Guide to Library Research in Science

Introduction

In an increasingly complex information environment, it is important that individuals develop the ability to determine when and what kind of information is needed, and to locate, evaluate, and use it effectively. This purpose of this guide is to:

• explain the importance, evolution, and organization of the scientific literature;
• provide suggestions for developing a search strategy;
• suggest specific reference sources and general browsing strategies to use as a starting point;
• explain the organization of the College of Wooster libraries;
• introduce techniques for using library catalogs, research databases, and the World Wide Web;
• demonstrate how to locate the books, periodicals, and other references you retrieve in your search of catalogs and databases;
• provide advice on how to evaluate the quality of the information retrieved;
• and discuss the ethical use of information.

The Guide to Library Research in Science consists of several integrated lessons to help you with each stage of your library research.

• Lesson 1: Information Literacy
  What is information literacy?
  What skills characterize an information literate student?
  How are those skills measured?
  What special skills and competencies apply to scientific information literacy?


• Lesson 2: Scientific Communication
  How does the scientific literature evolve?
  What are primary, secondary and tertiary sources?
  What is the importance of the scientific journal?
  What is the difference between popular and scholarly sources in the sciences?
  What is meant by peer-review?


• Lesson 3: Reference Sources
  Why are reference sources important?
  What kind of information is available in each different kind of reference source?
  What reference sources are recommended in each of the science disciplines?


• Lesson 4: Organization of Library Materials
  What classification systems are used to organize materials in the College of Wooster Libraries?
  How do you read Library of Congress and Superintendent of Documents call numbers?
  Where are CONSORT catalog locations and call numbers found in the libraries?


• Lesson 5: Search Strategies and Techniques
  How do you plan an effective search strategy?
  How do you combine terms?
  What special search techniques can you use to help focus or expand your retrieval?
  What is the difference between searching by keyword or by subject headings?
  What are natural language searching and cited reference searching?


• Lesson 6: Searching Library Catalogs
  What materials are listed in library catalogs?
  What are the CONSORT and OhioLINK catalogs and how can you search them?
  What special features are available in the CONSORT catalog?
  What other library catalogs are available?


• Lesson 7: Finding Citations to Articles in Periodicals
  What is the purpose of online bibliographic databases?
  What databases are available at the College, especially for the sciences?
  What is the difference between a database and a search and retrieval system?
  Where can you find documentation for searching each database and system?


• Lesson 8: Understanding Citations
  How can you tell whether you have a citation to a book, a journal article, or other document?
  How do you access each different kind of document?
  How do citation formats differ from one discipline to another?
  How do you read abbreviations in citations?
  What additional elements appear in citations to electronic resources?


• Lesson 9: Finding Full Text of Journal Articles
  Once you have a citation to a journal article, how do you access the full text?
  What is ILLiad and how do you use it?


• Lesson 10: Searching the World Wide Web
  What search tools should you use to search the World Wide Web?
  What is Google Scholar, and how does it differ from Google?
  How do you develop a search strategy for searching the Web?
  Why is it important to evaluate Web sites?
  What questions do you ask when evaluating a Web site?
  How do you cite electronic resources?


• Lesson 11: Borrowing from Other Libraries
  When and how can you borrow books through CONSORT and OhioLINK?
  When and how can you request journal articles from other libraries?
  What is ILLiad and how do you use it?


• Lesson 12: Evaluating Information
  Why is it important to evaluate the information retrieved in searches of the literature?
  What criteria should you use for evaluation?
  What questions should you ask?


• Lesson 13: Ethical Use of Information
  What is academic integrity and why is it important?
  What is plagiarism and how do you avoid it?
  Where can you find help in citing sources?