Alkek Library News

Grad Students: How to Design A Research Project

Graduate students may need a refresher/introduction in social sciences research design.

These books cover how to conduct an interview, using statistics in social sciences, and quantative and qualitative research techniques.

Links below (includes e-books)

Social Sciences Methodology

Social Sciences Fieldwork

Grounded Theory

Social Sciences - Statistical Methods

Encyclopedias of Social Sciences Research Methods (good reference)

You may also use keywords like history statistics or psychology research design, etc.

Juvenile eBooks

The Alkek Library has lots of Juvenile eBooks that can be accessed via a computer or eReader.  These are great resources to share with children and teens while at the same time integrating the use of technology.  Teachers may also find these useful for classroom use on SmartBoards/WhiteBoards or projecting from a PC/Laptop/Tablet device.  Juvenile eBooks can be browsed and searched via the Library Catalog.  A new collection of databases by TumbleBooks has been added that also provide access to this type of content:

Tumble AudioBookCloud from TumbleBooks Inc.  Subjects: An online audio book library collection of 1,000 streaming audio books. Titles include unabridged high quality audio versions of classics of American and world literature, non-fiction, fiction, and children and teen books. Includes audio books from audio book publishers like Blackstone Audio, Highbridge Audio, and Naxos Audio. Also offers plays and drama, including all cast versions of popular Shakespeare plays. Formats: Audio Books

TumbleBookCloud from TumbleBooks Inc.  Subjects: A collection of ebooks and read-along chapter books, graphic novels, educational videos, and audio books for middle school and high school. Not appropriate for college level research. Formats: Ebooks, Audio Books, Videos

TumbleBookCloud JUNIOR from TumbleBooks Inc.  Subjects: A collection of ebooks and read-along chapter books, graphic novels, educational videos, and audio books for elementary school. Another option for adventurous young readers who wish to go beyond the picture book collection in TumbleBookLibrary. Not appropriate for college level research. Formats: Ebooks, Audio Books, Videos

TumbleBookLibrary from TumbleBooks Inc.  Subjects: A collection best for students in kindergarten to grade five, and includes over 300 books: 150+ animated talking picture books, 93 language learning books, 25 Read-Alongs, 22 non fiction books and over 50 National Geographic Videos, as well as dozens of educational games and puzzles. These videos are paired with books as part ofcontinued efforts to provide our subscribers with Core Curriculum Standards content. You can see all the paired videos by going to the Search box and using the drop down to choose "Books With Videos". Not appropriate for college level research. Formats: Ebooks, Audio Books, Videos

 

Featured Library Guide: Advertising

Did you know that we have research guides available for just about any subject?

Today's featured guide is Advertising. Video tutorials, the right databases, cool search ideas, and the right subject headings are just of the items you'll find on the page.

Screen shot below (see the guide by clicking ON THIS TEXT):

Start Your Research Video Tutorial

Here's our best version (so far) of the Start Your Research tutorial. That's the central-ish blank on the library main page where you can begin your search.

Covers keyword strategies, limiting to different kinds of sources and saving your results!

 

 

Halloween with Children's Literature!

Halloween is not only about costumes and candy, share books about Halloween with your family or classrooms!  The 6th Floor New Books Exhibit area has books about Halloween and Day of the Dead available for checkout. The History Channel Halloween page also has some great clips about Halloween.

 

 

via alkeklibrarynews.typepad.com

Video Tutorial: Get Foreign Country Introductions

Let's say you need to quickly get a read on Argentina's recent economic history, look at its exports, and see which laws govern international trade.

You'd use CountryWatch, EIU, Doing Business In, or EUROPA for that.

 

Use Lexis-Nexis For Foreign News

Here's a great resource for print news (magazines and newspapers) from India, Asia, Africa and the Middle East (among others): Lexis-Nexis.

Not just recent months but the last several years in fact.

Covers topics of local foreign interest, not just different takes on international issues (although it does that as well).

Go to Lexis Nexis, and choose News, then Newspapers and Wires. Foreign Language is an option as well.

Meet Jessica McClean, New Undergraduate Instruction and Outreach Librarian

We are  approaching the  midpoint  of the semester, and now those major assignments that seemed so far away in August are coming on like a freight train. Trust me, I know how you  feel.  It wasn’t  so  long  ago that I was in school—just last semester, in fact—so  I  vividly  remember that  sense  of dread  that  comes  with  looming  deadlines.

But now I’m your new Undergraduate Instruction  &  Outreach  Librarian,  so  my focus  is  on  helping  you  nail  your  assignments   instead   of   working   on   my   own.

If you haven’t started your research yet, I really recommend you start as soon as possible. Part of the fun of library research is that it never goes quite like you expected, but that’s also what can make it frustrating. By starting sooner rather than later, you’ll be able to navigate those research hiccups more easily.

If you do find yourself frustrated or at a dead end, don’t be shy about asking for help. The Ask a Librarian service allows you to contact a librarian by email, chat, phone, or text, whichever is easiest for you. Drop by the reference desk when it’s open (check the hours here) to talk to someone face to face. And if you’re really at a loss for where to start, consider scheduling an individual research consultation to get some in-depth assistance from a librarian.

Don’t  forget,  helping  undergraduates  is my job—no question or problem is too small or silly, so come find me if you need anything! I’m excited to meet as many of you as possible and find out what interesting topics you’ll be researching this semester.

Halloween with Children's Literature!

Halloween is not only about costumes and candy, share books about Halloween with your family or classrooms!  The 6th Floor New Books Exhibit area has books about Halloween and Day of the Dead available for checkout. The History Channel Halloween page also has some great clips about Halloween.

 

 

Learn Some Advanced Keyword Search Techniques

Bet you didn't know about "proximity" searches in the Ebscohost family of databases. These commands allow you to search 2 words that occur in the text near each other.

The upshot of which is: the article is more likely to be written about your topic if your words occur close to one other. Traditional keyword searches don't check for this - they just look anywhere in the article.

(Ebscohost is the name of the publisher that brings you several of our databases. You may know them by their proper names, like Academic Search Complete. Once inside an Ebsco database, you can always "choose databases" to search several Ebscohost databases at once.)

Here's the official directions from Ebscohost:

Proximity Searches

You can use a proximity search to search for two or more words that occur within a specified number of words (or fewer) of each other in the databases. Proximity searching is used with a Keyword or Boolean search.

The proximity operators are composed of a letter (N or W) and a number (to specify the number of words). The proximity operator is placed between the words that are to be searched, as follows:

Near Operator (N) - N5 finds the words if they are within five words of one another regardless of the order in which they appear.

For example, type tax N5 reform to find results that would match tax reform as well as reform of income tax.

Within Operator (W) - In the following example, W8 finds the words if they are within eight words of one another and in the order in which you entered them.

For example, type tax W8 reform to find results that would match tax reform but would not match reform of income tax.

In addition, multiple terms can be used on either side of the operator. See the following examples:

• (baseball or football or basketball) N5 (teams or players)
• oil W3 (disaster OR clean-up OR contamination)