Expository Writing: Guide to Library Resources and Services

I. The Approach
Select a research topic and conduct pre-research: Look through your assignment and
select research topic that interests you. Brainstorm keywords related to your research
topic. If you find a term and do not know what it means, look it up before you use it in
your search.
Resources:
• Go to the A to Z List of Databases on the library homepage, select Credo
Reference.
• Go to the A to Z List of Databases on the library homepage, select CQ Reference.
• Google Books: http://books.google.com/
• Search for books through our library catalog.

Once you identify keywords to start off your search, your goal should be to find an article
that will lead you to other keywords, subject headings and references.

I. Mini-Tour of Library
First floor:
• Circulation desk and reserves (near the entrance): get your library card, check out
books and check out articles/books your professor places on reserve.
• Reference room and Reference Foyer (side of building): contains encyclopedias,
handbooks, dictionaries that provide context to your research topic. Always
staffed by a reference librarian.
• Computers: 14 PCs throughout the library. The two PCs in front of the reference
desk have Microsoft Office installed. Print to Pharos stations located in the lower
level, the first and second floors.
• Index Area (back of the building): Find book reviews and indexes of articles
published. Scanner available.
• Study Carrels: Towards the back of the first floor; quiet study areas located
throughout library.
• Archives and Special Collections (near the Mars Rover): Houses historical
documents and artifacts of the college.
• Photocopier: 2 copiers located on each side of the library; one copier in
Periodicals area.
• Bathrooms: women’s room 1st floor, men’s room lower mezzanine.
Lower Mezzanine Levels:
• Book stacks level 1 (floor underneath the “Pit”); bound journal articles; Archives
Room; vending machine
• Book stack level 2
• Book stack level 3
Upper Mezzanine:
• Periodicals Area: magazines, newspapers, microfilm, microfiche
• Curriculum Library: library materials for education students
• Smart market: coffee, tea and snacks

I. Searching for a book in the reference room

Questions? Email (reference@framingham.edu) or call us at (508.626.4655).

 Expository Writing: Guide to Library Resources and Services

The Reference Room’s books are organized by subject categories. To determine the
category where a reference book would be classified under, look at the list posted on the
door of room 118 labeled “Library of Congress Classification Schedules.”

For example, to find reference books on consumerism and advertising, look at the list and
determine where your topic would fit in.

The library also provides encyclopedias, handbooks and dictionaries online through the
database called Credo Reference. You can access Credo Reference under the list of A-
to-Z list of databases.

II. To access the library’s resources if you are off campus:

Go to the library home page http://www.framingham.edu/wlibrary and directly to the

library databases (like InfoTrac’s General Onefile). Enter your Blackboard username and
password.

III. Searching for a book in the catalog from the Minuteman Library Network
http://library.minlib.net/search~S15

To conduct a subject or keyword search, enter a phrase in the search box and select
“subject” or “keyword” and “Framingham State College” in the drop down menus. To
search for books in other libraries, select “All locations” instead of Framingham State
College.

For example, here’s a keyword search to find books on the advertising targeted to
children.

Once you find a book, write down the call number to help you find the book in the
library.

Questions? Email (reference@framingham.edu) or call us at (508.626.4655).

 Expository Writing: Guide to Library Resources and Services

All full-time and part-time Framingham State College students can borrow books from
the Whittemore Library, as well as other libraries within the Minuteman Library
Network. Day and evening students must register with the library to activate the student
ID barcode or student ID number. Borrowing privileges will expire when the student and
are no longer affiliated with the college.

I recommend that you do not limit your search only to Framingham State College. You
can always request a book from another library within Minuteman Library Network.
Usually books requested from the network are received within the week. You can also
order books from the Virtual Catalog, and the WorldCat database. These requests take
more time to process.

IV. Library Cards and Interlibrary Loan

Once you register your library card, you are able to request books and articles through
interlibrary loan (ILL). You can request a book or article through interlibrary loan at
http://www.framingham.edu/wlibrary/illform.htm.Your request might take more than two
weeks to fulfill. Please contact Neil Conrad at 508.626.4690 for questions on ILL.

V. Searching for Articles:

For a listing of all of our research databases, go to the “A to Z List of Databases” link on
the library webpage. If you are off campus or on a laptop, you will authenticate by
entering your network account (your original Blackboard username and password).
http://www.framingham.edu/wlibrary/finding/articles.htm

You will find relevant articles in the following library databases:

• EBSCO’s Academic Search Premier or Communication and Mass Media
Complete
• InfoTrac’s General Onefile or Communication and Mass Media Collection
• CQ Researcher (reports)
• LexisNexis (news)

I. Searching in EBSCO’s Academic Search Premier

Here is a general search for how television portrays violence towards women.

Select articles by “adding them to a folder”.

Open the folder icon at the top of the page once you have selected the articles. In the
folder view, select the articles that you would like to print, email, export, or save.

Questions? Email (reference@framingham.edu) or call us at (508.626.4655).

 Expository Writing: Guide to Library Resources and Services

Notice the subject terms, you can use these to build better search queries. If you are
looking for scholarly articles, select the box “Scholarly (Peer Reviewed Journals)”. If you
are looking for current articles, you can refine your search by selecting the year range
2000 to 2009.

You can save your articles to your own personal account by creating a “MyEbscoHost”
account. This is a great way to organize your research.

One good article could lead you to other articles. Notice the links “Cited References” and
“Times Cited in this Database”. Here you can find other articles relating to your topic.
See how this article is classified; jot down the subject terms. To learn how to cite this
article, select the document icon on the right hand side.

EBSCO formats the article in a number of citation styles:

Questions? Email (reference@framingham.edu) or call us at (508.626.4655).

 Expository Writing: Guide to Library Resources and Services

II. Searching for Full-Text Articles if You Have the Citation

If you come across a bibliography and would like to know if any of the journals listed are
available online, enter the name of the journal in the Full Text Journal Finder.
(http://pj8tr3fm5l.search.serialssolutions.com/)

If the journal is available online, the page results will list the research databases that
contain the article full text. You then need to search for the article in that particular
database.

If an article is not available full-text, you can check the red binder to see if the library
carries it in print. For questions on our print journals, please contact Deb Hogan,
periodicals supervisor, at dhogan@framingham.edu.

If the library does not own the online or print copy of the journal, you can request the
article from the journal through Interlibrary Loan. Remember – it can take up to 2 weeks
to receive an article if ordered through Interlibrary Loan, so budget your time.

III.Searching for scholarly articles in Google Scholar

Go to the A to Z List of Databases on the library homepage and select the Google Scholar
link. Once on the Google Scholar page, go to Scholar Preferences and make sure that
Framingham State College is listed as a preferred library.

Questions? Email (reference@framingham.edu) or call us at (508.626.4655).

 Expository Writing: Guide to Library Resources and Services

Also select RefWorks as a preferred Bibliographic Manager:

When creating a search in Google Scholar, you do not need to link terms by “and” for
example: consumption recession (economists OR political scientists)

Some basic instructions on how to search:

http://whittemorelibrary.wordpress.com/2008/02/16/try-google-scholar/ and to learn
some advanced searching techniques:
http://whittemorelibrary.wordpress.com/2009/09/23/power-searching-google-and-google-
scholar/

IV. Searching on the Google for Information

Try to keep the search simple. Limit your search to .edu or .gov sites. Play around with
key words to get the best hits.

Questions? Email (reference@framingham.edu) or call us at (508.626.4655).

 Expository Writing: Guide to Library Resources and Services

Questions to ask when you are evaluating Internet resources:

• Who is the author or producer of the content?
• Is the information on the webpage current?
• What is the purpose of the website? Who is the audience?
• Is the information accurate? Is the information taken from another source?
• Is the webpage easy to navigate? Do all the links work?

I. Other suggestions:

When you are ready to cite your resources for your paper, a great resource is the Duke
University Libraries – Citing Resources page: http://library.duke.edu/research/citing/.

Questions? Email (reference@framingham.edu) or call us at (508.626.4655).