Library

If given the choice, select a topic of interest to you that fulfills both the scope and requirements of the assignment. Express your topic as a statement or a question (for example, the effect of alcohol on the health of college students).

Consult general reference books to get an overview of your chosen topic and to find background information.

• Dictionaries and thesauruses define unfamiliar words and suggest related terms.
• Encyclopedias provide basic introductions to a variety of topics.
• Britannica Academic is an authoritative encyclopedia available online.
• Credo Reference is a database offering information in context from multiple reference sources.

To keep your research manageable, as well as to avoid information overload, refine your topic by focusing on a specific aspect (for example, the effect of binge drinking on the health of college athletes). Consult specialized reference books to find more detailed information about your selected topic.

• Subject encyclopedias, handbooks, and manuals can help you to narrow a particular topic.
• Gale eBooks is an online collection of specialized reference books.

Make a list of keywords to use as search terms when researching your topic in depth (for example, binge drinking, health, college athletes). These keywords may need to be revised as you search for information, depending on the terminology employed in the different resources. If your keywords don’t work, look for related search terms or subject headings in the relevant results that you do find.

Search the following online resources:

• EBSCO eBooks
  The EBSCO eBook Collection contains over 79,000 electronic books on many different academic topics.
• Databases
  The library subscribes to over 70 databases, covering a wide range of subjects. The following major databases, accessible on the library website, are good places to start your online research:
  • EBSCO Academic Search Complete
  • Gale Academic OneFile
  • Gale Opposing Viewpoints
  • Nexis Uni
  • ProQuest Research Library

Before deciding to use any information source, remember to apply the CRAAP test to ensure that it is appropriate for academic research. You want to evaluate potential information sources for the following characteristics:

This is particularly essential for resources found on the Web, as almost anyone can publish information online with relative ease.

Finally, but most importantly, remember to cite all the sources that you use in your research paper. Any ideas or words that are not your own that you quote, or paraphrase must be cited in the body of the paper, as well as in the bibliography or works cited list at the end of the paper. Citations must be formatted in an appropriate academic style. The most commonly used citation styles are American Psychological Association (APA) for the behavioral and social sciences, Modern Language Association (MLA) for the humanities, and University of Chicago/Turabian for either the humanities or sciences.

As part of the Title III funding project, the Library’s Reference Department has purchased six Nook e-readers for student use.

These can be checked out by any Merritt student for *in-house* use for two hours, with the option to renew, if no other students are waiting.

Students may use either the library’s NookBook purchases or have the option to log in to their Barnes Noble accounts to read their respective individual ebook purchases.

Please contact the ask@merritt.libanswers.com for hours that Nook readers are checked (436-2557).