This is the Library Resources Assignment:

Library Resource Assignment (Word document)

Library Resources Assignment Self-Guided Tutorial - This tutorial will walk you through all of the topics covered in your assignment. If you utilize this tutorial you'll have a completed assignment by the end of it. 

 

Library Resources Assignment (50pts)

Animal Sciences 180

Fall 2022

DUE DATE:  October 3, 2022

Assignment Objective:

1. To become familiar with keywords and revising a search strategy
2. To become familiar with searching for and following a citation
3. To become familiar with accessing WSU's Print and Electronic Resources

• Getting Ready to Research
• WSU Search It Library Catalog
• General vs Subject Specific Databases
• Refining a search & Evaluating Results

         ** please note: there are FOUR parts to this assignment.

         *** Before beginning this assignment you MUST select a topic related to any aspect of       Animal Sciences (i.e.: horse breeding, gestation periods in felines, agricultural        awareness etc…) ***

Part 1: Getting Ready to Research

Question 1.

Select an Animal Science related topic. Write 1-2 sentences describing it here:

Question 2.

Think about your description from Question 1. What is your research question?

Question 3.

List your keywords along with all of the synonyms that you can think of for those keywords. Separate each of those synonyms with the word “Or.”

For example:

Keyword #1: global warming OR climate change OR greenhouse effect OR climate crisis

Keyword #2: children OR youth OR adolescent OR toddler OR baby

Question 4.

Let’s create a search string using our keywords and Boolean Operators. Let’s do this in four steps:

1. Copy your keywords and their synonyms separated by OR (from Question #3)
2. Separate each unique keyword/variable with the operator AND
3. Use the * to search variations of a word when needed. Used the “” to search exact terms when needed.

Example:

global warming OR climate change OR greenhouse effect OR climate crisis

AND

child* OR youth* OR adolescen* OR toddler* OR bab*

What is your Search String?

PART 2:     WSU Search It

Using WSU Search It (the search box on the main library homepage, http://libraries.wsu.edu/) look up your topic to answer the following questions:

Question 5.

Did you do a Title, Author, or Subject search?

Question 6.

Overall, how many resources were found?

Question 7.

Looking at the left hand sidebar.

How many eBooks are available on your topic?

How many resources are available in Spanish?

Question 8.

Select one book record, copyright date 2010 – 2016, and open it. 

Note the information for a citation here (title, author, date, etc…)

Question 9.

Is this book available in a WSU library or will you need to interlibrary loan it?

Question 10.

Reading the information under the “details tab” (subject headings, table of contents, etc..)

Did you find any new keywords for your topic?

If so, list them here. If not, what are some of the common keywords used?

Question 11.

Going back to the results page go into one record of a peer-reviewed article.

Note the information for a citation here (title, author, date, etc…)

Question 12.

Under the “Access Options” section, is this article available in full text at WSU or would you need to interlibrary loan it?

PART 3: General vs Subject Specific Databases

Question 12.

How many times is this article cited?

Question 13.

How many articles are in the bibliography for this paper? (e.g. how many “cited references” are there)?

Question 14.

Click on the “times cited” link and find one article citing this paper. Include the citation here:

Question 15.

Describe in 1-2 sentences why looking at the pedigree of an article might help you in your research process.

Question 16.

Can you think of a reason a reason that the most highly cited article may not be the best paper?

Academic Search Complete

Question 17.

Using the left-hand sidebar locate one newspaper article on your subject.

Open one article and write the citation below.

Part 4: Refining your Search

Question 18.

What scholarly database did you use and what are the main differences in the search results from the search you did previously in this source?

Use the space below to discuss this in 3-5 sentences.  

Question 19.

Remembering the information you learned in class and from your examination of these records above,

why would you choose to use a book as a resource, beside the fact that your instructor requested it?

Question 20.

Why would you choose to use a peer-review research article, besides the fact that your instructor requested it?

Question 21.

Why might you use an article from a popular or non-scholarly journal or newspaper as a resource in your paper?