1. Writing Seminar -- Research
hints, tips and things you
need to know
Traci Welch Moritz
Public Services Librarian
Assistant Professor
Heterick Memorial Library

2. 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

3. What we’ll do today over the next
two days
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

4. How to remember everything

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

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

7. What we’ll do today
How to do research
How to use library
resources to do research
What resources to use
when doing research

8. 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: FIND INTERNET RESOURCES (if
appropriate for the assignment)
STEP 4: USE DATABASES TO FIND PERIODICAL
ARTICLES
STEP 5: EVALUATE WHAT YOU FIND
STEP 6: PULLING IT ALL TOGETHER
STEP 7: CITE WHAT YOU FIND

9. Start at the beginning
IDENTIFY AND DEVELOP YOUR TOPIC
•State your topic as a question
•Identify main concepts or keywords
•Test the topic -- 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
STEP Internet
Librarians, Instructors
1

10. Background Research -- Books
Click on the POLAR tab or Seach
POLAR link

11. 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

12. Find a Book -- POLAR

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

14. Books - Shortcuts
 More to come in a minute

15. Find a Book -- POLAR

16. 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

17. Find a Book -- POLAR

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

19. 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

20. 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 3-5 working days
 No charge
 Limited to 100 items at a time
 May keep up to 84 days

21. SearchOhio
 Access to several Ohio public libraries
 Access via OhioLINK
 An option when item wanted is not available at ONU or through
OhioLINK

22. Find a Book -- POLAR
 A small but
growing part of
the collection are
Ebooks
 Click to link to
content

23. What about Google?
Does the information located
satisfy the research need?
Is the information factual
and unbiased?
See handout “Critically
Analyzing Information
STEP Sources” the Writing Seminar
Research Guide
3

24. What about Google?
Google and Wikipedia aren’t
intrinsically evil, just use them for
the correct purpose in your research.

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

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

27. Databases
Often tools for locating journal
and newspaper articles
Most are subject-specific –
some multi-disciplinary
Many give access to full text of
articles
STEP
Heterick has 250+
4

28. Academic Search Complete
Lexis-Nexis
JSTOR : the Scholarly Journal
Archive
Search by Subject/Discipline for
subject specific databases

29. How to manage all you find

30. 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.

31. Head right to “Advanced Search”

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

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

34. Managing results list in JSTOR

35. Exporting to RefWorks

36. Log in to your account

37. What if…

38. Article not available from other
source?

39. How to do ILL

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

41. How to find print journals
Click on the link
to the catalog
for full details

42. Locating print journals
Click on Latest
Received to
see the current
locations for
periodicals

43. Locating print journals
Reserve means the periodical/journal is
held at the front desk.
Current means the issue is new and is
available on the open shelves beside the
computer lab.
All others are upstairs and arranged
alphabetically by title.
Bound means it’s out of the building
Arrived means it’s on the open shelves
Expected means it’s not here yet

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