Forming a Game Plan for College-Level Research & Developing Search Skills

1. Forming a Game Plan for College-Level Research & Developing Search Skills Jason Dupree Assistant Professor MLIS, University of Oklahoma BFA, Phillips University Head of Public Services Al Harris Library jason.dupree@swosu.edu

2. Today’s To-Do’s • Understanding Your Assignment • Learning with Visual Literacy • Mastering Search Techniques

3. Part 1 Forming a Game Plan

4. Game Plan • Known the components of your assignment • Brainstorm & build your vocabulary • Form a strategy – what terms are you using and where are you using them? • This is where information literacy comes in • Select your resources & collect info • Investigate your topic & refine your topic if necessary • Read your sources & evaluate (collect new info if necessary) • Document & cite your sources • Analyze your research & write your paper

7. Part 2 Imagery & Themes

8. Visual Elements

12. Class Activity Keyword Building Worksheet • 3 columns on back • 1st column – imagery from Kilmer • 2nd column – imagery from Dickinson • 3rd column – leave blank

13. Class Activity • Imagery in Kilmer’s Trees I think that I shall never see A poem lovely as a tree. A tree whose hungry mouth is prest Against the earth’s sweet flowing breast; A tree that looks at God all day, And lifts her leafy arms to pray; A tree that may in Summer wear A nest of robins in her hair; Upon whose bosom snow has lain; Who intimately lives with rain. Poems are made by fools like me, But only God can make a tree.

14. Beauty Mother & Child, act of nurturing, Gaea (Mother Earth) Religion Weather, Seasons, Passage of Time Anthropomorphize Author is an active participant, self criticism Relationship, Emotion, Bond act of creation TREESI think that I shall never seeA poem lovely as a tree.A tree whose hungry mouth is prestAgainst the earth’s sweet flowing breast;A tree that looks at God all day,And lifts her leafy arms to pray;A tree that may in Summer wearA nest of robins in her hair;Upon whose bosom snow has lain;Who intimately lives with rain.Poems are made by fools like me,But only God can make a tree.

15. Class Activity • Imagery in Dickinson’s Because… • Identify themes in Dickinson • Compare themes of Kilmer & Dickinson • Use commonalities as a basis for locating 3rd poem • Draft a preliminary thesis statement

16. Part 3 Searching Techniques

17. Define what you want to know “I am looking for poetry that focuses on nature as a symbol for life.” Use this statement to choose keywords and key phrases

18. Define key words and phrases • nature • symbol • life

19. Identifying Keywords Identify the significant terms and concepts that describe your topic from your thesis statement or research question. These terms will become the key for searching catalogs, indexes, and databases for information about your subject.

20. Keywords Flexible terms Easy searches Less accurate searches

21. Keyword Phrases • Single concept, multiple words • Some electronic resources require keyword phrases be enclosed with punctuation • Quotation marks – SWOSU Catalog • Parenthesis

22. Keyword Flexible Less accurate Affected by Boolean Operators, Truncation Symbols and punctuation Subject Rigid Very Precise Predetermined vocabulary established by the Library of Congress, National Library of Medicine, and other groups Keyword Searching vs. Subject Searching

23. Subjects • Predetermined terminology • Library of Congress • National Library of Medicine • American Psychological Assn. • More challenging to use in ‘open’ searches • Very precise

24. AND = Narrow OR = Expand Boolean • NOT = Exclude

25. How “AND” is used • AND (narrows) • poetryandimagery • poetryandimageryand“joyce kilmer”

26. How “OR” is used • OR (expands) • imageryorsymbolism • treesorwood orforest • AND & OR together • imageryorsymbolismandpoetry • poetryandimageryor symbolism or allegory and “joyce kilmer”

27. How “NOT” is used • NOT (excludes) • imagerynotart • naturenothuman • AND, OR & NOT together • poemandsymbolismorimagerynotart

28. Boolean Operators • Connect keywords only • Must be placedbetween keywords • AND • Narrows your search • OR • Expands your search with synonymous terms • NOT • Excludes words from your search • If used too much, it can work against you!

29. Class Activity • “Shuffle Up and Deal” • cards • “face card” • card and black • card and deuce • card and spade or diamond • “face card” and red not king • club not “face card” or ace

30. Truncation (Wildcards) • Non-universal symbols used in searching • Common symbols: * ? • Used with a root word • Used to replace a vowel or single character

31. Truncation (Wildcards) • Root Word- looks for multiple endings of a word, in this case it takes the place of ‘OR’ • poet? • poet, poets, poetry, poetic • trees and poet or poetry or poetic • trees and poet?

32. Truncation (Wildcards) • Singular/Plural- replaces a vowel or single character in a word, in this case it takes the place of ‘OR’ • analys*s • analysis, analyses • poetry and analysis or analyses • poetry and analys*s

33. Class Activity Keyword Building Worksheet • 3 columns on back • 1st column – imagery from Kilmer • 2nd column – imagery from Dickinson • 3rd column – leave blank

34. Part 4 Finding Books

35. Dewey • All of human knowledge is broken into Ten Major Categories

36. SWOSU Catalog

37. Open WorldCat

38. E-Books: Ebrary & Ebooks on Ebscohost • 24/7 • Full Text Searching* • Highlight Markup • Note Taking • Embed links into text • Online Bookshelf • Multiplicity of Use

39. Library Services • Interlibrary Loan • Online form (plan ahead) • Library borrows the item on your behalf • OK-Share Card • Go to Circulation Desk & get a card • Present this card to any Oklahoma University/College • Check out books as if you were their student

40. End of Second Presentation Thank You for listening