Author Archive | Mark Janowiak
Using Google Scholar
Using Google Scholar – This step-by-step video will show you how to do a basic search in Google Scholar
Advanced Google Scholar Searching – Once you have the basics, this short video will show you advanced search strategies to get better results from Google Scholar searches.
Accessing ebooks
Finding ebooks — Step by step instructions for how to search for ebooks only in the White Library catalog.
Setting Up an EBSCO Account – Step by step instructions for setting up an account to better use EBSCO eBooks and databases. This is a necessary step to downloading ebooks.
Setting Up an ebrary Account – Step by step instructions for setting up an account to access features within ebrary. This is a necessary step to downloading ebooks.
Downloading Adobe Digital Editions – Follow these instructions to download Adobe Digital Editions, which you will need in order to download ebooks.
Downloading e-books from ebrary – Use this step-by-step guide to learn how to download e-books from ebrary. First you will need to set up an ebrary account and download Adobe Digital Editions – see our tutorials above to learn how!
How to Download e-books from EBSCO – These step-by-step instructions will help you download ebooks from EBSCO. You will need an EBSCO account and Adobe Digital Editions before you can download – our guides above will show you how!
Finding Articles
Search Tutorial for WRT 312 – Step by step instructions for finding articles on critical thinking, active reading and creative writing for the WRT 312 assignment
Finding Books
Citing in APA with DOI
I thought about trying to write this post using only acronyms, but thought better of it. For those of you who use the APA citation style, adjusting to the new DOI (Digital Object Identifier) system can be a challenge. Often students will come to the reference desk asking for help with a reference page because they didn’t include DOI numbers and the professor marked up their reference page with red ink. APA style requires the use of DOI numbers. However, occasionally one will run into a reference that does not have a DOI no. This leaves you with the problem of trying to determine if the article you are citing has a DOI number or not. While you can look up references using a DOI number, usually you will already have the citation information for the reference. More likely, you are to have a citation and wonder if it has a DOI number or not. If this is the case, Cross Ref has a free tool that allows you to enter your full citation or what information you have, and will give you the DOI number for the article if it has one.
Here is an example for how to cite articles with and without DOI numbers.
EasyBib Free Trial
The White Library has set up a free trial for our guests to use EasyBib citation tools. “EasyBib is an automatic bibliography composer. When you have sources you need to cite properly for your research paper, EasyBib will help you format your sources quickly and accurately. Millions of students a month use EasyBib to cite sources for their papers.”
Give EasyBib a try with your next research paper and let us know what you think!
Watch a 90 second demo to see how it works.
Searching for Theses & Dissertations
The Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations (NDLTD) is a group effort of several databases to make dissertation and thesis work available for research. On their website (link above) there are two main search engines for exploring their databases.
Of the two engines, we would recommend SCIRUS ETD because it has more specific search possibilities and a list of 17 subject categories. Clicking on an article will take you to the database or university web page where you should find a link saying “full-text” or “download.”
OCLC has a similar system called OAISTER that SAU has access to. To view the items, click on the title and find the “Details” section. In that section, by “Access,” there will be a link to the site where the thesis or dissertation can be viewed. Look for links with “full-text” or “access” to find the link in the database’s page.
On the NDLTD site there are also links to some databases from foreign colleges. English articles can be found in ADT (Australiasian Digital Theses Program), DART-Europe E-theses Portal, DiVA (Scandanavia), EThOS (United Kingdom), NARCIS (Netherlands), National ETD Portal (South Africa), and Theses Canada. There is also a German database (Deusche National Bibliothek) which has English articles, but the web page is in German. To see a translated view click here.
Using Google Scholar effectively
Google Scholar is an attempt to use the powerful Google search engine to sift searches for academic sources. Before you use this tool you should check out your library’s own databases here. The databases search our many e-journals and print journals for keywords related to your research.
After you have searched through our collections (which are immediately available to you) use Google Scholar to find other sources.
Most of the articles that Google Scholar shows are expensive, but you can use Interlibrary Loan to get them for free. However, it can take 3-10 business days to get to your inbox. That is why we suggest checking the White Library’s resources first.
The Interlibrary Loan is located in the lower floor of the White Library, but you may make the requests on line. Just click on the green “inter-library loan request” button on the right, and fill out the form. When the article arrives it will be emailed to you. If the resource is a book, an email will let you know that it can be picked up at the library’s circulation desk.
How to search Ebsco databases (ATLA Religion)
Watch this short instructional video (3 mins 37 secs) on how to search Ebsco databases. This video walks you thru a search with ATLA Religion, but this “how-to” applies to all of our Ebsco Databases. Ebsco databases include: CINAHL, Communication and Mass Media Complete, Social Work Abstracts, Communication Abstracts, Teacher Reference Center.
