Library Exploration Report
The purpose of this
project is to give you experience finding materials at the library. Follow the instructions below. You will end up writing a brief report of four
separate pages plus a three-page appendix.
Each page should be numbered, and all pages must be stapled
together. The report must be typed.
1. Select a topic to research. It must be some topic you are interested in that relates to psychology. If you need help thinking of a topic, skim through your text, look at its index, and look at its table of contents. Your topic should not be too broad – for example, something like “alcoholism” or “memory” will produce thousands of items. Narrow your topic to something more specific, like “memory loss in children related to traumatic stress.” Your topic must not be the same as anyone else in the class that you know. If two people select the same topic, we may ask each of them to do the project over, using a different topic.
2. Go into one of the media centers in the library, find a computer, and open the library homepage on the Oneonta web site. On this page you will see links for all types of search engines. In this project you will use three: web Oscar, Eric, and Lexis-Nexis.
3. Web Oscar.
Click on the link for Web Oscar on the library
home page.
Insert your research topic into the field.
Record the number of hits that you receive on
this topic.
Pick one of the books available in our library
from the screen and write down the call number, the book title and the author’s
name.
Get a map at the front desk of the library.
Use the map to find the book in the library.
You do NOT need to read the book, but you should
skim it briefly (look at the table of contents and read the first few sentences
of every chapter).
4. Use this book to
write up PAGE 1 of your report, which should contain the following:
- the standard heading at the top of the page,
with the topic “Library Exploration.”
- a TITLE, centered, that says “Library
Exploration on the Topic of __________,”
with
your selected topic entered in the blank spot.
- Another heading, centered, that says “Item
1: Book”
- a complete APA reference to the book. (See the Note on APA references below.)
- a one-paragraph statement on the topic “how
I found this book” that summarizes the process you used, including where you
went, the search process, the subjects you searched under, the number of hits,
and how you eventually found the book.
- one BRIEF paragraph on “what this book is
about.”
5. Photocopy the
cover and title page of the book, and include these as APPENDIX 1 of
your report.
Click on the link for Eric on the library home
page.
Insert the same topic into the field.
Record the number of hits that you received on
this topic.
Pick one of the articles in the list.
Go into the basement of the library, find the
article, and skim the article briefly (read the first and last paragraphs of
the article and maybe a bit more).
You do NOT need to read the whole article.
7. Use this article to write PAGE 2 of
your report, which should contain the following:
- a heading that says “Item 2: Search using
Eric.”
- a complete APA reference to the article.
- a one paragraph statement on the topic “how
I found this article” that summarizes the process you used, including where you
went, the search process, the subjects you searched under, the number of hits,
and how you eventually found the article.
- one BRIEF paragraph on “what this article is
about.”
8. Lexis- Nexis
Click on the Lexis-Nexis link on the library
homepage.
Insert the same topic into the field.
Record the number of hits that you receive on
this topic.
Pick one of the articles in the list. It must be different from the one you found
with the
Eric search.
Skim the article briefly (read the first and last paragraphs of the article and
maybe a bit more).
9. Use this article to write PAGE 3 of
your report, which should contain the following:
- a heading that says “Item 3: Search using
Lexis-Nexis.”
- a complete APA reference to the article.
- a one-paragraph statement on the topic “how
I found this article” that summarizes the process you used, including where you
went, the search process, the subjects you searched under, the number of hits,
and how you eventually found the article.
- one BRIEF paragraph on “what this article is
about.”
10. Photocopy the
first page of the article. This is APPENDIX 2 of your report.
11. Write PAGE 4
of your report, which should contain the following:
- A heading saying “SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION.”
- A single paragraph on the topic of what you
learned from this exercise about the library and how to find things in the
library.
- IF you wish, another paragraph on what you
learned about the topic you chose to research.
This paragraph is OPTIONAL, since the main purpose of this assignment
was to learn about the library, not about any one particular topic.
12. Staple all your material together in a
single packet. Check the following:
- The standard heading with your name should
be at the top of page 1.
- The pages should be in the correct
order. There should be 4 numbered pages
followed by 2 appendices.
- All pages should be stapled together in a
single packet. Reports not stapled will
not be accepted.
- All papers submitted should be typed. Hand-written papers will not be accepted.
- Make sure that you do spelling and grammar
checks for everything that you submit.
In addition to what the computer does, YOU should PROOFREAD YOUR WORK
carefully.
- As noted in the syllabus, keep a copy of
what you submit.
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Note on APA references: An APA reference is one of the standard ways to write a reference that gives information about the author, title, date, etc. so that the reader has the full information necessary to find the item. You can see samples of APA reference formats in the Reference section of your textbook. For more details on how to write APA references, see the Milne Library Guide on APA Citations (ask a librarian for a copy, or view it online on the library website by clicking on “citing resources.”)