Finding Scholarly Sources using The University of Macau Library

WHAT ARE SCHOLARLY SOURCES? WHY ARE THEY IMPORTANT?

HOW DO YOU FIND AND ACCESS THEM?

Ashleys Assignment

Ashley, a first year student in FAH, has an Assignment Due in two weeks. She has to write a 5-7 page paper on violence in video games and how it affects children. She needs to use at least 3 scholarly sources in her paper.
Photo credit: masonsom, flickr

Ashleys First Question: What are Scholarly Sources?

A scholarly article or book is generally based on original research or experimentation. It is written by a researcher or expert in the field who is often affiliated with a college or university.
Source: Adapted from: library.queensu.ca/webisi/survivalguide/glossary.html

So Ashley Needs to Decide: Is it Scholarly or Popular?

Journal-Scholarly

Magazine-Popular

Content Author

Detailed report of original research or experiment.

Secondary report or discussion may include personal narrative, opinion, anecdotes. Author may or may not be named; often a professional writer; may or may not have subject expertise. General public; the interested nonspecialist.

Author's credentials are given, usually a scholar with subject expertise. Scholars, researchers, students.

Audience
Language
References/Biblio graphy Examples

Specialized terminology or jargon of the field; requires prior knowledge.

Required. All quotes and facts can be verified.

Vocabulary in general usage; understandable to most readers.

Rare. Scanty, if any, information about sources. Psychology Today, Discover, news magazines. Almost anything available in a store.

Developmental Psychology, Journal of Abnormal Psychology. Almost anything with Journal in the title. Usually come with memberships in scholarly societies and are only available in libraries.

Why Is It Important To Use Scholarly Sources For A College Research Paper?

Building Blocks of Knowledge

Scholarship builds on previous ideas and discoveries.

Creating a Path to Discovery

Researchers credit those ideas and discoveries through citations (references).
youll need to credit those researchers ideas in your own paper!

New Knowledge is Created

Students write papers and cite researchers, and become the next generation of researchers.

for example, medical care keeps getting better because of research!

And, of course, its important to use scholarly sources because your instructor told you to!

Where Can Ashley Find Scholarly Articles?

Can She Find Articles Through Google?
Although Google is a great resource to find general information, scholarly articles are often only available by subscription, and not freely available.

Can She Find Articles At The Library?

The library purchases access to scholarly journals, and access to those articles are through databases.

How Would Ashley Find Articles on Violence in Video Games and How it Affects Children?

Use Databases, to find scholarly articles.

Although the library at UMAC is great for finding books, it does not have journal articles on specific topics.

The library does have access to hundreds of databases for article searching.

Go to the UMAC Library homepage and click on databases!

How Does Ashley Choose a Database? There are So Many!

Decide Which Database to Use

Confused? There are so many databases to choose from!

Use the browse feature on the library website.

Choose the subject that most closely matches your topic, and then narrow your selection.

Click on subject listing

Click on the field you are researching

Choose a database!

How Will Ashley Pick the Best Database for Her Topic?

Search For Articles!

Choose a database from the list. Try some searches on your topic.

We recommend trying a couple of different databases. They will all have different results.

Use the thesaurus to find more search keywords!

http://www.wcu.edu/ceap/ houghton/edelcompeduc/E RIC/ericProjects.html

Search for articles!!!

How will Ashley sort out all of the articles!?

Read the abstract!

The abstract is a short summary of the article!

You can decide if the article is useful by reading the abstract and not the entire article!

Good Luck!
Finding scholarly

articles can be confusing.

If you have questions,

ask a librarian!

Ask your teachers!

http://library.umac.mo/ht ml/services/reference/e nquiryform_eng.html

Homework
Find one scholarly article for your topic.

Bring a printed copy of the article to class on

Monday.