button button button button button button button button button button button button

Obtaining Research Sources

Library Research Resources

The concept of libraries has changed dramatically in recent years. The traditional concept of a library is as a depository of information -- a collection of books and other materials that are housed within its walls. Today, a library is the gateway to information. It serves as the access point to a vast array of information, much of this due to the Internet and other electronic media. The traditional university library has become a "library without walls."

For a comprehensive review of library resources available at MSOE, go to: http://www.msoe.edu/library/

Following are some of the resources physically available at the MSOE library. Most college or university libraries have similar resources and public libraries, depending upon their size, will have some or all of these resources.

Library of Congress Subject Headings: University libraries use the Library of Congress cataloging method while public libraries use the Dewey Decimal system. The difference relates to how materials are cataloged, or what terms are used to describe a specific topic area. A simple example would be searching for information on "computer chips." A search of the MSOE catalog would probably turn up limited results, yet MSOE is an engineering university. It is not that MSOE doesn’t have any books on designing computer chips, only that you are using the wrong term in searching for it. Under the Library of Congress system, you need to use a term like "semiconductor devices; design." To help in research, MSOE has a multi-book volume of Library of Congress subject headings that cross-references common terms with those used by the Library of Congress. In any research project, this would be good place to start to make sure you are using the correct terminology in search efforts. (Note: the Library of Congress is available on-line and accessible through MSOE’s library homepage.)

Horizon Horizon is a proprietary computer system that includes an on-line catalog of the MSOE holdings. Horizon replaces the need to sort through the traditional card catalog. It provides bibliographic detail on books and materials located in the MSOE library and provides the call number to use to locate the materials on the library’s shelves.

WISCAT This is a database that provides a listing of the holdings of literally all libraries in the state of Wisconsin , both public and private. This can be a useful tool in tracking down book titles or magazines/journals that are not carried at MSOE.

InfoPass InfoPass is a service that the MSOE library provides that entitles you to check out materials from the Marquette , UWM, or the downtown branch of the Milwaukee Public Library. You obtain an InfoPass from the MSOE librarian and must provide the bibliographic information for the book you want to access. (Note: A similar service is available in the Fox Valley through the Fox Valley Library Council. Contact your local library for more information.)

Inter-Library Loan This is a free service to students through which you can obtain books and copies of articles. Be advised that this service can take time, depending upon where the material you are requesting is located. However, in most cases, you can expect receipt of material within seven to ten working days. For inter-library loan, send an email message to Anne Mosgaller at: mosgalle@msoe.edu

In addition, any research materials that you identify, including materials in the MSOE library, will be mailed to you by Anne. This saves you time of physically going to the library or some other location to pick up materials.

Online Research Sources

MSOE gives you access to a number of on-line databases, some of which provide full-text articles. Until recently, the only way to get full-text articles through the Internet was to visit each publication’s homepage and determine if they made their articles available. In some instances, magazines did make these available, for a fee.

Today, you have access to several databases that provide full-text articles. All the databases listed in the Database area of the Library Homepage are available through computers on campus. Some, but not all, are available from any computer with Internet access. A number of databases are IP-protected, which means that the database verifies your location, i.e., IP address, and if it does not match their subscriber list, you are denied access.

Many of these databases can be accessed remotely by using your student ID barcode number. If, for some reason, you do not have a student ID card, then contact your instructor for a temporary barcode number you can use for research.

Using Online Databases for Research

The most commonly used databases for academic research include:

BadgerLink

BadgerLink is supported by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction to provide Wisconsin residents access to quality online information in cooperation with the state’s library community. It provides access to the EBSCO host database, which provides abstracts and indexing for over 3,200 scholarly journals covering the social sciences, humanities, education, business, and more. In addition, BadgerLink provides access to newspapers, including the Wall Street Journal and New York Times.

Accessing Badger Link

You can access BadgerLink by going to the MSOE library Web pageand clicking on Databases. Then, click on BadgerLink . Or, if you are using a Wisconsin-based Internet Service Provider, you can access BadgerLink direct at: http://www.dpi.state.wi.us/badgerlink/

From the BadgerLink web page, click on Magazines and Journals (EBSCOHost Web). This will give you a listing of the available databases. Take a few minutes and look through the listings. Experience has shown that the most productive databases for graduate-level research are Business Source Elite, Academic Search Elite, and Corporate ResourceNet.

For a database demonstration, click on Business Source Elite (or you could place a checkmark in all three databases and click on Continue).

In the following examples, do not include the quote marks with the search term.

  1. Type “knowledge management” in the search box. Click on Full Text. Click on Search.
  2. This should return approximately 3,000 articles.
  3. Locate the article “Building a Knowledge Portal: A Case Study in Web-enabled Collaboration” from Information Strategy: The Executive’s Journal . Click on the title. This gives you the full citation for the article, an abstract, and a link to a PDF file with the complete text of the article. It also identifies the EBSCOHost database the contains this article, in the event you had select to simultaneously search the three databases.
  4. First, by reviewing the information in the abstract, you can determine if the contents of the article are relevant to your research. Next, you may want to determine if the publication is considered a scholarly journal, i.e., is peer reviewed. To do so, click on the magazine’s title.
  5. This provides an overview of the publication and links to the issues available through the database. Next, click on Publication Details.
  6. When you scroll down, you will see that this publication is not peer reviewed. However, that does not automatically exclude it as being a credible article. Next, take a look at the article. Click on the PDF file of the article.
  7. If you scroll down to the bottom of the first page, you will see that the author is Director of Enterprise Operations at Northeastern University in Boston . Since the author is with a university, although not in an academic role, it builds the credibility for the article. Also, the article is 24 pages in length, which indicates that the article has some depth to it. Overall, even though not peer reviewed, this appears to be an acceptable academic-level article.

Several features of the BadgerLink databases can assist you in research. The first is the ability to search by publication:

  1. Return to the original search page. Do not change the search term or the Full Text designation. In the Magazine box, enter “Harvard Business Review” and also select “search within full text articles” and select “also search for related words.” Click on Search.
  2. The search should return about 80 articles. Click on the article “Learning Across Lines: The Secret to More Efficient Factories.”
  3. This produces the complete citation and an HTML version of the article. Also available is a PDF file of the article. One area to look at is the Subject Listings. This gives you the subjects under which this article falls. By clicking on one of the subjects, this will produce a listing of all articles (including those without full-text availability). For example, click on Knowledge Management. This produces more than 3,300 articles, compared to the 300 when we limited our search parameters.

Another feature is to limit your search to scholarly journals:

  1. Return to the original search page. Click on the Advanced Search tab at the top of the page. (If you had originally selected all three databases, click on the Choose Databases tab and then click on Business Source Elite, as this feature only works with single databases.)
  2. Next, enter “knowledge management” in the first search box, then click on Full Text and Scholarly (Peer Reviewed) Journals. As you can see, the advanced search option gives you a number of search options. Click on Search.
  3. This will return more than 300 articles that are from scholarly journals.

ABI/Inform

A second database that gives you full-text articles is ABI/Inform, which is considered one of the best business and management databases available. It contains well over 800 business, management, and economic journals and periodicals.

This is an IP-protected database, which means that you either need to access from a computer located at MSOE or use your student ID card’s barcode from a remote location.

  1. From the MSOE Library Web page, click on Databases and then click on ABI/Inform
  2. This database has similar features to EBSCOHost. In the search box, enter “knowledge management” and then check the boxes next to Show results with full text availability and Show total number of articles. In Publication Type, select Periodicals. Click on Search.
  3. This will return more than 5,000 articles.
  4. Now, let’s limit the search to Scholarly Journals. Return to the search page and add a checkmark next to Show articles from peer reviewed journals only.
  5. This produces about 1,500 articles.

ABI/Inform has a number of search options. For example, if you go to Search Methods and select Guided Search, you will see that you can select from a long laundry list of article types. Also, you can specify a specific publication, such as we did with EBSCOHost. It is best to explore the search options available within this database.

FirstSearch

FirstSearch gives you access to 37 bibliographic databases. These give you source citations, but do not give you access to full-text articles. When conducting research, you should not just rely on the online full-text databases, as they are limited in the number and type of publications that they cover. For example, FirstSearch gives you citations for papers presented at society meetings and proceedings from conferences. Once you have these citations, you can request copies through Interlibrary Loan.

  1. Go to the MSOE Library Web page at and click on Databases. Then, select FirstSearch. You will need an authorization number and a password to access this database. To obtain these, contact the MSOE Library at 277-7180 or email Gary Shimek, MSOE Library Director, at shimek@msoe.edu
  2. When you have access to FirstSearch, first select List All under Databases. This gives you the complete list of databases available on FirstSearch. Then, let’s start with the ArticleFirst database. Enter “knowledge management” in the search box and select Date in the Rank By section. Click on Search.
  3. This results in more than 1,300 articles. Click on the article entitled “What Can Knowledge Management Systems Deliver?”
  4. The provides the basic citation for the article. Now click on Libraries the Own Item.
  5. This gives you the libraries that have Management Communication Quarterly in their collections. You will note that both Marquette and UWM have this periodical. You could either visit the library and make a copy of the article or request a copy through Interlibrary Loan.
  6. Next, return to the database listing and choose WorldCat, which is a database of books. Repeat the same search.
  7. When you see the results, note that other sources are listed at the top. If you click on Internet, that will give you more than 180 Internet sites including ebooks related to knowledge management.
  8. Explore the various databases that are available through FirstSearch

Developing an Online Search Strategy

To take full advantage of the online resources available for research, you should follow a set path of uncovering information about your topic. Here are the steps that are recommended:

  1. In the early stages of a research project, you may have a general idea of the topic that you want to pursue. To help you narrow that down, you may want to consult books on the subject, especially textbooks. To find books, you have several sources to use. First would be the MSOE Library catalog (Horizon) to see what books are in the MSOE Library. Next, you may want to use WISCAT to see what books are available at local libraries in the state. Another source would be the WorldCat database in FirstSearch. And, finally, you may want to consult the Library of Congress, which will give you the most comprehensive listing of books on a subject. Another source you should not overlook are online booksellers, such as Amazon and Barnes & Noble. Many times their descriptions include chapter information, etc. Another source for information on a specific book, would be to check the web site of the publisher. Sometimes the publisher provides detailed information on the table of contents and other details about the book.
  2. Looking at the information in books should help narrow a topic. Now, visit the online databases of full-text articles, such as ABI/Inform, Business Source Elite, Academic Source Elite, Corporate ResourceNet, etc. Pay attention to your search terms and compare them with the subject listings for each article you access. This can help you better define your search parameters.
  3. Next, go the FirstSearch and continue searching, using your newly defined search parameters. As noted previously, only relying on full-text databases will give you limited results. For a well-rounded research effort, you should use all the resources available.
  4. It is highly recommended that you include a visit to the library as part of your research efforts. While the Internet provides excellent access to research sources, many times you can find other interesting articles by simply paging through an issue of a magazine that contains an article discovered during your FirstSearch research.

Quoting and Paraphrasing

When reporting on research discoveries, you have several ways in which to do this. The simplest is simply to use the same words as the original author, in other words, use a direct quote. However, a research report that mainly consists of direct quotes does not demonstrate any understanding by the student. Therefore, students should limit direct quotes to instances where you want to add emphasize to a statement by quoting an authority, or when restating the quote in your own words would diminish the impact of the quote.

The more common ways of handling research is through summarizing and paraphrasing. In summarizing, you are providing the reader with a synopsis of the research in your own words. For example, several pages, a chapter, or even an entire article or book might contain only one or two thoughts that relate your topic. You may be able to summarize that in a paragraph or less.

With paraphrasing, on the other hand, you are taking the author’s original words and restating them in your own words.

For more information, go to: http://www.wisc.edu/writing/Handbook/QuotingSources.html

 

Previous                        Next