This document provides an overview of research basics and library resources from a presentation by Laksamee Putnam, a research librarian. It discusses developing keywords for search topics, evaluating online information sources, searching the library catalog and databases for books and articles, and asking librarians for research help. Evaluation criteria like currency, reliability, authority and purpose are presented for assessing information quality. Boolean operators and truncation are also covered for effective searching.

1. TSEM 102– LIBRARY
AND RESEARCH BASICS Laksamee
Putnam
lputnam@towson
.edu
Research and
Instruction
Librarian

2. FIRST…
 Laksamee Putnam
 lputnam@towson.edu
 Cook Library Reference:
 410.704.2462.
 IM/email
 Phone: 410.704.3746.
 Slides: http://bit.ly/COSC111research2012

3. TAKE AWAY…
 Readings Discussion
 Evaluate the information
 Keywords and Connectors
 Finding books/articles in the Cook Library
 Come up with keywords!
 Slides: http://bit.ly/COSC111research2012

4. RESEARCH IS COMPLICATED
 What are the pros and cons
of so much information
being online?
 What do you do to be sure
you’re finding more than
“information junk food”?
 How do you evaluate the
information you find while
Prater, E. (2011) Beware online filter bubbles. TED: Ideas worth researching?
spreading.
http://www.ted.com/talks/eli_pariser_beware_online_filter_bubb
les.html  Why is it important to
Appelbaum, Y. (2012). How the professor who fooled Wikipedia support your argument with
got caught by Reddit. The Atlantic. May 15. valid sources?
http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/05/how-
the-professor-who-fooled-wikipedia-got-caught-by-
reddit/257134/#

5. EVALUATE WHAT YOU FIND
 Go to one of the websites below and analyze it
 http://bit.ly/cosmicweb1
 http://bit.ly/cosmicweb2
 http://bit.ly/cosmicweb3
 http://bit.ly/cosmicweb4
 http://bit.ly/cosmicweb5
 http://bit.ly/cosmicweb6
 http://bit.ly/cosmicweb7

6. CHECK FOR CRAP
Currency
 How recent is the
information?
 Can you locate a date
when the resource was
written/created/updat
ed?
 Based on your topic, is
this current enough?
 Why might the date
matter for your topic?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/helloeveryone123/393737419
3/sizes/m/in/photostream/
Guidelines for CRAP provided by the Jean and Alexander Heard Library

7. CHECK FOR CRAP
Reliability
 What kind of
information is included
in the resource?
 Does the author
provide citations &
references for
quotations & data
 Where are you
accessing this http://www.flickr.com/photos/schnappi/5930145952/sizes/l/in/photostream/
information?
Guidelines for CRAP provided by the Jean and Alexander Heard Library

8. CHECK FOR CRAP
 Authority
 Can you determine who
the author/creator is?
 What are their
credentials (education,
affiliation, experience,
etc.)?
 Who is the publisher or
sponsor of the
work/site?
 Is this publisher/sponsor
reputable http://rantchick.com/a-doctrine-on-respect/
Guidelines for CRAP provided by the Jean and Alexander Heard Library

9. CHECK FOR CRAP
Purpose/Point of
View
 Is the content
primarily opinion?
 Is the information
balanced or biased?
 What is the purpose
of the information? Is
it to inform, teach,
sell, entertain or
persuade
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cogdog/5484085301/sizes/m/
in/photostream/
Guidelines for CRAP provided by the Jean and Alexander Heard Library

10. PREPARING TO SEARCH
 Articulate your topic
 Choose important ideas
 Identify keywords
 Find background
information
 Reference books
 Websites
 Gather, organize and http://youtu.be/WoZ2BgPVtA0
narrow it down

11. KEYWORDS ARE CRITICAL!
 Sample topic:
 What current technology improves disabled human mobility?
 First, break the question down into keywords:
 What current technology improves disabled human mobility?

12. FORMULATING A KEYWORD SEARCH
Consider synonyms/alternati ve spellings for terms
 technology
 prosthetic
 bionic
 automation
 human
 person
 people
 veteran/polio/child
 mobility
 paralyze
 transportation
 move
 activity

13. SIMILAR IDEAS….DIFFERENT WORDS
Cellphone
Cell phone
Cellular telephone
Wireless phone
Mobile
Smartphone

14. FORMULATING A KEYWORD SEARCH
Formulate your search utilizing various combinations of your
words
 String them together using AND/OR/NOT
 Truncate *
 Phrase searching

15. BOOLEAN SEARCH CONNECTORS
AND OR NOT
For example:
spam AND internet security
Combining >1 topic
OLED OR organic light emitting
diodes
Combining synonymous terms

16. WHAT AND DOES…
spam AND internet security

17. WHAT OR DOES…
organic
OLED light
emitting
diodes
OLED OR organic light emitting diodes

18. DON’T FORGET: TRUNCATION HELPS
technolog* finds…
technolog y
technolog ies
technolog ists
technolog ical
technolog ically
…etc!

19. PHRASE SEARCHING
 Use quotations to keep a keyword phrase intact (words will be
searched in the specific order)
 Examples:
 “Bank of America”
 “Cisco Systems”

20. PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER…
 How Apple created and marketed its products successfully?
Technology Human Mobility
bionic person transport*
prosthetic “disabled veteran” activ*
technolog* OR bionic OR prosthetic
AND
human OR person OR “disabled veteran”
AND
mobility OR transport*OR activ*

21. IMPROVE GOOGLE
sibling AND rivalry
 Advanced Google  Cook Library’s Guide to
searching the Web
 Power searching
 Duck Duck Go?

22. FINDING BOOKS
 Plenty of relevant
information in print
 Use broad keywords
 Multiple places to search
 Cook OneSearch
 Library Catalog
 USMAI Libraries

23. FINDING BOOKS

24. FINDING BOOKS

25. FINDING BOOKS
Towson Catalog
Collection and Call
Number
USMAI Combined
Catalog
Requests
Interlibrary Loan
(Illiad)

26. FINDING ARTICLES
 Scholarly – Peer
Reviewed
 Use specific keywords
 Utilized advanced
search features
Card Catalogue. [Photographer]. Retrieved from
Encyclopædia Britannica Image Quest.
http://quest.eb.com/images/115_2838287

27. FINDING ARTICLES

28. FINDING ARTICLES
 Features to remember
 Yellow Findit button
 Citation creations
 Email yourself
 Also as you are searching
 Take a look at the article citations
 Make note of additional keywords

29. START YOUR RESEARCH
 Start filling out this form:
 http://bit.ly/TSEMCooper2012WS
 Come up with keywords on your topic
 Next class:
 Discussion on video
 Additional research time for books/articles

30. QUESTIONS?
 Feel free to contact me:
 Laksamee Putnam
 lputnam@towson.edu
 410.704.3746.
 Or any reference librarian:
 Visit Cook Library Reference Desk
 410.704.2462.
 IM – tucookchat