1. Research Strategies
Professor Traci Welch
Moritz
Public Services Librarian
Heterick Memorial Library

2. WELCOME to the LIBRARY

3. Introduction
• Welcome
• Professor Moritz, t-moritz@onu.edu
• Feel free to visit or email
reference@onu.edu
• Librarians on duty 8-4:30, 6-9 Mon –
Thurs, 8-4:30 Friday and 10-3:30 on
Sundays

4. Librarians and support staff
Professor Baril
Professor
Logsdon
Ms. Kobiela
Professor Donley
Professor Moritz
http://www-new.onu.edu/academics/heterick_memorial_library/staff

5. What you can expect from HML
• Knowledgeable degreed librarians on duty
over 60 hours per week
• Friendly faces ready to help 101.5 hours per
week
• Access to the resources you need both on
and off campus
• Resources available in a timely manner

6. What we expect you to know
WorldCAT
1.4 billion
items
OhioLINK
POLAR
Ca. 20,000,000
items
Ca. 400,000
items

7. + even more!
• 250 Databases
• About 700+ print periodical
subscriptions
• 10s of thousands electronic journal titles
• Juvenile collection
• Audiovisuals – physical and streaming

8. The next two class sessions
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Learn about Research Guides
Create a RefWorks account
Learn how to construct a research strategy
Identify and locate print resources
Learn how to navigate databases
“Last resort” option
Evaluate web resources

9. How am I suppose to remember
all this stuff?

10. Libraries at ONU
•Taggert Law Library
•Library for Law
school, accessible to
all
• Heterick Memorial
Library
Undergraduate library,
accessible to all

11. ONU card = Library ID
Remember to
always use all 11
digits!

12. How to do Research
Seven Steps of the Research Process
Amended with permission by the Librarians at the Olin and Uris Libraries of Cornell University
STEP 1: IDENTIFY AND DEVELOP YOUR TOPIC
STEP 2: FIND BACKGROUND INFORMATION
STEP 3: USE CATALOGS TO FIND BOOKS AND MEDIA
STEP 4: FIND INTERNET RESOURCES (if appropriate for
the assignment)
STEP 5: USE DATABASES TO FIND PERIODICAL
ARTICLES
STEP 6: EVALUATE WHAT YOU FIND
STEP 7: CITE WHAT YOU FIND

13. Start at the beginning
IDENTIFY AND DEVELOP YOUR TOPIC
•State your topic as a question
•Identify main concepts or keywords
•Test the topic --
STEP 1
Look for keywords and synonyms and
related terms for the information sought
Subject headings in catalogs
Built-in thesauri in many databases
Reference sources
Textbooks, lecture notes, readings
Internet
Librarians, Instructors

14. Background Research
FIND BACKGROUND INFORMATION
STEP 2

15. Background Research
Oxford Reference or any of the
specific Oxford reference
available electronically
subject
books

16. Background Research -- Books
USE CATALOGS TO FIND BOOKS AND MEDIA
STEP 3

17. Find a Book -- POLAR

18. Books - Shortcuts
Hold on, I’ve got
an idea!

19. Books - Shortcuts
• More to come in a
minute

20. Background Research -- Books
•Highly structured information environment
Way individual records are arranged
Subject headings
Catalog software optimized for above
Deal with material in many formats
•Implies heavy human involvement
•Emphasis on precision
•Preparation relatively labor-intensive
•Implies a learning curve to use successfully

21. Catalogs
• POLAR -- Accessing items located at
HML (physical and electronic) as well
as Law Library
• OhioLINK -- Next Step if you can’t
find what you want in the HML
collection
• ILL -- option of last resort

22. Find a Book -- POLAR

23. Find a Book -- POLAR
•Looks in several locations (usually
subject, article title, abstracts or
contents)
•Does not require an exact match
•Generates comparatively large number
of hits (not precise)
•Good if you are not familiar with
terminology

24. Find a Book -- POLAR

25. Find a Book -- POLAR
If a book is
available, go get it.
Otherwise request
via your other two
options; OhioLINK
or SearchOhio.

26. Find a Book -- OhioLINK
• Materials owned by all Ohio colleges,
universities, several public libraries
• Ca. 10 million items
• Link from POLAR permits you to submit requests.
Available from Heterick home page
• Most requests arrive in 2-3 working days
• No charge
• Limited to 100 items at a time
• MAY RENEW UP TO 4 TIMES

27. Find a Book -- OhioLINK

28. Find a Book -- OhioLINK
1. Make sure
copies are
available at other
libraries
2. Click on request button

29. Find a book -- OhioLINK
3. Select Ohio Northern
4. Enter your first and last
name and all 11 digits
exactly as they appear on
your ID
5. Be sure to select Heterick as
your pick up location and then
click submit.
6. An email will be sent
when the item is ready for
pickup

30. Find a book -- SearchOhio
• Access to several Ohio public libraries
• Access via OhioLINK
• An option when item wanted is not available
at ONU or through OhioLINK

31. Find a Book -- Ebooks
• A small but growing
part of the collection
are Ebooks
• Click to link to content

32. Public terminal on
third floor

33. My Library Account
Allows you to see what you have checked out and
requested. Allows you to renew online (if
possible). Allows you to see charges on your
account.

34. My Library Account
Enter first and last name and all
11 digits on university ID

35. My Library Account
• For more information visit the Library
Information page

36. Library App
• http://journals.onu.edu/home_page/libinfo/mobile.c
fm

37. What do I do next?
FIND INTERNET RESOURCES
Comprehensive
search engines:
•Alta Vista
•Ask.com
•Excite
STEP 4
•Scholar.Google
•Hotbot
•Lycos
•Wisenut
Subject portals:
•Librarians' Index to the
Internet
•WWW Virtual Library
Multi-engine
searching:
MetaCrawler
Vivisimo

38. What about Google?
Image by Kimberly Butler

39. CRAAP test
• Currency
• Timeliness of the
information.
• Relevance/Coverage
• Depth and importance of the
information.
• Authority
• Source of the information.
• Accuracy
• Reliability of the information
• Purpose/Objectivity
• Possible bias present in the
information.

40. Google Scholar
STEP 4

41. Google Scholar
Note: If
working
off
campus
please see
the
“google
scholar”
tab at the
Research
Guide for
Writing
Seminar
Google Scholar
ONU buys
Full-text
database
OhioLINK
Permits
Google to
link to full-text
ONU user sees
licensed full-text
articles
Google asks
to link to
content
Run Google
Scholar
Search

42. Web Research vs Library Databases
Internet (Search Engines)
Databases “Pay to Play”
• Material from numerous
sources, individual.
Government, etc.
• Search engines must work with
material prepared without
regard for specific software
• Quality of material varies
• Generally do not access forprofit information
• Content often anonymous and
undated
• Usually created by a single
publisher
• Content pre-arranged for
easy use
• Quality/ content control thru
editorial staff
• Content usually available
only to subscribers
• Content source usually
identified and dated

43. What do I do next?
USE DATABASES TO FIND PERIODICAL
ARTICLES
STEP 5

44. Databases
• Often tools for locating journal and
newspaper articles
• Most are subject-specific – some
multi-disciplinary
• Many give access to full text of
articles
• Heterick has 250+

45. What is an academic article?
• Academic articles or scholarly journal articles or peer
reviewed journal articles are all found in scholarly journals.
• A scholarly journal Scholarly Journals are journals which are
respected for the research and information they provide
about the topic they cover.
• They are written by and for people who have experience in a
discipline or field.
• They usually have a more serious look than most popular
magazines and contain graphs and charts but do not usually
have many pictures.
• Scholarly journals cite their sources using footnotes or
bibliographies. Although some scholarly journals have
advertisements they are not prominent and usually relate
directly to the topic of the journal.

46. Find an Article
• Periodical means the
same as Magazine
Usually magazines are
more “popular”
• Journals
Scholarly or Professional
Peer reviewed

47. Parts of an academic journal article

48. Click on “Databases”

49. Find an Article
General Databases
• Academic Search
Complete
• JSTOR
• Opposing
Viewpoints
• Subject specific
49

50. Find an Article

51. General Database
Scholarly journals,
peer reviewed articles

52. Find an Article

53. Find an Article
Some articles available full-text html or pdf

54. Find an Article
• What if it’s not available PDF or HTML?
• Always hit the “find it” icon and see what
happens next.

55. Find an Article
• It may have to be requested
ILL

56. Find an Article
• It may be available Full text from
OhioLINK or another database

57. Find an Article
• And could be available in print

58. InterLibrary Loan
Fill in the
blanks

59. How to keep track of articles

60. Save, Print, Export

61. Bibliographic Citation Software

62. Manage Information - RefWorks
• Licensed state-wide, access free to
Ohio students for the rest of your
life!
• See “RefWorks” tab at Research Guide
• Excellent Tutorials
• Help available at Heterick

63. RefWorks

64. General Database
Scholarly journals,
peer reviewed articles

65. How to use JSTOR
• JSTOR was founded in 1995 to build trusted digital archives
for scholarship. Today, we enable the scholarly community
to preserve their work and the materials they rely upon,
and to build a common research platform that promotes
the discovery and use of these resources.
• Began adding current issues for some 170+ titles but mostly
consists of back issues
• HML subscribes to the full-text component BUT also shows
links to articles outside the library. You must pay attention
to what you find.
• There is no “FIND IT” button
• Easiest way to work with JSTOR
is to get a free account and go from there.

66. Head right to “Advanced Search”

67. Advanced Searching
You will want to uncheck
the “only content I can
access box and leave the
other checked.

68. JSTOR results list
Still happy
because you
can get
articles just
need to
“click
through”

69. Managing results list in JSTOR

70. Exporting to RefWorks

71. Subject Specific Database

72. Annotated Bibliography
EVALUATE WHAT YOU FIND
• Allows you to see what is
out there
• Helps you narrow your topic
and discard any irrelevant
materials
• Aids in developing the thesis
• Makes you a better scholar
STEP 6

73. How to manage all you find
STEP 6

74. Log in to your account

75. Access ILL forms

76. ILL -- Fill in the blanks
Article will
appear in ONU
email as a pdf
attachment

77. How to do Research
CITE WHAT YOU FIND
There are 3 citation styles that
are in frequent used at ONU.
They are:
•MLA (Modern Language
Association)
•APA (American Psychological
Association)
•CMS (Chicago Manual of Style)
STEP 7

78. HELP
Reference Librarians
on duty
8a-4:30p Mon-Fri
6p-9p Mon-Thur
10a-3:30p Sundays
reference@onu.edu
Traci Welch Moritz, MLS
Public Services Librarian
Assistant Professor
Heterick Memorial Library
t-moritz@onu.edu
419-772-2473
419-772-2185