ENGL 312: 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

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

What did you find?

CRAAP Test!

Currency: the timeliness of the information

 

Relevance: the importance of the information to your needs

 

Authority: the source of the information

 

Accuracy: reliability, truthfulness, and correctness

 

Purpose: the reason the information exists

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