The Azusa Pacific Blog » research

Librarian-approved, Time-saving Research Tips, Part 8: Use Zotero to Create your Bibliography

Kimberley Stephenson — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 23:50:22 +0000

Note: this is the final post in an 8-part series of tips designed to make you a better researcher. Click here to read the whole series.

This last tip is one of my favorites. Whenever I show it to students, they always say, “Wow! Why didn’t I know about this earlier?!” :)

Zotero is a free extension for the Firefox internet browser* that allows you to save publication information for books and articles, then automatically generate in-text citations and bibliographies using those sources.

That explanation is a little abstract, so let me rephrase it: Zotero creates your bibliography for you!

I won’t go into the details of downloading and installing Zotero here, since the Zotero web site gives easy-to-follow instructions on how to do that. Make sure that you also download and install the plugin for Microsoft Word/OpenOffice; this is the piece that allows you to generate your bibliography and insert citations into the text of your paper.

Librarian-approved, Time-saving Research Tips, Part 7: RSS Feeds for Article Searches

Kimberley Stephenson — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 23:49:56 +0000

Note: this is the seventh post in an 8-part series of tips designed to make you a better researcher. Click here to read the whole series.

My previous research tip discussed the RSS feed for new books and videos added to the libraries’ collections. But did you know that many of our article databases also offer RSS feeds?

All EBSCOhost and ProQuest databases allow you to create RSS feeds. You can set up feeds based on a search string, or you can access feeds that will send you a journal’s table of contents each time a new issue is published.

Either way, once you set up and subscribe to the feed, you’ll receive notifications through your feed reader every time a new article matching your criteria is added. It’s like the database is doing your searching for you! These feeds are especially handy if you’re working on a long-term project.

Librarian-approved, Time-saving Research Tips, Part 6: Use Preferred Searches and RSS Feeds in the Library Catalog

Kimberley Stephenson — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 23:49:28 +0000

Note: this is the sixth post in an 8-part series of tips designed to make you a better researcher. Click here to read the whole series.

Are you working on a long-term research project? Wouldn’t it be great if you could be notified whenever a new book on your topic is added to the libraries?

Actually, it’s possible with preferred searches! “Preferred searches” are saved searches of the library catalog. When you create a preferred search, you’ll get an email every time a new item that matches your search criteria is added to the libraries’ collections.

They’re a snap to set up, too. Just make sure that you’re logged in to your library account, then do a search in the library catalog. On the search results page, you’ll see a button that says, “Save as preferred search.” Click it, then follow the prompts to name and save the search. Be sure to check the “Email” box on your preferred search page.

Librarian-approved, Time-saving Research Tips, Part 5: Maximize Your Search Power With Multi-Database Search

Kimberley Stephenson — Sat, 03 Apr 2010 23:48:59 +0000

Note: this is the fifth post in an 8-part series of tips designed to make you a better researcher. Click here to read the whole series.

Did you know that the APU Libraries subscribe to more than 120 online databases? That means we have databases for many different subject areas, in addition to multi-disciplinary and reference databases that contain a little bit of everything. With so many online resources, you may find yourself repeating your search in multiple databases, just to make sure you’ve searched thoroughly.

Enter our new Multi-Database Search tool. It allows you to search up to 30 of our biggest databases at the same time, ensuring that you’re casting your search net as widely as possible.

Librarian-approved, Time-saving Research Tips, Part 4: Use the Full Text Finder

Kimberley Stephenson — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 23:48:38 +0000

Note: this is the fourth post in an 8-part series of tips designed to make you a better researcher. Click here to read the whole series.

Have you ever found a great-sounding article in a library database, only to discover that the full text was not available? Frustrating, isn’t it??

Unfortunately, it’s a common scenario because of the nature of the publishing industry. Many times, journal publishers will not give database publishers the rights to reprint the full text of an article. But because the database publishers want you to know that the articles exist, they will provide citation information (and occasionally abstracts) for articles. This means that it is up to you to search the library’s collections for the article–something that can be difficult if you’re not familiar with library research tools.

Librarian-approved, Time-saving Research Tips, Part 3: Place Holds

Kimberley Stephenson — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 23:48:10 +0000

Note: this is the third post in an 8-part series of tips designed to make you a better researcher. Click here to read the whole series.

Today’s time-saving research tip is a quick one. :)

Does the thought of searching the stacks for a call number scare you?
Are the books you need for your paper scattered across all 3 libraries?
Are you just too stinkin’ busy to hunt down all the books you need in the libraries?

Holds are for you! Placing holds on library items can save you tons of time, since you can pick up all the items you need in one place.

Librarian-approved, Time-saving Research Tips, Part 2: Use Reference Books

Kimberley Stephenson — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 23:47:43 +0000

Note: this is the second post in an 8-part series of tips designed to make you a better researcher. Click here to read the whole series.

“Reference books” are the dictionaries, encyclopedias, lexicons, atlases, concordances, etc. located in our libraries. And our reference books go far beyond the World Book Encyclopedia you may have used in elementary school!

Academic reference books are scholarly, detailed, and subject-specific. The beautiful thing about scholarly encyclopedias and dictionaries is that they can give you a quick, authoritative overview of your topic. Within a few minutes of locating an entry in a reference book, you’ll have a broad understanding of the history, important people, and important research studies related to your topic.

Librarian-approved, Time-saving Research Tips, Part 1: Check out LibGuides

Kimberley Stephenson — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 23:47:13 +0000

Note: this is the first post in an 8-part series of tips designed to make you a better researcher. Click here to read the whole series!

Last year, we rolled out a brand-spanking-new research help tool called LibGuides. The LibGuides system contains librarian-created guides, tailor-made for specific courses, assignments, and subjects. We’ve also got general how-to guides designed to help with creating bibliographies, starting research papers, requesting books and articles, and more.

But the real time-saving value of LibGuides can be found in course- and subject-specific guides. For example, check out this guide for GNRS506 (Spiritual Care). In it, my colleague Michelle Spomer gives you step-by-step guidance on how to research a spiritual care concept using library resources. She covers everything from doing a word study when you don’t know Hebrew or Greek, to finding books on your concept, to locating articles in recommended theology databases. A guide like this can save you tons of time by pointing you to the best resources for your topic, especially when you’re not as familiar with library resources as you’d like to be.

Navigating the New APU Libraries Web Site

Kimberley Stephenson — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 21:50:37 +0000

If you’re a veteran library user, you may have noticed a few changes to the University Libraries site this fall, thanks to the fabulous web developers in the Office of University Relations. Here in the APU Libraries, our mission is to help you find the resources you need to be successful in your research. We think our re-designed web site is a huge step forward in that mission.

With the re-design, we’ve streamlined the look and feel of the site, made it easier to get important information, offered you more ways to connect with the University Libraries, and introduced several new research tools. Our overall goal was to make it faster and easier for you to get the books, articles, media, and library information you need.

Administrative Bi-focals

John Reynolds — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 16:55:54 +0000

The first bi-focaled administrator

One of the most difficult challenges we as university administrators have is balancing the reality of the present (doing the work), with what is necessary to ensure a successful and sustainable future. It reminds me of first wearing bi-focal spectacles – I needed one type of lens for reading, and the other for distance.

As APU’s leaders we have to do the same, focus on today but be able to “see” into the future. To do this with excellence, we need to know what is keeping us a Christ-centered comprehensive university heading in the right direction. Students and knowledge guide this direction. I am probably not the most knowledgeable on the student factor, but I have strong convictions around knowledge. I have just read an interesting article on “The Dynamic of Knowledge”₁ – let me try and apply it to APU.

Read more on Administrative Bi-focals…