English 101 for Professor Aaron Hedge

What do we mean by "scholarly"?

Scholarly means that the articles are written by experts in the field and will contain references or a bibliography of the sources consulted. There are two main types of scholarly articles.

What do we mean by “not scholarly”?

Not scholarly means that the articles are not research-based and usually written by journalists, not academics. You aren’t likely to find references to other sources.

• News articles -- more objective, factually based articles written by journalists and found in newspapers or magazines. You could think of them as the “first draft of history”.
• Editorials or commentaries -- opinion-based articles, rather than a balanced, more objective piece.
• Popular magazines -- magazines aimed at a broad audience.
• Trade magazines or trade journals -- magazines aimed at a particular audience, such as people employed in a particular profession.

If you are like a lot of people, you start your research with Wikipedia, or you use Google and end up at Wikipedia. Encyclopedias like Wikipedia are useful places to start when you don’t know that much about your topic. They can offer a concise introduction and give you ideas for more specific aspects of an issue, as well as suggestions for important books and articles for further reading.

Issues with Wikipedia

Wikipedia is easy to access and can offer very interesting information, not to mention that it is huge, with over 1 million entries in English. But there’s one major issue with Wikipedia – anyone can write or change an entry. You never know who wrote it, and it’s a "moving target," meaning that the content is constantly changing.

Ideally, because each entry can be modified, the “wisdom of the crowd” improves the accuracy of the information. But in practice, writing by committee doesn’t lend itself to elegant prose, and the entries are better for fact-based information than for holistic, contextual information that academic experts can give you. And you have no idea of the authority of the authors.

Library Sources for Quality Background Information

Hints for Gale Virtual Reference Library & Sage Knowledge

• Type in your general topic, one word or a simple phrase, in the search box at the top of the screen.
• When reviewing the results, it is very important that you note the name of the encyclopedia it comes from. Each encyclopedia will have a different focus, so note the title of the encyclopedia along with the title of the entry. An education encyclopedia and a criminal justice encyclopedia will have completely different takes on an issue.
• To view the encyclopedia entry, click on the title in the large font.
• If you find an entry you like, you can download it or email it to yourself via the links at the top.

The EWU Library Catalog gives you access to all the library's books, videos, CDs, government publications, as well as articles on all subjects.

What’s in the catalog?

• All of EWU’s physical holdings, including books, videos, CDs, government documents, and more.
• All the physical holdings of all the Summit Libraries—over 9 million titles!
• Citations for millions of articles.

How do I search the catalog? | How do I locate an item? | I can't find the specific book or video I want. | How can I get more help?

How do I search the catalog?

If you don't have a particular item in mind, type in your keywords as you would in Google, as a string of words.

• Put exact phrases in quotes, e.g. "college students"
• To find variations on a word, type the stem of the word followed by *, e.g. success* to find success, successful, etc.
• If you want to look for either word/phrase, the Boolean operator OR must be in ALLCAPS and in parentheses, e.g. (STEM OR science*).

Know the title or author?

If you know the exact title of the item, type in the title "in quotes" and the last name of the author (if known).

Or

Click Browse in the top bar and type in the title and/or author. (Note: The Browse function only works for EWU holdings of books or videos, not for titles held by other libraries.)

Refining Your Search

Because the EWU Library Catalog has records for all types of resources, you will very likely need to limit your search results. Note all the limiters on the left side, as well as some quick limiters at the top.

• Click on the limiter to narrow by the one limiter.
• You can narrow to more than one in the category by clicking the corresponding boxes on the left of the limiter (such as limiting by Format to both Print Books and eBooks). Just hover over the limiter to see the box.
• You can exclude particular limiters by clicking the icon on the right of the limiter. Just hover over the limiter to see this icon.   

Useful limiters:

• Availability -- Available in the Library -- this will quickly show you the books and videos we have on the shelves in the library
• Availability -- Full Text Online -- this will limit to the articles and eBooks available
• Format -- limit to books, audio visual (for DVDs, CDs, etc.)
• Date -- click on the From/To dates to update, and click Refine
• Physical Location -- easiest way to limit to a particular collection, such as the Curriculum Center or Reference
• Subject Terms -- because the subject terms given to articles and books are can be different, it is best to narrow by Format first, then Subject Term.

Mark Your Records

See the push pin icon on the far right (labeled "Keep this item" if you hover over it)? 

Click it and it will change the push pin icon and highlight the brief record yellow. You have marked a record temporarily. Click the push pin icon in the top right corner to view your marked records.

• Note: To permanently mark a record, you need to be logged in. Click the Sign In tab in the top right corner.

How do I locate an item?

The last line of the brief record describes where the item is located.

If the wording is green, that means it is readily available, either online or physically on our shelves at the JFK Library in Cheney.

• For physical items, note the location: floor and call number. 
• For online items: click the green wording (Full text available, Online access, etc.) to link out to the item. 

If the wording is yellow, that means you'll have to request it. Click Check request options - held by Summit libraries. You must be logged in to request the item -- you'll be prompted to if you aren't already.

Once you are logged in, click the link Place Summit request (4-8 days). The form will ask you:

• Volume number (optional) -- only matters if it is a multi-volume set and you only want one volume
• Pick up/delivery location (required) -- which library do you want the item delivered to -- the default is Cheney
• Comment (optional)

Click REQUEST. You will be notified via your EWU email address when the item is ready to be picked up. 

If the wording is gray, that means either:

• The EWU copy of the item is checked out. You will have to request it from a Summit library, or via Interlibrary Loan if there is no other copy in Summit.
• The article is not available online. It may be in a physical copy of the source (and it will display the date range held and call number), or you will have to request it via Interlibrary Loan.

I can't find the specific book or video I want.

While the EWU Library Catalog has millions of records, it only will search through the holdings of the 39 Summit libraries. If you can't find a specific book, video, CD, etc., then go to the EWU WorldCat Catalog and re-do your search. WorldCat has records from thousands of libraries worldwide. You may request the item via Interlibrary Loan.

How can I get more help?

Please contact a reference librarian through our Ask a Librarian chat or send us an email.