Library resources are resources that the Library & Learning Commons provides or subscribes to.
The Library and Learning Commons provides access to both physical books (searchable through the library catalogue) and subscriptions to eBook databases.
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eBooks are books that are published in a digital format and are meant to be readable on computers or other electronic devices (e.g., e-readers, tablets, etc.). The most common file formats of eBooks include PDF, EPUB, and HTML.
eBooks can be searched by searching through individual eBook databases. Lambton has subscriptions to the following eBook databases:
Scholarly journals are periodical publications that publish articles focused on a particular academic discipline. The purpose of publishing in a scholarly journal is to preserve knowledge in an effort to improve our understanding of science and society.
In most cases, articles in scholarly journals are subject to peer-review, a process in which scholarly works are evaluated by professionals in the field. These scholarly journals are most commonly written for and referenced by researchers.
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Open Access JournalsOpen access journals are online academic journals that researchers can access free of charge. Often, these journals are peer-reviewed; however, some open access journals select and evaluate articles using an editorial team. Open access resources often extend beyond academic journals and may include: conference papers, theses, monographs, book chapters, and images.
There are multiple types of open access; however, we will focus on three:
Gold OA journals are publications in which articles are made free to access immediately upon publication. An example of Gold OA is the International Journal of STEM Education published by Springer Open.
Green OA refers to the process of authors opting to self-archive their academic works in repositories, independent of a publisher. An example of Green OA is Fanshawe's FIRST Repository in which students, staff, and faculty can upload their academic work.
Hybrid OA journals are publications that combine open access with paywalls (closed access). Often, only some individual articles are made open access.
Open access publishing is an incredibly legitimate resource used in research all over the world. Some major benefits of open access include:
Magazines are often broken down into two popular categories: trade and popular magazines. Students may find magazines useful as they provide an easy-to-read overview of a subject, including current events.
Trade Magazines are written by professionals in the field for other professionals and students in the field of study. Several examples of trade magazines include Publishers Weekly, Game Developer, and Billboard.
Popular magazines are written by paid journalists for a broad audience. Several examples of popular magazines include National Geographic and Vogue.
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The purpose of a library catalogue is to assist students in searching the library's physical collection. Included within the library catalogue are:
To access the library catalogue, select the "Online Catalogue" option anywhere on our website.
A library database "is a searchable electronic index of published, reliable resources" (Berkely College). Subscriptions to these databases are purchased by the library and contain access to primary and secondary sources. Research materials that are commonly found in library databases include:
Students and faculty can access an A-Z list of research databases that the library subscribes to. This is useful if you know what you are looking for.
For students and faculty who are unsure of where to start looking, many programs have a subject guide where relevant resources are collected.
What is considered a primary source may vary by discipline. Primary sources are original research and/or documentation, which often contain first-hand information.
Examples of primary sources may include the following:
The library provides students with access to a variety of databases containing primary sources.
Secondary sources describe or discuss information from primary sources. They can cover the same topic, but add a layer of interpretation and analysis.
Examples of secondary sources may include the following:
The library provides students with access to several databases dedicated to secondary sources.
Boolean is a computer science language used to create true/false statements. This language is commonly used in library databases and search engines to help researchers expand or limit their searches.
AND is used to link one or more search terms together, ensuring that all keywords must be found within retrieved resources.
Example: If you are interested in reading articles about discriminatory practices in education, you may search both terms using the AND operator:
discrimination AND education
NOT is used to narrow your search by excluding one or more search terms, and is useful if you are interested in a specific aspect of a topic or when you want to exclude a type of resource (e.g., book review).
Example: If you are researching the effects of learning disabilities in students, but keep retrieving nursing-related results, you may consider using the following search terms to exclude nursing-related resources:
learning disability NOT nursing
You may also want to exclude instances of physical disability from your search by using the following terms:
learning disabilities NOT physical disability
OR is used to broaden your search by telling the database or search engine that you are interested in searching for synonyms.
Example: If you are interested in researching civil rights, but want to search for additional resources on the same subject, link synonyms using the OR operator:
civil rights OR constitutional rights
If you are searching for an exact phrase, add quotation (" ") marks around two or more words. These quotation marks ensure the database or search engine retrieves results with your exact phrase.
Example: If you were researching bias in media, you would put quotation marks around your terms to retrieve results with the exact phrase:
"media bias"
Wildcards are used when the user wants to search for all variations of a word.
Use the dollar symbol ($) to search for multiple endings to words.
Example: toxic$ will search for toxics, toxicant, toxicants, toxicity, etc.
Use the question mark symbol (?) if you are uncertain of a word's spelling or want to find multiple spellings of a word.
Example: wom?n will search for woman, women, and womyn
By definition, truncation refers to the shortening of a word by removing one or more letters. In databases, users may truncate down to the root word and insert an asterisk (*). Researchers use truncation to retrieve more search results.
Example: If a student was searching for a topic about Canadian job prospects, truncation may be used to expand search results around the word Canada.
Canad* will search for Canada, Canadian, Canadians, etc.
A scholarly resource is:
Source: Des Moines University Library
Article Information
| Title | Titles of scholarly articles are often very specific and long, rather than broad. |
| Author(s) | Authors will be listed with their credentials and often their affiliated organizations (e.g., university, professional organization). |
| Abstract | An abstract is a brief summary of an article's contents. |
Body Paragraphs
| Introduction | An introduction provides background information and the purpose of the article. An introduction will often introduce a hypothesis. |
| Methods/Methodology | Methods describe how a study has been designed and the rationale for study design. |
| Results | The results will describe the findings of a study. |
| Analysis | If an article has an analysis heading, the author(s) will analyze the results of a study. |
| Discussion | A discussion will consider relationships discovered in a study, explain results in relation to similar research, and provides "theoretical implications of the results" (Florida Atlantic University Libraries). |
| Conclusion | A conclusion will summarize an article's findings and how these findings support or contradict a hypothesis. |
Optional Information
| Charts, graphs, figures, images |
Depending on the type of article, the author(s) may include elements to further illustrate the article's findings. These may be charts, graphs, figures, or images. |
References
| References | References can be found at the end of an article and provide an alphabetical listing (by author last name) of every cited resource. |
| Citations |
Citations come in two common formats:
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Peer review is an evaluation process "designed to assess the validity, quality and often the originality of articles for publication" (Wiley). Professionals from the field are invited to review (and scrutinize) an author's scholarly work. This process ensures that only high-quality research articles are published.
The peer review process can take up to 3-4 weeks and consists of multiple (and often reiterative) steps. Wiley explains this process succinctly.
Reviewers know the identities of the author(s), but the author(s) are unaware of the reviewers. This type of review is most common among the sciences.
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Reviewers are unaware of the identity of article author(s) and vice versa. This method is most commonly used in the social sciences and humanities.
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Both reviewers and authors know the identity of one another. Often, journals that use this method of peer review will publish both the article and review(s) together.
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Source: Wiley
When determining whether an article is scholarly, ask yourself the following questions:
Source: Bow Valley College Library