Research + the Libraries

Key skills and resources for Summer Scholars

S3P 2026

Andrea Baruzzi (she/her)  •  STEM Librarian

Christina Bush (she/her)  •  Research & Instruction Librarian

Simon Elichko (they/he)  •  Social Sciences & Data Librarian

• Get to know each other

• Introduction to Swarthmore's libraries

• What is research?

• How do we find it?

  • Databases & online research

  • In the libraries (McCabe scavenger hunt)

What are we doing here?

Introductions

• Part One:
  • Share your name, pronouns if you want, hometown, and favorite dessert
     
• Part Two
  • Break into groups of 4

  • Chat within your group about an experience or associations you have with libraries. This can be with a public library, a school library, etc.

     

Materials

People & Expertise

Programs

Spaces

Swarthmore Library Resources

Subject Librarians

Also: librarian@swarthmore.edu

Science, Math, Engineering

Educational Studies, Black Studies, Psychology

Art & Art History, Classics, Latin American & Latino Studies, Linguistics, Philosophy, Religion,  Spanish, English

Economics, Gender & Sexuality Studies, Peace & Conflict Studies, Political Science, Sociology & Anthropology

Dance, Music, Theater

Modern Languages & Literatures

Digital Scholarship

What is Research?

process

(something you do)

stuff

(something you find)

Speaking of research as stuff, what kinds of materials could you use?

• Print books
• Print journals
• eBooks
• Online journals
• Articles
• Book chapters
• Data and Statistics
• Maps
• Magazines and Newspapers
• DVDs and streaming video

Tripod

Libraries website

Research Guides 

Where can you find it?

At the libraries

Tripod Tutorial

Homework for today

    Swat              Haverford         Bryn Mawr

Which TriCo school (or schools) has a copy of
The Gene: An intimate history?

Finding research articles about
a topic of interest

Some useful tools
for finding research:

• Tripod (tripod.swarthmore.edu)

• Databases (Web of Science, JSTOR, PubMed)

• Google Scholar (scholar.google.com)

Librarians can help you learn to navigate the different resources available to you.

Web of Science

1. Go to Tripod, then choose Database Finder
    
2. Find the link to Web of Science
    
3. In Web of Science, search for vacation

What do you notice?

What do you think is different about these results than if you searched in Google?

Making sense of citations

Split into 4 groups of 4 

With your group, go to one of the whiteboard spaces 

Label the different elements of your assigned citation. (Use the elements list provided.)

Web of Science

Look at your search results in Web of Science
(rerun the search for vacation if you need to)

For many articles, Web of Science shows you both
references and citations.

What does it tell you when an article has a lot of citations?
 

Narrow your results by academic discipline (broadly speaking) by choosing one of the Web of Science Categories in Filters

How does database searching work?

Let's say you're looking for research related to The Listening Project. 

Learning to search & AI

Three realities to consider:

• Constructing good Boolean searches is worthwhile. Plenty of collections and resources are still only accessible this way. But it takes practice and patience.
• Each search system (Web of Science, JSTOR, Google) has its own technical quirks.
• Familiarity with the terms used by researchers really helps.

Using AI to help you search
(rather than to do the work for you)

Let's try this using one of Swarthmore's data-protected AI tools:

• LibreChat
• Gemini  (only data-protected when accessed through Swarthmore)

Sample prompt:

• Some example boolean searches to use in Web of Science to find research on helping middle schoolers strengthen their listening skills

Suggestions:

• Identify the platform/database
• Keep it plural ("some example...searches") so you can see different directions and choose from multiple possibilities

Using AI to help you search

Sample result:

• TS=("listening skill*" OR "listening comprehension" OR "auditory comprehension" OR "listening instruction" OR "listening strateg*")
  AND
  TS=("middle school*" OR "junior high*" OR adolescent* OR "grade 6" OR "grade 7" OR "grade 8" OR "sixth grade" OR "seventh grade" OR "eighth grade")
   

Copy and paste the search into Web of Science.

Using AI to help you search

Choose Query Builder

Paste your terms directly into Query Preview, then Search

You'll get results that: 

• Are research articles that were actually published in real journals
• You can filter by Web of Science Categories, Citation Topics, Date, etc.

sample results

How to verify a
journal article citation

Patterson, Trevor. 2007. "The Art of Peaceful Protest: Quaker Sketchbooks and American Social Movements," Quaker Historical Review, 47(3), 247-328.

Searching for an article directly is a good first step.

The best way to verify a citation is to check the issue of the journal where the article was (or wasn't!) published.

Forsythe, Mary. 2008. ""Universal friend of mankind": Gender dynamics in the founding of an eighteenth century religious community," American Historical Review, 113(4), 1003–1028.

Before we start moving around the library, do you have questions about...?

Using AI to help you search

Database Searching

Web of Science

Tripod & Library Resources

Citations & Journals

McCabe Scavenger Hunt

What questions do you have?

What's one thing you learned about the libraries today?

Library Help

Reach out and ask! We're here to help you learn and build your research skills.

• Your research projects
• Questions about library services
• Help accessing resources

How?

• Email us (librarian@swarthmore.edu)
• Make an appointment with a subject librarian
• Research Guides

• During the school year, you can use
  chat in Tripod to get help (from a real person)

Thank you!

Christina Bush (cbush1)

Research and Instruction Librarian

Andrea Baruzzi (abaruzz1)

STEM Librarian

Simon Elichko (selichk1)

Social Sciences & Data Librarian