Many libraries make tutorials and guides to the research process available on the Web. If you would like more information about various aspects of library research, here are a few sources:
I. THE BASICS OF INFORMATION AND LIBRARY
RESEARCH
Texas Information
Literacy Tutorial (TILT)
from the University of Texas System Digital Library
This award-winning tutorial is interactive and anyone can go
through it as a guest.. The tutorial goes over the essential
concepts of information/library research in three modules. TILT
says it takes approximately 30 minutes to complete each module, and
each ends with a self-administered quiz (with immediate feedback on
the correct answers). Following an introduction, the three modules
are: 1. Selecting--discusses various information resources, such as
scholarly vs popular and library vs general web pages, and how to
choose the best one for your research; 2. Searching--discusses the
techniques of searching, including choosing and combining terms,
and locating materials in the library (it has an exercise of
placing books by call number correctly on a shelf); and 3.
Evaluating--focuses on assessing the credibility of sources, and
includes information about citing sources.
Library
Research Guides
from the U of
California, Berkeley--Teaching Library. This site has many
excellent tutorials and guides. I especially recommend the section
of the website concerning
internet searching and
evaluating webpages.
How
Literature is Structured
from Cornell University Library
Library
Research at Cornell: A Hypertext Guide.
Seven Steps to Effective Library Research
Information
Literacy Tutorials
from Five Colleges of Ohio Libraries
Steps to Writing a Research Paper
From UCLA College Library
How to Do
Library Research
from Colorado State University
How-To
Guides
from the UCLA College Library
II. SPECIFICS ABOUT INFORMATION SEARCHING
How to Narrow or Broaden Your Topic
from the UCLA College Library
Electronic
Searching (Online, CD-ROM, Online Catalog)--Exploring a
Database
from Colorado State University Library
Advanced
Searching Tips
from Colorado State University Library
Discusses Using Preferred Terms in Indexes, Boolean Operators (Venn
Diagrams), Fields, Truncation and Proximity Operators.
Search Engine
Showdown
This site is offered by Greg R. Notess, a reference librarian at
the University of Montana. He is an author and speaker who has been
tracking internet resources for a decade. This site includes
lessons for learning to search the internet and helpful comparison
charts of various search engines.
III. EVALUATING INFORMATION
How
to Evaluate the Information Sources You Find
from Cornell University Library
This page has links to excellent brief guidelines for analyzing the
authority for books, for distinguishing between scholarly journals
and other periodical types, and for evaluating websites.
Critical
Evaluation of Resources
from the U of California, Berkeley--Teaching Library
How to
evaluate journal articles
from Colorado State University Library
Thinking Critically about World Wide Web Resources
by Esther Grassian, UCLA College Library
Evaluating Information Found on the Internet
from Johns Hopkins University Library
Web
Site Evaluation Checklist
By P.F. Anderson, Nancy Allee, Steve Grove and Sara Hill
IV. CITING SOURCES
BF76.7 .P83 2001 RR, RR4, Harper Reserve, SSA Reserve
Publication manual of the American Psychological
Association. 5th ed. Washington, DC: American
Psychological Association, c2001.
APA Style
Homepage
Site has a variety of citation tips and FAQs. Information is
available about Citing electronic
resources.
Citation
Style Help Guides
from the University of Chicago Library Reference
Department
V. WRITING THE RESEARCH PAPER
Writing a Research Paper
Online Writing Lab, Purdue University
VI. THE VOCABULARY OF LIBRARY AND INFORMATION
RESEARCH
Library
Vocabulary: Common Terms Defined
From Cornell University Library