pols 1101 (Arambula)

Table of Contents

• Research Basics
• Finding Sources
• Evaluating and Presenting Information
• Finding Books and Citation Help

Research Basics

Library Website Help

• Getting Started (video)
  • This video presents an introduction to the Odum Library webpage.
• Anywhere Access
  • Log in to Anywhere Access to use library resources while off-campus.
• Live Chat
  • The Live Chat page brings together every possible way to contact a Reference Librarian.  Contact methods include online chat, text message, email, phone, or visiting us in person during normal reference desk hours

Search Techniques and Strategy

• Boolean, Truncation & Wildcard (guide)
  • This guide will help you learn advanced searching techniques.
• Constructing a Search Strategy (guide)
  • This guide takes the techniques described in the previous guide and helps you search more effectively with them.
• Getting Your Hands on the Articles (guide)
  • This guide helps you find full text articles, even if they are not included in your specific database.

Using Interlibrary Loan (ILL)

Interlibrary Loan allows you to request articles, books, and other materials from other libraries.  You can use ILLiad, our online interlibrary loan system, to get articles in 2-5 days, or books in 2 weeks. 

• ILL FAQs
• ILLiad FAQs

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Finding Sources

Finding Books

• GIL-Find Tutorial (video)
• GIL Universal Catalog / GIL Express (guide)
  • The GIL Universal Catalog allows you to search for library books across the University System of Georgia.  GIL Express allows you to have those books delivered to any USG library within 2-5 days.
• WorldCat
  • WorldCat is a catalog for library holdings throughout the world.  You can search for a particular book here and find detailed information about it, which you can then use for Interlibrary Loan (ILL) forms.  While using this FirstSearch version of WorldCat, you can click on the "Find It" button within a record and then send WorldCat information to our ILL system automatically. 

Finding Newspaper Articles

• ProQuest Newspapers
  • Christian Science Monitor (1988 - ) Full Text
  • Los Angeles Times (1985 - ) Full Text
  • New York Times (1980 - ) Full Text
  • Wall Street Journal (1984 - ) Full Text
  • Washington Post (1987 - ) Full Text

Finding Popular Periodical Articles

• LexisNexis Academic
  • In the "Search the News" box, click on "Major World Publications" and change it to "Magazines."

Finding Scholarly Articles

• Academic Search Complete (at EBSCOhost)
  • To search for only peer-reviewed articles, click the "Scholarly (Peer Reviewed) Journals" check box under the search bars.
• JSTOR
• Sociological Collection
• Worldwide Political Science Abstracts

Be sure to check out our subject guides on the Library Homepage, which have recommendations for more specialized databases.  Click on "select subject" below "Articles by Subject" to get a list of subjects, and select the subject that best fits your topic. 

Finding Websites

• Ipl2 (formerly Librarians' Internet Index and Internet Public Library)
  • Click on "Resources by Subject" to browse the web page collection by topic.
• Google

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Evaluating and Presenting Information

These guides will help you distinguish between the different types of information sources, evaluate the sources you find, and present your information in a professional manner.

Types of Sources

• Primary vs. Secondary vs. Tertiary Sources (guide at Auburn University Libraries)
• Scholarly Journals vs. Trade Magazines vs. Popular Magazines (guide)

Evaluating Sources

• Evaluating Journal Articles (guide)
• Peer Review (guide)

Presenting Information

• Paraphrase: Write it in your own words (OWL at Purdue)
• Evaluating Sources of Information (OWL at Purdue)
• Annotated Bibliographies (OWL at Purdue)

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Citation Help

• Odum Library Citation Guides
• Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL)
• Research & Documentation Online (from dianahacker.com)
• VSU Student Success Center
  • The VSU Student Success Center can provide in-person assistance and tutoring for citation help.

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