MEd Higher Education Leadership Students' Research Guide
Contents:
Finding Books at VSU and Beyond
Renewing and Requesting Books
Finding Articles
Requesting Articles
Peer Review
Citation Help
Finding Theses
Recommended Reading
Ask a Reference Librarian
Finding Books at VSU and Beyond
- Search for a book in VSU's online catalog, GIL-Find@VSU. Our reference collection is shelved on the 2nd floor of Odum Library, and the general collection can be found on the 2nd and 3rd floors. (Most books used for education will be on the 3rd floor in the L's.) Consult our floor maps for help locating books.
- You can borrow books from any institution in the University System of Georgia (USG). See what's available by searching the GIL-Find Universal Catalog.
- Use the WorldCat catalog to search the world's libraries for that obscure item you need for your research. (Note: You'll need to log in with your BlazeVIEW username and password to access this resource from off campus.)
Renewing and Requesting Books
Log into your library account to view a list of items you have checked out. You can renew them online as long as they're not overdue.
- Your library account at VSU is called your GIL account (as in GIL-Find catalog). You can access the login page here (or from the My Accounts & Passwords link on the library homepage).
- The first time you log in, you'll need to request your pin number. Enter your VSU ID number (a 9-digit number beginning with 870-) and your last name, then click "Get My Pin". A 5-digit pin number will be sent to your Live@VState email account.
- Once you have your pin, return to the login page and enter your VSU ID number, last name, and pin, then click "Login". The first thing you should see is your profile page. The only item that may be of interest here is the current GALILEO password, which will be displayed at the bottom of the page. This password can be used to access our electronic resources, such as ebooks and databases. It changes at least once per semester.
- On the right side of the screen you'll see a menu, including a button for "Checked-Out Items" which you can use to see what books you have out and renew them.
You can borrow books from other USG libraries through a service called GIL Express. If you need a book that isn't owned by the USG, you can borrow it through Interlibrary Loan (ILL).
- To request an item through GIL Express, begin by locating it in the GIL-Find Universal Catalog.
- Look at the holdings for the book. If it's available at VSU, come check it out of our library. If not, follow the "Place GIL-Express Request" link.
- The request form should automatically select VSU as the pickup library, with the 2nd floor circulation desk as the pickup location.
- Click on "Submit Request" and your book will be in process. When the item is available, you will receive a notification in your Live@VState email account. (Faculty members' requests will be delivered to their department.)
- For an example of how to submit a request, see our GIL Express Guide.
- To request a book through Interlibrary Loan (ILL), go to the ILL login page here (also accessible from the main menu of the library homepage).
- Log in with your BlazeVIEW username and password.
- The first time you log in you will be asked to complete a brief registration page. Be sure to fill in all required fields. As a student in the MEd Higher Education Leadership program, you should select "hold for pickup" as your delivery method, select "graduate" as your status, and "Educational Leadership" as your department.
- To request a book, click on the "request a book" button and fill in all required fields.
- You will receive a notification in your Live@VState email account when the book is ready for pickup at the main circulation desk on the 2nd floor of Odum Library.
Finding Articles
Odum Library subscribes to many databases that will be useful in your search for articles.
- Before you start your research, make sure you have a search strategy in mind. Start with your topic, then break it down into keywords and connect them with Boolean operators.
- Once you have a strategy in mind, start at the Odum Library homepage.
- If you're doing research on campus, you can move on to the next step. If you're working from home, you'll need to log into Anywhere Access (you'll also find a link to this in the main menu on the library homepage) with your BlazeVIEW username and password. Once you are logged in, you can either navigate to the databases by clicking on the blue GALILEO button in the center of the screen or you can return to the Odum Library homepage and use our articles tab.
- You'll find an articles tab near the center of the Odum Library homepage with menus for "Articles by Subject" and "General Databases".
- If you want to search a database that's specific to the field of Education, select Education from the Articles by Subject menu to go to the Education subject guide.
- There are a handful of relevant databases for Education, but we usually find that ERIC (at EBSCOhost)
 gives users the best results.
- If you want to search a more general database that isn't specific to Education, try the following:
If you have the citation for an article that you want to find:
- Start at the Odum Library homepage and click on the Journals tab.
- Enter the journal title (not the title of the article) in the Electronic Journals search box. If we have access to the journal through one or more online databases, they will be listed below the journal title after you perform the search. After the name of the database, you'll see the dates the journal is covered. Follow the link for a database that covers the year you need access to.
- If we do not have electronic coverage of the journal, try searching for it in the Print Journals search box. Print journals are shelved on the first floor of Odum Library and are arranged alphabetically by title. The most current issues are found on the south side of the building near the Media Center. Older issues are bound and then shelved on the north side of the building.
Requesting Articles
- If you find a citation for an article but not the actual article, use the Find-It button to determine if you can access it instantly with another database. or if it is available in our print journal collection.
- If not, use the Find-it button's link to Interlibrary Loan to submit a request for the article. Using the link in the Find-It window will send all of the required information about the article (such as journal title, author, etc.) to the system so you don't have to copy and paste it all.
- You will receive a notification in your Live@VState email account when the article is ready for you to view. Log into Interlibrary Loan and click on "View/Download Electronically Received Articles" to view it.
- Articles are delivered as PDF files. They expire from the system after about a month, so if you need access to the article for longer than that period of time, please save a copy.
Peer Review
- Most databases will let you limit your research to peer reviewed articles. This is an important step to remember, because more often than not you won't want to include articles from popular magazines, trade magazines, or newspapers in your research. There are times that these kinds of sources are appropriate, but for most research papers, they will not be.
- Visit our guide to learn more about peer review.
- Use the Ulrich's database to make sure the journal you're using is peer reviewed.
Citation Help
Finding Theses
If you're writing a thesis, you might want to look at a few examples from other VSU students. You can do so with VText, our institutional repository for theses and dissertations at VSU. To find theses and dissertations from the world outside of VSU, use Proquest Dissertations & Theses.
Recommended Reading
Ask a Reference Librarian
If at any time you need help using the library's resources, please contact the reference librarians. We will be happy to assist you. You'll find a Live Chat button on the library homepage that will let you:
- chat online with a reference librarian.*
- send a text message to a reference librarian.*
- call the reference desk.*
- email a reference librarian.
- schedule an in-depth consultation with a reference librarian.
- get the hours for the reference desk.
*During the reference desk's hours of operation. |
