1. HNFE 2014:
ORIENTATION TO SCHOLARLY
RESEARCH & RESOURCES
Rebecca Miller
millerrk@vt.edu OR hnfelibrarian@vt.edu
540-231-9669
February 2015

2. “RESEARCH”
 Involves identifying and locating sources that
provide factual information or personal/expert
opinion on a research question
 A necessary component of all research
projects/questions/methods at some point
 What IS the library, and why is it still relevant?

3. NEWMAN LIBRARY
 Physically, Newman Library houses most of the
research materials at VT
 Other branches include Vet Med and Art + Architecture
 Aside from books, journals, and reference help, you
will find:
 Comm Lab
 Electronic equipment (laptops, iPads, etc.)
 Language Resource Lab
 Writing Center

4. NEWMAN LIBRARY SERVICES
 Circulation
 Check out books, DVDs, journals, equipment and more!
 Use your Hokie Passport to do this
 Request It! service
 “Reserve” books are also found here
 Reference & research help
 Librarians. We’re here to help.
 Visit the 2nd floor reference desk
 Interlibrary Loan
 Desktop Delivery
 Order a book that the library does not own…it’s FREE to you!

5. ABOUT YOUR PID
 Your personal identification number that lets the
library system know you are a member of the VT
community
 Must have it to:
 Sign up for an Interlibrary Loan account
 Access databases from off campus
 Access electronic journals from off campus
 Access electronic books from off campus
 Renew your books online
 Check your record online
 Reserve a book if someone else has it checked out

6.  Start at the University Library’s website; it is a portal
to all databases, books, journal articles, and other
resources
http://www.lib.vt.edu
 Next, you may want to visit the HNFE Subject
Guide for ideas on where to begin research
STARTING RESEARCH

7. RESEARCH QUESTION KEYWORD SEARCH
Is melatonin treatment effective for children with
insomnia?
“melatonin treatment” AND children AND insomnia

8. BUILDING SEARCHES
Use our Search Strategy Builder:
http://www.lib.vt.edu/help/portal/search-strategy-
builder.html
Use PubMed’s Search Builder:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/advanced/

9. INFORMATION FORMATS
 Books
 Addison
 Summon
 Journal articles
 Summon
 Databases
Where to
search?

10. SUMMON
 The “library search engine”

11. PERIODICAL LITERATURE
 While books represent the best way to gain a basic
understanding (background) of your chosen topic,
periodical literature will let you gain an
understanding of the current conversation
revolving around your topic.
 What is a periodical? And how do you search for
related periodical articles?
 Think magazines, newspapers, journals…

12. DATABASES
 Definition:
Generally, a large, computer-based file of organized
information. In library terms, such a file, devoted to
a specific subject and organized for information
search and retrieval. For example, PubMed is a
database of sources, such as journal articles, for
the study of medical-related material. May also be
called an “index.”

13. DATABASES…
 Most likely, you will be using a database to look for
a periodical article much like you would use the
online catalog to look for a book
 The information is organized in the same way
 Databases will let you search for individual articles,
which the catalog will not let you do
 How do you decide which databases to use?

14. SELECTING A DATABASE
 Currently, at VT, we subscribe to nearly 1,000
databases
 Search for a specific database using the
“Databases” tab on the homepage
OR
 Use a related Subject Guide as your starting point,
and view recommended databases

15. DATABASE DEMONSTRATION
 PubMed
 Visit through the library website
 Make sure you’re logged in to Off Campus Sign In to
view the Get VText icon
 The most comprehensive medical database
 Some full text articles, some bibliographic articles
 Limits: dates, publication types, subjects
 Web of Science
 Visit through the library website
 If off campus, must log in to view this database
 Completely bibliographic database

16. USING KEYWORDS IN PUBMED

17. LIMITING YOUR SEARCH IN PUBMED

18. FINDING FULL TEXT
 Often, databases will offer the “full text” of an
article—the complete article
 Sometimes, it will not: you may need to be able to
track down the article from its citation or through
options in the database
 Look for the Get VText icon in the database you
are searching (make sure you are logged in through
Off Campus Sign In)
 Or, use the citation to track down the article through
Addison (or Interlibrary Loan)

19. A WORD ON PEER REVIEW
 What is peer review?
 Also known as “scholarly” or “refereed” (as opposed to
“popular”)
 An editorial process in which experts from a particular
discipline scrutinize articles before they are published by a
journal
 Why is it helpful to us, as researchers?
 We can trust that the information presented in a peer-
reviewed article or journal is authoritative
 You WANT to use peer-reviewed journals in your research
So, how can you tell if an article is from a peer-reviewed
journal?

20. DETERMINING PEER REVIEW
 The journal’s website—they will tell you if it’s peer
reviewed
 Ulrich’s Periodical Directory
 Using “limiting” options in a database that allows
you to search specifically for peer-reviewed articles
 Understanding the principles behind scholarly work,
and recognizing them…

21. RESOURCE EVALUATION, IN GENERAL
 Consider:
 Currency—when was the book/article/website
published?
 Audience—who is this information intended for? Why?
 Authority—who is the author? What are his/her
credentials?
 Publisher/sponsoring body—is this an academic
press? A hate group? Do they have a bias/agenda?
 Organization—is the book/article organized well? Is
the grammar correct? Are there footnotes, endnotes,
and a bibliography?
 Coverage—is the topic treated with depth? Does the
book/article contribute to the existing body of
knowledge?

22. A WORD ON CITATIONS
 There are many different styles of citations, but
they all have the same components
 When conducting research, it will be necessary to
understand citations:
 You will need to create citations when you attribute your
sources in papers/projects you create
 You will need to understand how to find the original
resource from the citations given in databases or other
bibliographies

23. CREATING APA CITATIONS
Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Date of publication). Title of article. Title of
Online Periodical, volume number(issue number if available). Retrieved
from
http://www.someaddress.com/full/url/
• Find more information on the library website:

24. READING & USING CITATIONS
 Citations can provide you with an “address” for
tracking down additional articles
 How could we find the full article for the following
citation?
Hellström, P. M. (2013, November). Obesity
research in adolescence: moving object--hard to
target. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. pp.
1147-1148.

25. USING CITATIONS TO FIND ARTICLES
 2 easy options:
 Use Summon to search for the article title
 Search our journal finder for the journal title (American
Journal of Clinical Nutrition) and see if we subscribe to it

26. REVIEW
 Library services
 Starting research
 Locating research resources
 Determining peer review
 Finding full text
 Good evaluation criteria
 APA citations
 Your questions…

27. Thank you!
Contact me if you have any lingering questions:
Rebecca Miller
hnfelibrarian@vt.edu
5004 Newman Library
540-231-9669