NU 111
Introduction to Using Resources in Busse Library.
Fall Semester 2003

Student Name:_______________________________________________

This worksheet is to be completed using the computers in the Reference Area of Busse Library. Complete it by _______________ and hand it in to your instructor.  It will be marked by the Library Staff and returned to your instructor.

Using the college library and its full range of print and electronic resources is one of the expectations faculty have for students.  This short set of activities provides the most basic introduction to finding and using books, print articles, electronic articles, videos and web sites for course assignments and papers.

To learn how the various databases work use a consistent search term for the activities in this worksheet.  It may be one assigned in class by your instructor, the topic of an assignment in your syllabus, or a topic of your own choosing.

Search Term: ________________________________

Becoming a competent student, and eventually a successful professional in one's field involves mastering a wide curriculum, the mores and culture of the profession, and the resources through which information about and for the profession are disseminated. Posing questions and finding answers is the beginning. This set of activities will introduce you to the process of finding and using information to complete assignments, write papers and make professional decisions. The decisions one makes are influenced by the ability to find, understand and use the knowledge of others which is communicated through books, journals, electronic databases and other information carriers. It also involves communicating with others through writing.

If you have any questions as you complete the sections of this assignment talk with your instructor and with the librarians. Read the entire worksheet and associated web pages.  Save this worksheet for later reference on using library holdings.

Go to the Reference Desk to ask for the following:  Reference Desk Telephone Number: ______________________ 
Library Email Address: ______________________________________________

Go to the Circulation Desk to ask how long items (books, articles, videos) your instructors may have put on Reserve shelves may be checked out for use in the library: ________________________

Note #B1: Publication Types - Read the following MMC Note on Publication Types <http://www.mtmercy.edu/lib/noteb3.htm>. You will use this information in identifying the information types in this worksheet for questions 1.

Note #B3: Evaluating Information - Read the following MMC Note on Evaluating Information <http://www.mtmercy.edu/lib/noteb1.htm>.  It will be useful in evaluating the choices you make in selecting books, articles, web pages, etc.

Finding Books

Horizon is the library catalog.  Use it to locate books (print and electronic), videos, music CDs and other materials. 

Click on the Task Bar button at the bottom of the monitor screen named Searching Busse Library.  This opens the Horizon search window that offers a selection of search indexes.  You will use two of the indexes and write your results on this sheet.

1.  Select Keyword (the default search) and key in your search term and click on OK.  From the list of hits, select one book and click on Show detail.  Print the Bibliographic Detail of this book to attach to this worksheet and to use in number 10. Return to the Search window. Using the criteria in Note #B1, what in the type of publication is this? ____________________

2. Select Subject Alphabetical in the search window and key in one of the Subject Headings found on the print out from number 1. Click on OK.  From the list of hits, select one book and click on show detail. Print the Bibliographic Detail of this book to attach to this worksheet and to use in number 10. Return to the Search window and select Keyword. Using the criteria in Note #B1, what in the type of publication is this? ____________________

3. On the search screen, click on Restrict after you have selected Keyword.  On the next screen select Media Materials.  Click on OK. Now key in your search term and click on OK. Scroll through the hits to find a video and click on show detail.  Print the Bibliographic Detail of this video to attach to this worksheet and to use in number 10. If there was no video found using your term, redo the search with nursing as your keyword.  Select a video and print the Bibliographic Detail of this video to attach to this worksheet and to use in number 10. Using the criteria in Note #B1, what in the type of publication is this? ____________________

Finding Journal Articles

Click on the Busse Library Web icon on the Reference Computer desktop. Click on On Campus Users to get to the complete list of Periodical Indexes and Other Databases available to users.

Click on EBSCOhost to access a simultaneous search of four large databases. On the next screen select EBSCOhost Web and on the next screen, select Continue. Key in your search term in the search box(es) and click on Search.  Select an HTML full text article from the list of hits by clicking on the HTML at the bottom of the record.

4. Click on the database link for Print (not the www browser or file commands). It is one of the choices near the top of the item record. Then click on print on the next screen. Click on print on the Printer screen.  Attach the printout to this worksheet to use in number 10. Using the criteria in Note #B1, what in the type of publication is this? ____________________

5. Click on Back on the full text file (not on the browser). Next click on the Email link and email the article Citation/abstract only to yourself. Deselect the fulltext choice from the screen where you enter your email address so you only get the citation/abstract.  When you receive the email, print the citation/abstract to attach to this worksheet.

NOTE: Some articles in EBSCOhost are available in PDF format. In the future, when you select PDF full text articles for printing from this database you should also print or write the citation as it appears in the EBSCO database because you will need that information when doing your Literature Cited or References for papers and assignments.

Return to the Periodical Index and Other Databases page. Scroll down to the suggested list of databases for Nursing.  Click on CINAHL from FirstSearch. On the next screen, enter your search terms and click on Search. CINAHL has very little full text but many citations to nursing journals that are in Busse Library or available through InterLibrary Loan.

6. From the list of hits, select one, click on the title and then on the next page, click on the print link on the FirstSearch page (not the browser button). Attach the print out and use it in number 10. Using the criteria in Note #B1, what in the type of publication is this? ____________________

7. Click on List of Records on the left side above the citation to return to your list of hits.  Select another record, click on it to open it and then click on the ILL button to see the Interlibrary Loan screen. Interlibrary Loan is how we get articles or books from other libraries at no charge to you.  Complete the red sections of the form.  DO NOT SUBMIT IT for this exercise. Print the screen using the File and Print commands in the browser. Attach it to this worksheet.

Return to the Busse Library Web by clicking on Home in the Browser. There are many databases appropriate to finding many kinds of information. Click on Periodical Indexes and Other Databases again.  This time find and click on the News link in the LexisNexis set of databases. In the Step 1. Select a News Category box, select General News.  Then in Step 2, select Major Papers.  Step 3 is to enter your search term(s).  In Step 4, select two years from the dropdown menu. Click on Search. You may need to alter your search terms or the time period. Do so until you get a list of newspaper articles.

8. From the list of hits, select an article by clicking on the newspaper name.  To print from this database, click on File and Print in the Browser. Print the article to attach to the worksheet and in Number 10. Using the criteria in Note #B1, what in the type of publication is this? ____________________

Return to the Busse Library Web by clicking on Home in the Browser.

Click on WWW Search Tools found in the menu on the left side of the page. This list of search engines and directories is a sample of the more credible ones on the www. Click on Google.  Enter your search terms.

9. From the list of hits, select one that closely meets the criteria for evaluating information handout that you read at the beginning of this worksheet. You may need to look at several web sites before you find one of academic quality. List the criteria this webpage met here:

Print the webpage to attach to this worksheet and to use for number 10. Using the criteria in Note #B1, what in the type of publication is this? ____________________

10. The Nursing program here at MMC requires that APA paper format style be used.  There are templates to help structure a paper in APA style available in your ICampus account. Other departments may require other styles. The college provides access to a bibliography software program over the WWW called NoodleBib to help you prepare reference lists.

Construct a bibliography of the articles above using APA style in the NoodleBib software.  There is a link to Noodlebib on the Periodical Indexes and Other Databases page near the bottom. You will need the printouts you made earlier.  It is very important to choose the appropriate citation type template when using NoodleBib. The types for the NoodleBib citations used for this worksheet are indicated below. Start by selecting a citation type.  After doing the first, you select a type again and continue.  These may be saved to insert in Word documents.  For this assignment you are just going to Preview and Print.

• 1 book from Horizon using keyword search - book or reference book.  If it is a reference book, the call number will end in Ref.    
• 1 book from Horizon using subject search - book or reference book.  If it is a reference book, the call number will end in Ref.    
• 1 video from Horizon - film or video recording
• 1 HTML full text article from EBSCOhost - journal or magazine.  Use Note #B1 to help you decide.
• 1 article citation from CINAHL - abstract of an original source (most entries CINAHL are not full text)  
• 1 newspaper article from LexisNexis - newspaper or newswire 
• 1 webpage - Web Site (non-specific article type)

After entering all you citations, click on Options at the top of the screen.  Next click on Preview and print that screen using File and Print in the Browser.

Attach a print copy of your bibliography to the worksheet.

Hand it in.

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http://www.mtmercy.edu/lib/numir.htm