Search Strategy: Think, Plan, Find, Evaluate, Cite

Remember to ASK if you need help.

Library home page: http://library.csueastbay.edu
Subject guides: Use the tab in the center of the home page, select your subject, and click "Go."
Ask us: chat (24/7), chat, email, phone, or come to the reference desk.
Chat service: http://www.questionpoint.org/crs/servlet/org.oclc.home.TFSRedirect?virtcategory=11345

Think and Plan

Assignment calculator: http://library.csueastbay.edu/calc/freecalc/index.php
Owl at Purdue: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/

Find and Evaluate

Questions to help you evaluate: http://alinesoules.wetpaint.com/page/Tools+and+Tips
Choose Evaluate Print Sources or Evaluate Web Sources

Key Areas on the Library Home Page

• Library catalog is a database of materials available through the University Libraries - books, media, some journal titles - that you can access on campus or home.
• Databases A-Z lists our subscription databases that you can access from campus or home. From home, you will need to "authenticate," that is, enter your net ID and password.
• Find books - just type in your keyword word and see what results you get
  
• Find articles - choose how you'll search this site. Quick Search works like "Find Books"; journal title brings up a list; "search by subject" takes you to the subject guide for the discipline
  
• Subject Guides - also takes you to the subject guide for the discipline
• Citing Your Sources - gives you places to go to learn about citation
  

The Catalog

Reserve materials

• Search by course or search by professor's name.

Other materials

• If you don't have a specific title, you can start with a Word Search

For e-books, click "connect." At home, you will need to "authenticate."
For print books, look on the shelves. To do that, you need three things:

• the collection it's in (book stacks, reference, etc.)
• the call number
  • read it "line by line" within the line before
  • the period is a decimal point, so that .S45 falls between .S4 and .S5
• the status (on the shelf, DUE date, etc.)

If the book is not in the catalog or not "on the shelf," repeat search in LINK+" to see if another library has the book.

Databases

Examples: Britannica Online, CQ Researcher, Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center, ProQuest Newspapers
Use the "Subject Guides" to find subject-specific databases to use. Base your choice of subject guide on your topic, not your class. For example, if you are in an English class, but writing about the Civil War, you would use a general database or a history database.

Some databases have full text, some have some full text, some have no full text.
Use SFX or Find text to see if the full text for something you want is in another database.

Click on the title to reach the title/abstract page. Read the abstract or summary of what's in an article to figure out if you want to read the whole article.

The Web

Find information through a search engine. Examples:

• Google, iGoogle, Google Books, Google Scholar, etc.
• Yahoo! Search
• Ask.com
• Dogpile, which searches a number of search engines at once

NOTE: about Wikipedia: as anyone can change wikipedia, this is NOT authoritative, no matter how useful it is. You need to verify the information you find there in another source. Like wikipedia, things can change in an instant and many sites are not reliable, so evaluate and verify information in another source.

Citation

Click on "Cite Your Sources" on the right side of the library home page
View "The Citation Puzzle" at http://library.csueastbay.edu/modules/citation_puzzle/citation_puzzle.htm

Don't forget to Ask Us

My contact information:
Aline Soules
aline.soules (at) csueastbay (dot) edu
510-885-4596
_________________________________________________________
copyright Aline Soules 2008
under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/us/