If you have a mac laptop setting it up to print on one of the library lab printers requires a few more steps than it does for a PC laptop, but the added benefit of printing truly wirelessly. There is no dealing with ethernet cables at all. If you have a PC laptop see the post from a week or so ago, “Printing from your laptop (part 1)”
Watch the slides below to see how!
Have you ever been frustrated when you have written a paper on your laptop in the library and need to print it, but can’t print from your laptop? You have to save your file to a drive or email it to yourself and then login to a library lab computer to print it out. Now you can print from your laptop to the library main lab printers. Watch the slides below to see how!
Two items to note: One, you will need to plug in your machine to an ethernet cable somewhere in the library. Two, these instructions are for PC’s only. To print from your mac is a more complicated set-up, but on the plus side you don’t have to plug in with an ethernet cable and can truly print wireless-ly from your laptop. Click here for Part 2 — Instructions for macs.
You can view the slides in full-screen if you cannot clearly see the screen-shots.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
We have recently created a couple step by step guides to finding scholarly articles in different databases. A step by step guide for Ebsco databases. Ebsco databases include ATLA Religion, CINAHL (Nursing), Communication and Mass Media Complete, Teacher Reference Center, Social Work Abstracts, and Communication Abstracts.
The other step by step guide is for ProQuest databases. ProQuest databases include ABI/Inform, Hoover’s Company Records, Nursing & Allied Health Source, Biology Journals, ProQuest Computing, Education Journals, ProQuest Computing, ProQuest Health Management, ProQuest Military Collection, Psychology Journals, ProQuest Religion, Science Journals, and Social Science Journals.
The White Library has recently added a handful of new online databases. The databases are from ProQuest. View each of the individual databases below to see if one or two might be of help in your research this academic year.
Biology Journals (ProQuest) Search full-text journals in the life sciences.
Education Journals (ProQuest) Search the leading full-text journals in education and related fields.
Evidence-Based Resources from the Joanna Briggs Institute (ProQuest) Systematic Reviews, Evidence Summaries, and Best Practice Information Sheets for nursing and the allied health professions.
Health Management (ProQuest) Find complete, full-text information from leading publications covering all aspects of health administration, including public health and safety, hospitals, finance, personnel management, insurance, population studies, labor relations and law.
Nursing & Allied Health Source (ProQuest) Find complete, full-text information from leading nursing, allied health, and related publications. Designed to meet the needs of researchers at health-care facilities as well as students enrolled in nursing and allied health programs at academic institutions.
Psychology Journals (ProQuest) With complete full-text coverage from top psychology and related publications, this database meets the needs of both students and mental-health professionals.
ProQuest Computing Search top computing journals in full text for research on subjects such as database design, software development, web commerce, LANs, WANs, Intranets, and the Internet.
ProQuest Military Collection Search a comprehensive collection of material on military subjects such as defense, aeronautics and space flight, civil engineering, political science, and more.
ProQuest Newspapers The financial newspaper of record offering in-depth coverage of national and international finance as well as first rate coverage of hard news.
ProQuest Religion Search a comprehensive collection of journals covering religious issues and perspectives, including religious news and information, commentary on topics of general interest from the perspective of a particular religion, and formal theological studies.
Science Journals (ProQuest) Search full text and images for the leading periodicals in science and technology. Subject coverage includes computers, engineering, physics, telecommunications, and transportation.
Social Science Journals (ProQuest) Search full-text periodicals covering the social sciences.
Wall Street Journal (ProQuest) The financial newspaper of record offering in-depth coverage of national and international finance as well as first rate coverage of hard news.
Practice tests are available online through Michigan eLibrary (MeL) for Advanced Placement (AP), CLEP, GRE, GMAT, and LSAT exams.
Go to www.mel.org and select “Tests and Tutorials”.
