Three Rules: (1) 20-Minute Rule; (2) Library Homepage;    (3) Save Your Citations

Housekeeping: Check Your Library Account

Inter-library loan:  Setting up your ILL Account

Getting Ready for Research - Take the Library Orientation Tour

(1) Library Map - 1st Floor; (2) Library Map - 2nd Floor; (3) Wireless Access

(4) Access from Off-Campus

Mapping Out Your Research Plan

The starting place for your library research is with the "research question." A well-focused question is essential for an effective search of article databases and library catalogs. Think about your topic:

Finding Books and Journals

Search Concepts  (Keywords, Boolean, Wildcard and Proximity Searching)

Style Guides

MLA Style Sheet [abridged version]            MLA Style [Electronic Formats]

Statistics

Article Databases: [ Searching Multiple Journals At Once]

You can search for articles using databases or indexes. Many provide the full text of the article. Most databases can be accessed 24/7.

Academic Search Premier (Ebsco)

OneFile (includes Expanded Academic) (Infotrac)

Westlaw (Campus Research)

Journal Searching  [Single Journals]

Do a Journal Finder Search in Skyline. If Auraria owns the title, try an Online search!

Scoping Out Your Research Project:

America's Newspapers [Newsbank]

Ethnic Newswatch [ProQuest]

CQ Researcher

Environmental Sciences and Pollution Management

Bills and Legislation in the U.S. Congress [www.thomas.gov]

GAO [U S Government Accountability Office]

Public Affairs Information Service [PAIS]

Class Guides, Subject Guides, General Guides [a few examples]

Women's Studies

Public Affairs

Evaluating Websites:

(1) Evaluating Web Pages: Techniques to Apply and Questions to Ask (by Joe Barker, University of California at Berkeley)

(2) The Good, the Bad and the Ugly: Why Its a Good Idea to Evaluate Web Sources (by Susan Beck, New Mexico State University Library).

Thinking About Colorado Resources

The Colorado Historical Society; Western History Department of the Denver Public Library; the Colorado State Demography Office; the Colorado Legislative Research Council; the Colorado Digitization Project; the telephone directory, experts in your area of inquiry, listservs on the Internet, brainstorming with your colleagues and professors and your Auraria Reference Librarian!

QUESTIONS? Come to the reference desk or contact us at (303-556-2585) or e-mail me at:  William.Tietjen@cudenver.edu

Good luck with your research!                 Return to Top