they cover a broad range of subjects. The bad news is that you may go nuts trying to find what you’re looking for. As always, there are printed and electronic indexes to government documents. The most important index, the Monthly Catalog of United States Government Publications, is available in both forms. Once again, link to “Database List” through the Auraria Library and then type in USAGov under “Search for Databases by Keyword.”
Check out this database of government documents to locate any possible government docs on your topic that may be useful. Try a few possible keywords, and go back a few years if you need to. If you find something interesting, record the bibliographic information below. If you cannot find anything, explain briefly where you got stuck.
Keywords:
Full name of government branch that published document:
Title:
Date:
Place and publisher:
STEP 9: Newsgroups differ from Listservs in that the discussions and exchanges are collected for you to retrieve; they aren’t sent to you via e-mail. Both, though, are a type of discussion group. To find newsgroups on a specific subject, go to http://groups.google.com, a research tool sponsored by Google that surveys all Usenet newsgroups, and type your keyword(s) into the search box at the top.
List one potentially beneficial group ____________________________
Write one fact or helpful lead that you gained from reading through one of these listservs: _____________________________________________________________________
STEP 10: Directories, unlike search engines, have information that has been arranged by human reasoning, based on topics such as: education, health, public issues, etc… These directories are meant for a research-minded audience.
Here are some sites to visit for help in selecting an appropriate site to retrieve information. List one good lead for each directory listed below.
Librarians’ Index to the Internet: http://lii.org
The University of California’s Infomine: http://infomine.ucr.edu
World Wide Web Virtual Library: http://www.vlib.org
STEP 11: Government sites can also prove unexpectedly useful. Government-maintained sites include legal texts, facts and statistics, or reference databases (Hacker, p.17).
Census Bureau http://www.census.gov
What did you find? __________________________________________
FedStats http://fedstats.sites.usa.gov
What did you find? __________________________________________
United Nations http://www.un.org
What did you find? __________________________________________
STEP 12: Newssites. Many magazines, newspapers and networks offer up-to-date information via the Web. Readers can often access current stories for free, but often have to pay for archives. If you need back copies, use LexisNexis!!!
List one helpful lead.
______________________________________________________ .
Visit www.nytimes.com
List one helpful lead.
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By the end of this extensive research effort, I hope that you have places to go to help learn about your chosen topic and resources that will help you manipulate your topic into a research worthy argumentative proposition. Remember, if you finish this with one good academic resource, you’ll have a trail of information to follow.
