You need some reliable, authoritative, and peer-reviewed journal articles for your research paper.
Where do you begin and how can you tell whether or not a journal is peer-reviewed? How do you distinguish it from a magazine or trade and business publication?
You can begin by watching this.
Next visit the library or use the databases and select peer reviewed as one of your limiters in your search.
It's easy once you know. Your instructors want you to use peer-reviewed research. So what is stopping you?
Sit down right now and do a quick search in Academic Search Premier database. Review your results. Having problems? Contact a librarian.
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Focus the Nation
Monday, March 7, 2011
If you didn't create it, it's not yours to take (at least not without asking permission)
I was led to this site by a tweet from UT Libraries.
utlibraries UT Libraries
The blog belongs to a University of Texas student named Kayla Moses. There was a great photo of the architecture library at University of Texas on her blog. Kayla took the photo and owns it. This is her property. By posting it she does not relinquish ownership. If I want to use that photo on my blog, I need to ask permission from Kayla.
Kayla posted the following on her blog about rights and requesting permission of artists and authors (see end of this post). This really caught my attention because I know many college students don't seem to notice or care about copyright and intellectual property. So, before you take something you didn't create, please take a minute to send an email, tweet, or IM to the owner and request their permission before you use it.
I sent an email to Kayla and she very nicely granted me permission to use her photo and to use the information I posted below that came from her blog. She told me she hopes it will make students more aware of the need to ask first.
For any NMCC students reading this please share your thoughts. Do you respect the rights of authors or do you think anything on the internet is free? If you created something and put it online and saw it reposted without your permission, how would you feel?
Hey, also: Don't be a naughty thief.
Don’t do it. Ask nicely. You’ll find that most people will smile, perhaps offer you coffee, and be quite pleasant.
Sole. by Kayla Moses is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
utlibraries UT Libraries
Great photo of the Architecture Library RT @hellosole: Photo: Paper-writing on campus today in the Architecture Library http://ow.ly/48XIa
The blog belongs to a University of Texas student named Kayla Moses. There was a great photo of the architecture library at University of Texas on her blog. Kayla took the photo and owns it. This is her property. By posting it she does not relinquish ownership. If I want to use that photo on my blog, I need to ask permission from Kayla.
Photo used with permission of Kayla Moses.
Photo of Architecture Library at the University of Texas at Austin.
Kayla posted the following on her blog about rights and requesting permission of artists and authors (see end of this post). This really caught my attention because I know many college students don't seem to notice or care about copyright and intellectual property. So, before you take something you didn't create, please take a minute to send an email, tweet, or IM to the owner and request their permission before you use it.
I sent an email to Kayla and she very nicely granted me permission to use her photo and to use the information I posted below that came from her blog. She told me she hopes it will make students more aware of the need to ask first.
For any NMCC students reading this please share your thoughts. Do you respect the rights of authors or do you think anything on the internet is free? If you created something and put it online and saw it reposted without your permission, how would you feel?
Hey, also: Don't be a naughty thief.
Don’t steal, kiddies.
I’m serious. There are things in life that are just abhorrent. Stealing someone’s writing, images, or anything - even if it is just from some nonsensical bloggy business - does not constitute it as any less miserable.Don’t do it. Ask nicely. You’ll find that most people will smile, perhaps offer you coffee, and be quite pleasant.
Sole. by Kayla Moses is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
Sunday, March 6, 2011
On Loan from the Presque Isle Historical Society
The Presque Isle Historical Society has loaned a traveling exhibit on Vera Estey.
Stop by the library and view the materials in the display case near the circulation desk.
You can also visit the Estey House on Third Street in Presque Isle.
Want to help support the work of the historical society? Learn about membership here.
Stop by the library and view the materials in the display case near the circulation desk.
Want to help support the work of the historical society? Learn about membership here.
Why Can't I Just Google?
This video will give you an idea of why just using Google isn't enough to get an A on your research paper.
The best way to find accurate, reliable, and scholarly information is to do several searches using many resources. The library gives you access to many resources via the library page.
Let's use buying a new computer as an example. If you were thinking of making a big purchase you might go to the store and look at the computers for sale, talk to friends about their computers, read reviews online, read PC magazine or Consumer Reports, talk with a sales rep, or post something on your FB page asking for recommendations. There are many ways you would seek out information. When all that information comes back to you, you would evaluate it and make your final decision. The salesperson at the store might have a bias in selling you a certain computer if they make a larger commission on one model. Your cousin with limited computer skills might not be the best resource to use. A friend who is pro-PC and anti-Mac might present only their view. Likewise the pro-Mac and anti-PC friend would have a bias. Reviews that seem to be unbiased and provide objective information might be better to use. Ultimately, it falls on you to read, examine, think, and evaluate the information to decide if it is credible, reliable, and unbiased.
In college, students are asked to write research papers using specific formats and guidelines (APA or MLA style). A research paper follows a specific format and style manuals provide the layout instructions (see OWL Purdue Online Writing Lab for excellent instructions and helpful tips). The library also has copies of the APA and MLA manuals. When you are ready to create your references list you can use Noodlebib to help make the process much easier.
In research, scholarly articles that are published in peer reviewed journals are a good way to ensure that the information you use has been reviewed and evaluated by experts in the field. You find these articles by searching databases. The databases are provided by companies like Ebsco, ProQuest and many others. Databases provide a clear interface and an easy way to search for information. Libraries purchase databases based on the needs of the students and programs at their institutions. Databases are not free. Annual subscriptions are paid to vendors. Databases come with many rules and limitations. Only NMCC students can use the databases our library purchases. When you are on campus, a simple click gets you directly to the search screen. Off-campus you will be asked to authenticate your NMCC status by entering your 14 digit student ID (you find this on the front of your student ID).
The next time you need to find information for your research paper, visit the library web page and click on one of the many database links you see there. Most of the databases provide full-text and you can have the article in a matter of seconds. It is fast, easy, and best of all, what you need to complete your paper.
If you are having trouble finding what you need, connect with someone in the library for assistance. We'll show you how to get things done quickly so you can move on to your next project.
Seriously, why waste your time searching online and citing all the sources your instructor doesn't want to see cited? Find what is relevant and useful The outcome will be a better grade and you'll learn more about critically evaluating information.
Begin by getting a nice overview of your topic. Start with a Google search or any search engine you like. Maybe try Google Scholar. Read a Wikipedia article and look at the references at the end of the article. Search a few library databases and retrieve some scholarly articles. Look for books and e-books. Find some podcasts or videos. Maybe consider DVDs or other formats. To build a good paper with substantial information to support your topic and thesis, you will need to draw from many sources.
The information on the library page will make it so you can find things quickly. Try it and give us your feedback.
Next post: Description of our databases. Marvel! and more.
The best way to find accurate, reliable, and scholarly information is to do several searches using many resources. The library gives you access to many resources via the library page.
Let's use buying a new computer as an example. If you were thinking of making a big purchase you might go to the store and look at the computers for sale, talk to friends about their computers, read reviews online, read PC magazine or Consumer Reports, talk with a sales rep, or post something on your FB page asking for recommendations. There are many ways you would seek out information. When all that information comes back to you, you would evaluate it and make your final decision. The salesperson at the store might have a bias in selling you a certain computer if they make a larger commission on one model. Your cousin with limited computer skills might not be the best resource to use. A friend who is pro-PC and anti-Mac might present only their view. Likewise the pro-Mac and anti-PC friend would have a bias. Reviews that seem to be unbiased and provide objective information might be better to use. Ultimately, it falls on you to read, examine, think, and evaluate the information to decide if it is credible, reliable, and unbiased.
In college, students are asked to write research papers using specific formats and guidelines (APA or MLA style). A research paper follows a specific format and style manuals provide the layout instructions (see OWL Purdue Online Writing Lab for excellent instructions and helpful tips). The library also has copies of the APA and MLA manuals. When you are ready to create your references list you can use Noodlebib to help make the process much easier.
In research, scholarly articles that are published in peer reviewed journals are a good way to ensure that the information you use has been reviewed and evaluated by experts in the field. You find these articles by searching databases. The databases are provided by companies like Ebsco, ProQuest and many others. Databases provide a clear interface and an easy way to search for information. Libraries purchase databases based on the needs of the students and programs at their institutions. Databases are not free. Annual subscriptions are paid to vendors. Databases come with many rules and limitations. Only NMCC students can use the databases our library purchases. When you are on campus, a simple click gets you directly to the search screen. Off-campus you will be asked to authenticate your NMCC status by entering your 14 digit student ID (you find this on the front of your student ID).
The next time you need to find information for your research paper, visit the library web page and click on one of the many database links you see there. Most of the databases provide full-text and you can have the article in a matter of seconds. It is fast, easy, and best of all, what you need to complete your paper.
If you are having trouble finding what you need, connect with someone in the library for assistance. We'll show you how to get things done quickly so you can move on to your next project.
Seriously, why waste your time searching online and citing all the sources your instructor doesn't want to see cited? Find what is relevant and useful The outcome will be a better grade and you'll learn more about critically evaluating information.
Begin by getting a nice overview of your topic. Start with a Google search or any search engine you like. Maybe try Google Scholar. Read a Wikipedia article and look at the references at the end of the article. Search a few library databases and retrieve some scholarly articles. Look for books and e-books. Find some podcasts or videos. Maybe consider DVDs or other formats. To build a good paper with substantial information to support your topic and thesis, you will need to draw from many sources.
The information on the library page will make it so you can find things quickly. Try it and give us your feedback.
Next post: Description of our databases. Marvel! and more.
Saturday, March 5, 2011
Go Blue Day at NMCC
If you missed it, here are some photos.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=280635&l=d4ea5035bb&id=47208068025
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=280635&l=d4ea5035bb&id=47208068025
The I's of a Diary
NMCC adjunct instructor Pam Sweetser will be delivering a talk entitled, "The I's of a Diary" on March 17th from 1-2 in the Edmunds Conference Center.
“The I’s of a Diary: writing history from personal narrative” is a lecture that contextualizes two sets of unpublished diaries, and that discusses a strategy for reading them.
Owned by Miriam Hoyt Gregg and Wayne R. Sweetser, these diaries, written by mother and daughter, Adwina (Addie) O’Brien Richardson (1851-1941) and Amy Richardson Sweetser (1896-1958), span nearly a century from 1871-1950. The two women lived in Maysville and Presque Isle, Maine, their entire lives.
Though most entries are brief, they fill more than 100 separate journals, weaving a rich tapestry of personal and public experiences that draw the reader into their worlds in ways that detached, third-person history cannot.
Diaries, frequently characterized as “windows,” give us restricted views that, as historical sources, must be contextualized within both personal and public spaces. To reconstruct lives from diaries, we must chose a strategy for reading them that allows us, when we write, to make the lives accessible and the telling legitimate. The reader must account for the ways in which sex, age, class, and race in the context of time and place affect both the personal narratives that appear in the diaries, and the ways in which they are interpreted.
“The I’s of a Diary: writing history from personal narrative” is a lecture that contextualizes two sets of unpublished diaries, and that discusses a strategy for reading them.
Owned by Miriam Hoyt Gregg and Wayne R. Sweetser, these diaries, written by mother and daughter, Adwina (Addie) O’Brien Richardson (1851-1941) and Amy Richardson Sweetser (1896-1958), span nearly a century from 1871-1950. The two women lived in Maysville and Presque Isle, Maine, their entire lives.
Though most entries are brief, they fill more than 100 separate journals, weaving a rich tapestry of personal and public experiences that draw the reader into their worlds in ways that detached, third-person history cannot.
Diaries, frequently characterized as “windows,” give us restricted views that, as historical sources, must be contextualized within both personal and public spaces. To reconstruct lives from diaries, we must chose a strategy for reading them that allows us, when we write, to make the lives accessible and the telling legitimate. The reader must account for the ways in which sex, age, class, and race in the context of time and place affect both the personal narratives that appear in the diaries, and the ways in which they are interpreted.
Pamela Snow Sweetser has taught at Hampden Academy for more than 30 years. She also taught at Fort Fairfield High School. An Aroostook County native, Pam has retired from education and spends her time writing and farming with her husband Wayne. She is a doctoral candidate in U.S. Women's History at the University of Maine, Orono. Her dissertation title is, "The harder I work, the more there is to do: rural women and modernization, Aroostook County, Maine, 1870-1940."
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Go Blue Day at NMCC
March is National Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month
On March 4th help support a great cause. Dress in Blue and stop by the Christie Lobby from 9-1 for the Blue Bake Sale. Funds raised will be donated to the Colon Cancer Alliance.
Visit the bookstore and vote to see who will get a pie in the face for this great cause. See posters all over campus and vote for your favorite person.
Group photo at noon in the Christie Lobby.
To learn more about early detection click here.
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