KEAN UNIVERSITY LIBRARY
GUIDE
Introduction to Research & Technology Resources
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Reference Books
Subject encyclopedias in the Library’s Reference Collection are good sources of background information on topics within specific subject areas. These resources are full of topic ideas, as well as ideas for narrowing topics that are too broad. Subject encyclopedias include the following:
Ref HM17.E57 2000 Encyclopedia of Sociology
Ref HM 756 .E53 2003 Encyclopedia of Community: From the Village to the Virtual World
Ref HN57.E59 1997 Encyclopedia of Social Issues
Ref HQ534.E53 1999 Encyclopedia of Family Life
Ref HQ1115.W6425 1997 Women’s Issues
Ref HV6017.E52 2002 Encyclopedia of Crime and Justice
Ref P87.5.E53 2001 Encyclopedia of Communication and Information
Electronic Resources
Electronic Resources are tools that help you locate books or articles on your topic of interest. The three steps listed below provide an outline of the basic electronic search process.
1. Choose research tools appropriate for your research needs, such as the Kean Catalog, electronic Databases, or the Internet. The Kean Catalog and the Databases are accessible from the Kean University Library Homepage at:
http://library.kean.edu
Consider: · Types of materials needed.
-- If you need books, search the Kean Catalog.
-- If you need newspaper, popular magazine, or peer-reviewed (scholarly) journal
articles, search the Databases.
· Subject scope (choose a Database appropriate for your topic). For instance:
-- If you need journal articles focusing on Criminal Justice topics, search the Criminal
Justice Periodical Index database.
-- If you need journal articles focusing on Education topics, search the ERIC database.
2. Select search terms that represent your topic’s main concepts.
Consider the sample research question:
Does exposure to violence on television contribute to violent or aggressive behavior in children?
· Identify the main concepts in the research question as outlined below:
Concept 1 Concept 2 Concept 3
violence, violent child, childhood, children television, TV
aggression, aggressive youth media
adolescent, adolescence
3. Construct a search strategy using the selected search terms.
· When you formulate your search strategy, use truncation symbols to shorten words to the root (the part of the word shared by several versions of the word).
For example:
aggress* (allows database to search for the words aggressive or aggression)
child* (allows database to search for the words child, childhood, or children)
violen* (allows database to search for the words violence or violent)
· When you formulate your search strategy, use Boolean operators (AND, OR) to connect the search concepts. Use the AND Boolean operator to limit or narrow your results and the OR Boolean operator to expand your results. The AND Boolean operator functions by only retrieving those records that contain all your search terms. The OR Boolean operator functions by retrieving those records that contain any of the similar concepts or synonyms used in your search strategy.
Consider the search string: violen* or aggress*
The database will retrieve records that mention either of these terms. The use of Boolean operators can be demonstrated graphically using Venn Diagrams. The diagrams shown below demonstrate how a database will retrieve both sets including the intersection between the 2 sets as indicated by the 3 arrows.
Next consider the search string: violen* and child* and television
The database will retrieve only records that mention all 3 search terms. The Venn Diagrams below demonstrate how the database will retrieve only the intersection of the 3 Venn sets as indicated by the single arrow.
· Use parentheses to group related concepts.
Consider the search strategy that combines all the concepts:
(violen* or aggress*) and (child* or youth or adolesc*) and (tv or television or media)
This example search shows that the Boolean operators (AND, OR) are very useful when you are trying to combine different concepts. Using a variety of search terms and Boolean operators, you can create elaborate search strategies to target your informational needs.
Copyright © 2005, Kean University Library
Compiled by Caroline Geck. (Input from Linda Cifelli, Chrisler Pitts, Dr. Barbara Simpson Darden). July 21, 2005.