1. COMM 270
Florence Tang
Liaison to the Penfield
College for the Atlanta
Campus
678-547-6261
tang_fy@mercer.edu
2. Cornell University Library definition
of a reference librarian
http://www.library.cornell.edu/olinuris/ref/research/vocab.html
Reference Librarian
Reference librarians are
specialists in the field of
information retrieval. Generally
they have a Masters degree in
library science… They are
available at reference desks to
help you find the information
you are looking for.
4. Questions? Ask Reference!
(678) 547-6282 (Atlanta)
http://libraries.mercer.edu/research-tools-
help/ask-a-librarian/swilley/email-reference
Reference Hours
M - Th 9AM-9PM
F 9AM-6PM
Sat 10AM-6PM
Sun 1PM-9PM
Add askmercer as your buddy!
5.
6. Remember to start your research
early. Not everything can be found
full-text online or at all hours.
o Interlibrary Loan
o Interlibrary Use
o Print copies of books and
journals
o Databases unavailable from
off-campus
o Reference Librarian
10. Books
Good for background
Comprehensive
Information may not be as
current as what you would
find in journal articles or
web sites.
That might or might not be
important.
11. “Scholarly” Journals
• Periodicals used by researchers
to share their findings with one
another and the public.
• They contain articles describing
new research or ideas written
in a formal manner that
includes background
information, methods used,
results/interpretation and
significance.
• Research articles are peer-reviewed
12. Scholarly Journals
How do I tell?
• May contain graphs and charts.
• Written by a scholar in the field or
by someone who has done
research in the field. Degrees
attained and institutional
affiliations are often included by
the authors’ names.
• Always cite their sources in the
form of footnotes or
bibliographies
• No glossy pages or pictures
14. Popular Magazines
How do I tell?
• Slick, glossy and attractive in
appearance.
• Lots of graphics (photographs,
drawings, etc.).
• Articles are usually very short,
written in simple language .
• Generally little depth to the
content of these articles.
17. Web vs. Libraries
• When you use a research
or academic library, the
books, journals and other
resources have already
been evaluated by
scholars, publishers and
librarians.
• When you are using the
freely available Internet,
none of this applies.
18. Finding Books
Use the CATALOG to find
books
http://library.mercer.edu
When you search the
catalog, you will find books
that are located in the Swilley
Library or another Mercer
Library.
36. Finding Articles
To find Articles, use a database or
index
• A database is a collection of
citations for articles or similar
information
• Some databases will contain full
texts of articles
• Some databases are specific
(such as Education or Business)
and some cover many subjects
37. Finding Articles
• Find full-text articles OR
– Find a citation
– Check to see if your library
has the journal in another
database – If not, we can
order it for you via
InterLibrary Loan.
53. SUITABILITY
• Scope.
Is this a general work that provides an overview
of the topic or is it specifically focused on only
one aspect of your topic? Is it relevant?
Does the resource cover the right time period
that you are interested in?
• Audience. Who is the intended audience for
this source? Is the material too technical or
too clinical?
• Timeliness. When was the source published?
54. Objectivity
• What point of view does
the author represent?
• Is the article an editorial
that is trying to argue a
position?
• Is the article published in a
magazine that has a
particular editorial
position?
55. Do not
• Share your MUID and
password with others.
• Upload an article to a
webpage that others can
access.
• Copy and paste sections
of an article into your
paper without using
quotations.