Welcome Freshman

Welcome to new freshman and welcome back to our returning students. Here at Steen Library the research librarians are here to help you with your resource needs. The Ask-A-Librarian desk located on the 1^st floor in the Research Room (Steen Library Map) is great for walk-in research help and the phone number is 468-7299. You can also use the Ask-A-Librarian form to get help online. Subject specialty assistance is as easy as contacting your liaison contact. We are here to help you have a great and successful semester!

Argue like a Pro with "Opposing Viewpoints"

Opposing Viewpoints is a database that presents both sides of controversial issues. It is a good starting point for choosing a topic, getting an overview, and finding related material. The series can be useful for writing speeches and debating. "Opposing Viewpoints" links to recommended websites, so it provides some “quality control” for the Web.

To get to it, click on the Databases A - Z on the Library home page. Scroll down to the O section and click on Opposing Viewpoints.

R. Philip Reynolds preynolds (AT) sfasu.edu rm. 202b 936.468.1453 Subjects - Computer Science, Military Science, Philosophy, Religion, Political Science, Geography, Kinesiology

What to do When “No” is the Wrong Answer

Sometimes while doing some online research the database you are using will return no hits. You may see a message saying:

“No matches found”

“No records matched your search”

“No results were found”

This can be frustrating when you need the right answer, right article, or just the right book. Fortunately, there are a few of quick steps you can take when “No….” is the wrong answer.

First, check your spelling, most of the time when a database can’t find anything matching your query it is because you misspelled something. While Steen Library does not currently have any books on kenisiology it does have several about kinesiology. With Google You can find almost 3500 web pages about kenisiology, you might want use one of the 930,000 or so pages Google returns for kinesiology.

If you are still getting no hits on your search your next step is to make sure you are using the right database. When doing online research the axiom “use the right tool for the right job” holds true. If you want to find a book in Steen Library, use the library’s catalog. If you need a journal article, use a “General Database” or “Subject Database” listed on one of the library’s “Subject Guides.” If you need a web site check the “Websites” section of one of the Subject Guides, or use a search engine like Google, Yahoo, or Bing.

Next, make sure you are using the right terminology. Many times when searching refereed or scholarly journals searchers will use different terms than those used in the discipline. While you may tell someone you broke your collarbone, you would probably want to find the latest treatment methods by searching for articles about a broken clavicle.

Of course, you can always Ask A Librarian. Whether you Ask A Librarian at the beginning so you can get the information you need faster, or wait and ask as a last resort, the librarians at Steen Library are ready to help.

R. Philip Reynolds preynolds (AT) sfasu.edu rm. 202b 936.468.1453 Subjects - Computer Science, Military Science, Philosophy, Religion, Political Science, Geography, Kinesiology

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RIS Recommends: Quick Tips for Searching

Quick Tips for Searching

Quick Tips.....for internet searching or the library database searching.

Help screens are often difficult to find and even harder to understand for most databases these days.

However, there are a few hints to help you get started with most databases and search engines.

1. Use the "keyword" option when available.


2. Connect keywords with [AND] [OR] or eliminate unwanted terms using [NOT]. For example, if I want to know, why the sky is blue, my search phrase could be [sky AND blue].
   
   
3. Use quotation marks to search for specific phrases such as "irregular warfare".



4. Truncation symbols are *, ?, !, #, $. The most common being the * character. For example, if I want to search for how many men cook, I would use the search phrase men AND cook*. The * character can take the place of on letter or many letters. For example the search phrase cook* would find the words cooks, cooking, cooker. cookware, cooked, cookies or cookable.



5. Stopwords are bad so do not use in, a, the, an in your search phrase.



6. Field searching means selecting the keywords in the "Title field", or "subject field" , or "author field" or something like it. These options are usually available through the "advanced searching" link or tab.

	Marthea Turnage mturnage@sfasu.edu rm. 202c 936.468.1896 Subjects - Accounting, Criminal Justice, Economics and Finance, General Business, Law, Management/Marketing/International Business, Nursing, Psychology