Expository Writing - Cyberspace

Expository Writing: Guide to Library Resources and Services I. Mini-Tour of Library First floor: • Circulation desk and reserves (near the entrance): get your library card, check out books and check out articles/books your professor places on reserve. • Reference room and Reference Foyer (side of building): contains encyclopedias, handbooks, dictionaries that provide context to your research topic. Always staffed by a reference librarian. • Computers: 14 PCs throughout the library. The two PCs in front of the reference desk have Microsoft Office installed. Print to Pharos stations located in the lower level, the first and second floors. • Index Area (back of the building): Find book reviews and indexes of articles published. Scanner available. • Study Carells: Towards the back of the first floor; quiet study areas located throughout library. • Archives and Special Collections (near the Mars Rover): Houses historical documents and artifacts of the college. • Photocopier: 2 copiers located on each side of the library; one copier in Periodicals area. • Bathrooms: women’s room 1st floor, men’s room lower mezzanine. Lower Mezzanine Levels: • Book stacks level 1 (floor underneath the “Pit”); bound journal articles; Archives Room; vending machine • Book stack level 2 • Book stack level 3 Upper Mezzanine: • Periodicals Area: magazines, newspapers, microfilm, microfiche • Curriculum Library: library materials for education students • Smart market: coffee, tea and snacks II. Searching for a book in the reference room The Reference Room’s books are organized by subject categories. To determine the category where a reference book would be classified under, look at the list posted on the door of room 118 labeled “Library of Congress Classification Schedules.” For example, to find reference books on computers, cyberspace and the Internet, look at the list and determine where your topic would fit in. You can find reference books on those topics in the Q - QA section. A good reference book that may help you in your research: • Berkshire Encyclopedia of Human-Computer Interaction REF QA 76.9 H85 B46 2004

Questions? Email ([email protected]) or call us at (508.626.4655).

Expository Writing: Guide to Library Resources and Services III. To access the library’s resources if you are off campus: Go to the library home page http://www.framingham.edu/wlibrary and directly to the library databases (like InfoTrac’s General Onefile). Enter your Blackboard username and password. IV. Searching for a book in the catalog from the Minuteman Library Network http://library.minlib.net/search~S15 To conduct a subject or keyword search, enter a phrase in the search box and select “subject” or “keyword” and “Framingham State College” in the drop down menus. To search for books in other libraries, select “All locations” instead of Framingham State College. For example, here’s a subject search to find books on the Internet. By doing a subject search, it can help you narrow your topic.

Once you find a book, write down the call number to help you find the book in the library.

All full-time and part-time Framingham State College students can borrow books from the Whittemore Library, as well as other libraries within the Minuteman Library Network. Day and evening students must register with the library to activate the student ID barcode or student ID number. Borrowing privileges will expire when the student and are no longer affiliated with the college. I recommend that you do not limit your search only to Framingham State College. You can always request a book from another library within Minuteman Library Network. Usually books requested from the network are received within the week. You can also order books from the Virtual Catalog, and the WorldCat database. These requests take more time to process. Questions? Email ([email protected]) or call us at (508.626.4655).

Expository Writing: Guide to Library Resources and Services V. Library Cards and Interlibrary Loan Once you register your library card, you are able to request books and articles through interlibrary loan (ILL). You can request a book or article through interlibrary loan at http://www.framingham.edu/wlibrary/illform.htm.Your request might take more than two weeks to fulfill. Please contact Neil Conrad at 508.626.4690 for questions on ILL. VI. Searching for Articles: For a listing of all of our research databases, go to the “A to Z List of Databases” link on the library webpage. If you are off campus, you must authenticate by entering your network account. http://www.framingham.edu/wlibrary/finding/articles.htm You will find relevant articles in the following library databases: • EBSCO’s Academic Search Premier • InfoTrac’s General Onefile • CQ Researcher (reports) • LexisNexis (news) (If an article is available online in a FirstSearch database, it will prompt you for a full text password. The password is fsc.) VII.Searching in EBSCO’s Academic Search Premier

When you get some results, select articles by “adding them to a folder”. Open the folder icon at the top of the page once you have selected the articles. In the folder view, select the articles that you would like to print, email, export, or save.

Questions? Email ([email protected]) or call us at (508.626.4655).

Expository Writing: Guide to Library Resources and Services

To find out how an article is cited, select the title of the article and select this icon. Notice also how the article is classified with other subject terms that you can use.

EBSCO formats the article in a number of citation styles:

VIII.Searching for Full-Text Articles if You Have the Citation If you come across a bibliography that contains citations and would like to view any of the articles online, enter the name of the journal in the Full Text Journal Finder. (http://pj8tr3fm5l.search.serialssolutions.com/) Questions? Email ([email protected]) or call us at (508.626.4655).

Expository Writing: Guide to Library Resources and Services

If the journal is available online, the page results will list the research databases that contain the article full text. You then need to search for the article in that particular database. If an article is not available full-text, you can check the red binder to see if the library carries it in print. For questions on our print journals, please contact Deb Hogan, periodicals supervisor, at [email protected]. IX. Searching for scholarly articles in Google Scholar Select the link A to Z List of Databases on the library homepage and then the Google Scholar link. Once on the Google Scholar page, go to Scholar Preferences and make sure that Framingham State College is listed as a preferred library.

Also select RefWorks as a preferred Bibliographic Manager:

When creating a search in Google Scholar, you do not need to link terms by “and” for example: computer “identity theft” Amazon

Questions? Email ([email protected]) or call us at (508.626.4655).

Expository Writing: Guide to Library Resources and Services

Further instructions here: http://whittemorelibrary.wordpress.com/2008/02/16/try-googlescholar/ X. Searching on the Google for Information Try to keep the search simple. Limit your search to .edu or .gov sites. Play around with key words to get the best hits.

Questions to ask when you are evaluating Internet resources: • Who is the author or producer of the content? • Is the information on the webpage current? • What is the purpose of the website? Who is the audience? • Is the information accurate? Is the information taken from another source? • Is the webpage easy to navigate? Do all the links work?

Questions? Email ([email protected]) or call us at (508.626.4655).

Expository Writing: Guide to Library Resources and Services XI. Other suggestions: When you are ready to cite your resources for your paper, a great resource is the Duke University Libraries – Citing Resources page: http://library.duke.edu/research/citing/. You have access to the pdf of APA’s Style Guide to Electronic References. Instructions on how to view the guide are here: http://www.framingham.edu/wlibrary/instruction/apa.htm

Questions? Email ([email protected]) or call us at (508.626.4655).