Library Instruction Script for ENC 1101

(Introduction to College Writing)

Introduction (~5 min.)

Greeting

• Introduce yourself, what role you have in the library, & areas of interest you may wish to share. You may also wish to write your name & contact information on the board.
• You can introduce your student assistant (Patrick, Yancy, Joseph). Students are more likely to ask for help from them if they know their name.
• Mention where students can go to receive further help: reference desk, Ask a Librarian (show where the link is on the homepage), E-mail, or call us.

Goals for this Session

• How to use the library catalog.
• How to find & use databases to locate journal articles. The databases reviewed in class are Lexis Nexis Academic (for news sources) and Academic Search Premier (general/multidisciplined database). If Lexis Nexis is not applicable, then feel free to show them an alternative. Such examples include CQ Researcher or Oppossing Viewpoints database.
• To make you familiar with the typical search features that are common to most of the library databases.
• Free searching with remaining time.

Show students how to get to the handouts page off of our instruction page or write this URL on the board: http://www.uflib.ufl.edu/jgs/hand1.html

UF Libraries Catalog: Basics Searching Skills

(~10-15 min. Fall/Spring semester & ~20 min. in Summer)

UF Library Catalog Features

Mention the purpose of the catalog. The catalog is used to find items owned by the Libraries:

• Books
• Microforms
• Videos/DVD's, Audio-Visual material
• Electronic resources
• Periodicals (volumes, not individual articles--articles are found by using databases)

Show students how to search the catalog using the search box on the UF Libraries Homepage. If you have your student assistant pass out the book jackets, then you can have students perform a title search.

Basic Searching

Note: The following search examples are meant as guides.  Please feel free to prepare your own search examples.

Search Example 1:

Title:       mountains beyond mountains

• You can show students how to examine the full catalog record (bibliographic citation, T.O.C., etc.).
• Show them how to figure out which library owns the item, if the item is checked out & the call number.
• Mention how to request an item if somebody has it checked out or in storage.

Advanced Search

If students are working on a controversial or hot topic for their assignment, you may wish to show them how to find books on such a topic using the advanced search. Click on ‘Advanced Search' to the right of the basic search box.

Search Example 2

Anywhere or Subject Heading = global warming

Anywhere = environment

215 or 89 records retrieved.  Evaluate results.

Feel free to point out pertinent features like how to limit search results using the Subject: Topic (or any other relevant) category in the left-hand menu.

Patron Empowerment Features

If time allows, demonstrate how to use the basic patron empowerment features of the catalog:

Renewals/Library Account button at the top-right of the catalog pages.

User ID = UF ID or 14-digit number on the Gator1 Card (enter no dashes or spaces)

Verification = Enter the month and day of your birthday as 4 digits (ex. September 10^th would be entered as 0910)

Explain what is available on the user Information screen

1.  Loans – displays patron's current loans and enables renewals if allowed. You may “renew all” or click on the number for each item to renew it separately.

2.  Holds – information regarding the status of holds/recalls placed.

3.  My Account – overview of loans and holds. Change your password here.

Questions?

Finding & Accessing Databases (~5 min.)

Why would you use a database?         

• Allows you to search for and access articles from many (hundreds or even thousands) periodicals (magazines, journals, newspapers) at one time.
• Using a database basically assures higher quality content, whereas Internet search engines (like Google) have both good and bad quality sources.

Remote Access

·     In order to use UF's electronic resources from off campus, you need to use our VPN or proxy server. 

·     Show students the links to Off-Campus Access or the Remote Access quick link.

Methods of finding a database

      1. Project Starters (emphasize this methods for undergraduates)

Library home page >> Databases >> Project Starters

2. Research Gateway/Database by title (if applicable)

*Note: Feel free to show students the CQ Researcher or Oppossing Viewpoints databases in place of Lexis Nexis if it is appropriate to their assignment/topic.

Lexis Nexis Academic (~5-10 min.)

Why would you use Lexis Nexis?  It is a great source for up to the minute news sources.

Getting to Lexis Nexis

• UF Libraries Home page > Find > Databases > Project Starters > Lexis Nexis

Search Example 1

    Easy search

Search Terms: illegal immigration AND United States AND surveillance

Limit to previous year

Point out important features:

• Full-text
• Limiting results by type of periodical
• Marking & exporting records (E-mail, print, save)
• Narrowing or editing search from results page
• Sorting records (if applicable)

Questions/Problems using this database?

Academic Search Premier (ASP) (~15 min. Fall/Spring & 20 min. in Summer)

Why would you use ASP?

• To find articles from over 4,500 periodicals (magazines, journals, & newspapers). It is a general or multi-purpose database that can be used to find articles in many different subject areas.  It contains thousands of popular magazines as well as scholarly journals.
• It contains a good amount of full-text articles (the newer the article the better the chances of finding it full-text).
• International in scope (not just U.S).

Getting to ASP

Use the Project Starters link to get to Academic Search Premier

UF Libraries Home page > Find > Databases > Project Starters > Academic Search Premier

Basic Searching

Demonstrate a basic keyword search

*Search Example 1: Obesity

Over 27,000 records retrieved—Too many Results! Why did we get so many results?  Unfocused search (too vague). Like Google: Explain how a computer searches for keyword anywhere throughout the full-text (and therefore it can find unrelated information/garbage).

Discuss with students the different aspects of this topic that one could research.  Show how these keywords can be used to limit/focus your search. Examples:

• Who?                          Children, adults (men/women)
• Where?                      United States, Europe, world
• What are the related topics?         Exercise, nutrition, junk food, vending machines

Basic Search Using Boolean Operators

Explain Boolean searching and why you would use it. [Return to the basic search screen using the ‘Refine Search' tab (blue tab on the bottom left- hand side of the screen)]

*Search Example 2: Obesity + Children = 4,446 records returned

Pick a suitable record and explain the following citation features:

Reading a citation

Basic information: author, title, source

Other Important/Vital Information

• Full-Text icons (PDF and/or HTML) indicating what format an article is available full-text.

• Abstract gives you a brief summary (about a paragraph long) of what the article is about. It helps you to figure out if the article is what you want.

• Subject headings or descriptors are specific terms used by databases to classify its articles. If you don't search for the right term, then you may not find many articles for the topic you want.

If you have a hard time finding articles & don't know what keywords to use, then try using these two methods to find out what terms the database uses to index/organize its articles:

Tip 1: Find one article that is the what you want, then look under the subject headings to see what other words may help you find more useful articles. You can click directly on the hot-linked term or copy and paste them into the search box.

Tip 2: Some databases (like Academic Search Premier and WilsonWeb) offer a thesaurus that will allow you to search for a term and find out what subject headings they use to organize their journal articles. [Librarians can demonstrate how to browse various topics by doing a subject term search. To do so, click on the ‘Subject Terms' link on the top, green tool bar. Sample topics: heart attack (see-- Myocardial infarction)]

The subject term search will tell you: if the database uses a different name for something. It will also give you related, as well as broader and narrower terms to help you focus your search.

Still too many records!  We need to focus this search further.

Advanced Searching

An advanced search is often a more effective way of searching since you use limiters (i.e. multiple keywords, date, peer-reviewed, full-text, etc.) to focus the search.  The goal is to end up with a nice, manageable list of articles that are relevant to your topic.

Sample research topic: What schools are doing to either prevent or encourage obesity in children (i.e. nutrition programs, access to vending machines, exercise programs, etc.).

Let's turn this research topic into an advanced search [Click on advanced search tab at the top of the page to begin searching.]:

*Search Example 3: obes* (explain truncation) + children + schools = 479 records

Limit by peer reviewed (225 records) + by date (2006-2007) = 57 records

              If time allows, discuss: Scholarly versus general Periodicals

Alternative searches:

                      obes* + children + junk food = 88

Limiting by peer reviewed = 18

obes* + children + vending machines = 50

Limiting by peer reviewed = 9

children + school* + junk food = 111

Limiting by peer reviewed = 13

Finding Full-Text

What happens if you really like an article, but there is no full-text? If a database doesn't have an article full-text, then the Find It icon will help you to find full-text of the article.

How to locate a full-text article using the Find It link (flow-chart method):

1.   If full-text is not available right in Academic Search Premier, then go to step 2.

2. If there's no full-text in ASP, then click on the Find It link. This software searches other electronic resources UF owns (databases, E-journals, etc.) to find the article full-text electronically (if it is available, then it can still save you some work).

3. If Find It doesn't have any full-text links, then the “UF library Catalog” link will always be there. You can see if UF owns it in print, microform, etc. (you'll have to go get the physical journal on the shelf to copy the article out of it). Use the Find It link to demonstrate how to do so.

4.   Last resort, if it is not available full-text anywhere Online, and we don't own a hard copy here at UF, then you have to get it through Interlibrary Loan.  If time allows, show them where the link is for the ILL page: Services > Interlibrary Loan

Marking & E-mailing

• Have students mark any two records that look interesting (click on the folder icon to the right of the citation) Go to folder link (top right)Click on the E-mail link in the top menu. Enter E-mail address & name it something you will remember.
• Point out potential problems: If they want to keep that item in their folder, make sure they uncheck the “Remove items after E-mailing” or it will delete your records.

Questions/Problems?

Free Searching (Fall/Spring: whatever time remains, ~5-10+ min.)

Individual searching time on the student's research topics. Librarian, teacher, & student circulate to assist students.

Further Assistance

End class by encouraging students to use the built-in HELP links in the databases to discover how a feature works. Also remind students that they can get help by chatting live with a librarian (using our Ask a Librarian service), calling us on the phone or coming in person to any reference desk in the UF Libraries.

Revised by Paul Victor on 10/15/07