ENGL 240: Library Research

Mackenzie Brooks

Assistant Professor & Digital Humanities Librarian

brooksm@wlu.edu // Leyburn M37

March 17, 2016

 

Agenda

• Understand how a library works.

• Be able to "search everything."

• Try out some English databases.

• Have a framework for evaluating sources

How the Library Works

How the Library Works

Collections + People

Search Everything is:

• a discovery tool/system/service
• something we pay for
• potentially biased
• one of the best of its kind
• still not perfect
• constantly changing

How was your Search Everything experience?

Discipline-specific databases

If Search Everything is too much, try a discipline-specific database.

 

A-Z Database > limit by subject

English databases

- Literature Online (LION)

- MLA International Bibliography

- Literature Resource Center

- Iter: Gateway to the Middle Ages and Renaissance

How was your discipline-specific database experience?

A word on Google Scholar...

Research!?!

words of wisdom

1. Research is iterative.

2. Information overload = filter failure.

3. There is no perfect source. There is no perfect database.

 

 

 

Zotero and ILL are your best friends.

 

http://library.wlu.edu/zotero

 

Services > Interlibrary Loan