Introduction to information researching and critical thinking for an undergraduate UCLA English composition course focused on a UC (University of California) education.
Welcome & intro—how many are freshmen? UCLA Library can seem very overwhelming, as it’s so large— Hope this session will help you feel more comfortable about using library & asking for help when you need it.
So, why are you here today? Research assignment: to research and write a research paper related to a UC education… ADD MORE WHEN ASSIGNMENT ARRIVES… ???? You’ll also need to find useful scholarly journal articles related to those themes HOW MANY OF YOU HAVE DONE RESEARCH PAPERS BEFORE? HOW MANY HAVE HAD A LIBRARY SESSION LIKE THIS, MAYBE FOR ANOTHER CLASS? You may already know some of what we’re going to cover, but I hope to provide you with some tips & tricks to speed up your research and help you find some useful scholarly sources
2 By the end of today’s class, I hope you’ll be able to… Narrow & broaden a research paper topic List the differences between magazines and journals Select appropriate periodical indexes Locate useful academic articles Questions are welcome at any time Also, please do me a favor—if I ask you a question, would you just nod YES or NO? That’ll help me a lot—thanks!
¼ sheet w/urls & EG’s contact info CL ½ sheet Academic Search Complete CSA Catalog Search log Map
Unfortunately, I didn’t get copies of your specific topics, but I know that you have to research & write a paper about a UC education… It might be difficult to find research that’s so focused on a specific institution, so let’s first analyze & do some brainstorming about the topic words After that, let’s see what you might be able to do with that topic if you applied some topic limiters to it Ok, if you tried to search for information on “a UC education” and got too few results, which words could you substitute for UC to see if you can find more?
SYNONYMS OR RELATED WORDS: UC=>University of California, universit*, college* Education=> learn*, student*, curricul* Why is there an asterisk at the ends of some of these words?
If you’re stuck thinking of additional search words or related topics, try Google’s new Wonder Wheel… SHOW & DEMO using “education” Questions? Ok, now for another way to focus a topic by using topic limiters…
The topic you’ve been assigned says “A UC education,” but UC has been around for many years UCB started in 1869; UCLA in 1919 So, you might want to pick a time period to study, and that’s 1 of 4 limiters that can be applied to research topics A 2 nd limiter is geographic region & this is tricky with this topic, since it’s already so limited to specific places in California where UC campuses are located The problem is going to be finding research that is about UC on any given topic, so you might need to expand this to include all California universities or higher ed, or all universities, depending on how narrow the other parts of your research topic are
A 3d topic limiter can be person or group In this case, the GROUP is—UC students Finally, you can limit a topic by EVENT/ASPECT—in this case, education or other related topics related—e.g., lifelong learning, critical thinking, learning in a particular discipline, using technology to support teaching and learning, etc. You can manipulate any or all of these limits in your searches, in order to find more or fewer items on a topic. So now you have some tools to help you focus or broaden your research topics…
QUESTIONS?
OK--Now, you’re supposed to find “academic” articles—that means journal articles. But what’s a journal and how’s it different from a magazine? HOLD UP ONE OF EACH… QUESTIONS? Ok—now how do you locate academic articles & get them for free? INVISIBLE WEB RESEARCH TOOLS ARE THE KEY…
ACADEMIC CONVERSATIONS are going on all around you in academia--some are silent, some oral WHAT ARE THESE CONVERSATIONS? Scholars "talk” and argue about their research silently in articles, book reviews, essays, & books, and orally at conferences, and present evidence to support their views Other scholars respond, to agree or disagree, and also submit evidence to support their views Evidence? Bibliograhy, ref’s, footnotes representing research studies, lit reviews, analyses How do these j art’s get published? Peer review process… Where do you find scholarly peer reviewed j arts?
Best & fastest to use INVISIBLE WEB search engines or databases WHY? VISIBLE WEB search engines like Google & Bing mostly get you free pages, available to anyone who has an Internet connection They can’t search the contents of INVISIBLE WEB databases—
UCLA library provides Catalog database for free & subscribes to hundreds more for you to use for research, including lib catalog UCLA Library also subscribes to many hundreds of other invisible web databases Academic Search Complete, PsycINFO, Soc Abs, Alt-Press Watch… WHICH ONE SHOULD YOU USE?
If you use ask these 3 q’s about databases, you’ll save lots of time and frustration…. Topics covered Materials indexed or listed Time period covered
let’s start with Academic Search Complete… WHY? General per index—covers huge range of topics; indexes both mags & js; goes back to … BIG PLUS: Many articles online : HAS ANYONE USED IT? Many others, but this is good place to start
15 OK—Go to library home page; click on Search & Find/Article Databases Academic Search Complete -Let’s try it...
Type SU UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AND KW UNDOCUMENTED (1) Freshmen Increasingly Talk Politics, Worry About Money, Survey Finds. Lipka, SaraSource:Chronicle of Higher Education; 1/26/2007, Vol. 53 Issue 21, pA39-A39, 1/4p Type kw AFFIRMATIVE ACTION PROGRAM* AND KW COLLEGE STUDENT* (149) Click on Academic Journals: 41 In left column, LOOK AT SUBJECTS & CLICK MORE… LET’S LOOK AT #6 # The effects of affirmative action in higher education By: Fischer, Mary J.; Massey, Douglas S.. Social Science Research, Jun2007, Vol. 36 Issue 2, p531-549, 19p; Click on title & review subjects for more search word ideas… Click on Cited References: 15; this article CITED 2 times in this db—click Copies… both online—click on title for #1: Hardiness commitment, gender, and age differentiate university academic performance. Click on UC-eLinks if not directly online… Save…by emailing, printing, downloading
If links not working or not online or in paper—REQUEST… DON’T PAY FOR ARTICLES!! SHOW UC-eLINKS link for Request…
OK—we picked just one database to search We searched, we displayed & learned how to save results by emailing, printing or downloading Now I’m going to show you how to get to another database & how it works ERIC, for articles & unpublished materials related to education, KW University of California AND KW student* or education* (3385; 341 pr j’s) Check descriptors for subject word ideas & then choose other databases to search at the same time… e.g., PsycINFO & Sociological Abstracts
I’d like you to work with your partner and try a different db… PsycINFO Alt-Press Watch
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OK—so I hope you’ve learned how to save time and effort in information research We tried coming up with key search words for a research topic talked about the differences between magazines & journals, about the visible & invisible web, and how to search & evaluate materials. Remember, if you forget any of this or need help with research…