Made for the Northwest
Emily Carr, Museum of the Northwest
A CURRENT OVERVIEW OF COLLEGE RESEARCH:
Web - information effectively free of charge.
Deep web - the good stuff you pay for.
Database - information broker buying from publishers and selling to libraries.
Article - a research paper or chapter draft written and published by a scholar.
Peer review - process to establish fairness and accuracy in academic publishing.
Paid subscriptions.
Physical collections.
STEPS TO EFFECTIVE RESEARCH:
Step 1: Open a comprehensive research log.
Careful note taking and records are the foundation of any research.
Proper citation and documentation mark college level scholarship.
Taking notes ....
... Word file.
... Blog post.
... Email string.
... Pen and paper.
Step 2: Assess your topic on the web.
Controversial among librarians and faculty.
Google - to get your bearings on organized presence online.
Wikipedia - opportunity to add your research to web community.
Step 3: Engage the scholarly literature.
Library catalog user interface (institutional passwords) - Evergreen catalog
Periodical literature - library Subject Categories page
IMPORTANT DATABASE TITLES
JSTOR - Johns Hopkins publishers catalog, interdisciplinary content
ARTSTOR - image database from the JSTOR people with good metadata but limited range
Proquest Direct - the Walmart of scholary information (Walmart in a good way), includes newspapers
Ebscohost - ethnography, sociology, some arts
TANGIBLE MATERIALS
Evergreen catalog - books we have here
Summit Consortium - borrowing coop with other college libraries in OR and WA
Worldcat - hyperbolically titled but still extemely useful library union catalog
Step 4: Close your research log.
Save and organize your notes.
Back them up.
Print them and look them over.
Email them to yourself.
Step 5: Analyze and organize your research findings.
Data, information, knowledge (truth, meaning, irony, remembrance), wisdom.
Contact info
Jules Unsel, unselj@evergreen.edu
Ref desk, Mondays, 9am-noon; Wednesdays, 5-9pm