Monday, October 24, 2016

Primary vs. Secondary Sources

 Hacker and Fister (2015) offered the following definitions of "primary source" and "secondary source":
An original source, such as a speech, a diary, a novel, a legislative bill, a laboratory study, a field research report, or an eyewitness account. While not necessarily more reliable than a secondary source, a primary source has the advantage of being closely related to the information it conveys and as such is often considered essential for research, particularly in history. In the sciences, reports of new research written by the scientists who conducted it are considered primary sources. ( p. 271)
A source that comments on, analyzes, or otherwise relies on primary sources. An article in a newspaper that reports on a scientific discovery or a book that analyzes a writer's work is a secondary source. (p. 272)
Hacker, D., & Fister, B. (2015). Research and documentation in the digital age. Boston, MA:   Bedford/St. Martin's. [Available for reference at the Health Sciences Library, ZA4375 .H327 2015]

Resources
  • Yale University has a webpage that list examples of primary, secondary, and tertiary sources by subject discipline:
http://primarysources.yale.edu/find-discover
  • Susan Thomas, a librarian at Borough of Manhattan Community College, created a concise and clear webpage with tables that help distinguish primary and secondary sources in general:
http://lib1.bmcc.cuny.edu/help/sources/

  • Michigan State University Libraries also created a learning tool that teaches the concept of primary sources in the discipline of history. 
http://www.lib.msu.edu/exhibits/primesource/index.jsp

  • Meg Kribble from Harvard Law School Library has a page that talks about secondary sources in law research.
http://guides.library.harvard.edu/secondary

Higher Education - Economic Aspects

CQ Researcher Reports

Clemmitt, Marcia. "Humanities Education:Are humanities degrees worth the cost?" CQ Researcher 6 Dec. 2013: 1029-52. CQ Researcher. Web. 24 Oct. 2016.

Billitteri, Thomas J. "The Value of a College Education: Is a four-year degree the only path to a secure future?" CQ Researcher 20 Nov. 2009. CQ Researcher. Web. 19 Nov. 2009.
President Obama's $12 billion American Graduation Initiative — announced in July — aims to help millions more Americans earn degrees and certificates from community colleges. The president wants the United States to have, once again, the highest proportion of college graduates in the world. Along with the administration, economists and many students and parents embrace the notion that higher education offers the most promising ticket to financial security and upward mobility. However, some argue that many young people are ill-prepared or unmotivated to get a four-year degree and should pursue apprenticeships or job-related technical training instead. The debate is casting a spotlight on trends in high-school career and technical education — long known as vocational education — and raising questions about the ability of the nation's 1,200 community colleges to meet exploding enrollment demand. From the CQ Researcher. Reprinted with permission from CQ Press.


Articles

EBSCOhost

Subject Search:


Books

Romano, Richard M. and Hirschel Kasper. Occupational outlook for community college students. New directions for community colleges, no. 146. Jossey-Bass, 2009. Print. Main Collection. LB2328 .N472 2009 no.146

Kamenetz, Anya. Generation debt : why now is a terrible time to be young. Penguin, 2006. Print. Main Collection. HQ799.7 .K36 2006

Draut, Tamara. Strapped: why America's 20- and 30-somethings can't get ahead. Anchor, 2007.  Print. Main Collection HQ799.7 .D73 2007.

Mooney, Nan. "College Promises: Real Debt and False Expectations." in Not Keeping up with Our Parents : The Decline of the Professional Middle Class. Beacon, 2008.


Web
America’s Divided Recovery: College Haves and Have-Nots. (2016)

College Scorecard. (A search tool created by the Department of Education for looking up average cost of colleges, debt levels, and average salaries of graduates.)  



Carnevale, Anthony P. and Ban Chea. Hard Times, College Majors, Unemployment and Earnings 2013 : Not All College Degrees Are Created Equal.  Center on Education and the Workforce. Georgetown University. 29 May 2013.

Carnevale, Anthony P., Jeff Strohl and Michelle Melton. What's it Worth? The Economic Value of College Majors. Center on Education and the Workforce. Georgetown University. 24 May 2011. "The report finds that different undergraduate majors result in very different earnings."

United States. White House. "Investing in Education: The American Graduation Initiative." by Katherine Brandon. White House Blog, 14 July 2009.

United States. Library of Congress. Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2009 (H.R.3221).

Washington State. Board for Community & Technical Colleges. Academic Year Report. A "snapshot of funding, facilities, staffing, and enrollments . . . expenditures, personnel and students."


updated 10/2016 yy

Wednesday, October 5, 2016

Art Class Resources

To find out more about art periods and/or artists:

Reference

1. 34 Volume Print Set
The dictionary of art /Publisher: Grove's Dictionaries
Call Number: N31 .D5 1996
Location: Reference
- This set is very comprehensive, including biographies and subject entries. The last volume is the index.

2. Oxford Reference Art & Architecture Set
- Search 15 art reference books online at once with Oxford Reference.
  • The Oxford Dictionary of American Art and Artists
  • The Grove Encyclopedia of American Art
  • A Dictionary of Architecture and Landscape Architecture
  • The Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists
  • The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Art Terms
  • The Oxford Dictionary of Art
  • A Dictionary of Modern Design      
  • The Grove Encyclopedia of Classical Art and Architecture
  • The Grove Encyclopedia of Decorative Arts
  • A Dictionary of Modern and Contemporary Art
  • The Oxford Companion to the Garden
  • The Oxford Companion to the Photograph
  • The Oxford Dictionary of the Renaissance
  • The Oxford Companion to Western Art
3. Use CBC Library Catalog to find more books
  • Do a quick keyword search in the catalog, e.g. dadaism or search for reference books on artists
  • Look through the results, note the Location and Call Number of the books, e.g. Inner Visions: German Prints from the age of expressionism, Location: Main Collection, Call Number: N6868.5 .E9P7 1992
  • To find more, you can click on a relevant title to view its Subject(s)
  • Then click on the Subject links to find more books on the subject. For example, Subject(s): Dadaism
  • Sample books that might be useful:
    • History of modern design /Raizman, David Seth. Call Number:NK1175 .R35 2004 (For art & design class).
    • Seattle as collector : Seattle Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs turns 40 : 40th anniversary exhibition at Seattle Art Museum / Call Number: N8845 .S4S42 2011.
    For books on specific artists, you should also try to search the catalogs of Richland Public Library and Mid-Columbia Libraries as well. These local public libraries may have a book on the artist you have chosen to research.
4. Use EBSCOhost to find articles
  1. Do a quick keyword search, e.g. constructivism AND art (limited to Full Text and CBC Title Collection). You can also search by artists' names and find articles about them and/or their works.
  2. You can then further "Narrow Results by Subject" using links (e.g. "CONSTRUCTIVISM (Art)", "Art Movements", etc.) shown to the left of the Result List

Use Interlibrary Loan for books & articles that CBC Library does not own
  1. Talk to a reference librarian in person or over the phone (509-542-4890)
  2. Fill out an online form to Request a book/book chapter
  3. Fill out an online form to Request a journal/magazine article
  4. Allow at least one to two weeks
To browse specific journals/magazines:
  1. Use CBC Journal Finder
  2. Use the second box to "Browse e-journals by subject": "Art, Arthitecture & Applied Arts"
  3. Or search for a specific title such as Woman's art journal, Art in America, Art News
  4. Follow the links to browse periodicals online or request at circulation for those that says "CBC Pasco Paper Copies". For example, Art Journal is available through EBSCOhost. 
To find images:
Other Resources:
Local Galleries
yy

Monday, September 19, 2016

Video: What is a peer reviewed article?

Click on the following link to view a narrated PowerPoint presentation on what "peer review" is, what a peer-reviewed journal might include in its content, and what a peer-reviewed article looks like.

Tutorial Link: http://www.screencast.com/t/E9zqSVBqtOd (Click on the "Play" arrow to start the video.)

You need headphones to hear the audio or click on the "cc" button to view the closed captions. You can also click on the forward arrow to skip to the next slide when necessary. Adobe Flash player is required.

Related post: Video: Finding Peer Reviewed Articles in EBSCOhost.
Related post: Parts of a Journal Article



Peer-Reviewed Article Checklist

Other useful postings:

Checklist - Here are some things to look for when attempting to determine if an article you have found is peer-reviewed:

  1. If you used EBSCOhost did you limit your search to "Scholarly (Peer-Reviewed) Journals?" If you used ProQuest, did you limit your search to "Scholarly journals, including peer-reviewed?"
  2. Does it have more than one author listed? Although some peer-reviewed articles may have a single author it is more common for there to be multiple authors - original research takes a lot of workers!
  3. Are the authors' affiliations provided at the beginning or end of the article? Their affiliation is where they work, typically a University or research institution.
  4. Is the article more than 2 pages in length? You may find some peer-reviewed articles that are 3-5 pages, but it is not uncommon for them to be much longer.
  5. Does the article include an abstract written by the authors? This should appear at the beginning.
  6. Does the abstract include indicator words such as “the present study …. examined …measured … identified ...results indicated?” All of these tell you that this is a report on original research.
  7. If you open the article does it have sections for an introduction, methods, results, discussion?
  8. Are there illustrations? Research results are frequently reported with charts, graphs, tables, drawings and photographs of specimens.
  9. At the end or the beginning, does it include the dates when the article was submitted and accepted for publication?
  10. Are there lots of references at the end of the article? It is not uncommon for peer-reviewed articles to have several pages of references.

Video: Finding Peer Reviewed Articles in EBSCOhost

Purpose: This demo shows you how to search for peer reviewed articles in EBSCOhost's Academic Search Premier database.
Length: 5 minutes
File format: Video (mp4) -13.5MB (Needs Adobe Flash Player)
Required: Headphones or speakers to hear the audio
Related post: Video: What is a peer reviewed article?.
Related Post: Parts of a Journal Article

Start the video below and click the button in the lower right corner to view in full size.






y.y.

Types of Periodicals


Types of Periodicals
Finding More Information about a Specific Periodical/Source Title
Example 1:
  • If the title is available through EBSCO, look at the publication page. Psychology & health (You will see that this is a peer-reviewed academic journal published bimonthly by a UK publisher.)
  • To find more information about the title, you can click on the "Publisher URL" link or search the internet and find the homepage of this title. (You may find out that actually this journal is published 12 times a year now. EBSCO's record reflects the journal's old frequency. It is the Official Journal of the European Health Psychology Society and is indexed in Medline. You can also find more about the aim & scope as well as its peer-review policies.)
Example 2:
  • Another example is Psychology & Marketing. You can find this title using CBC Journal Finder.
    • Clicking the link to the database name "ABI/INFORM Trade & Industry" will lead you to the "Publication Information" page of this journal in ProQuest.
  • Click on "show all" and then the publisher "website" URL to go to the journal homepage, where you can find the "About this Journal" section on the lower left side menu.
  • Click on the "Overview" link and you will find the Aims & Scope, etc. of this title.

For more information:
  • IRIS Tutorial: Types of Periodicals (A tutorial for W.A. Community College students.)
  • Minute Module: What's A Journal?
    This is a two-minute tutorial created by the Pennsylvania State University library which "explains the fundamental differences between journal, magazines, and newspapers, including what's being written and who's writing it." Click on the above link to go to PSU library's web page and double-click on "What's A Journal" to start the module.

updated 10/17/2012  y.y.

links updated 5/21/2013 cs

Parts of a Journal Article

Parts of a Research/Scholarly Journal Article - APA Style
Adapted from Chapter 2, section 1-13 of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 6th Edition
Journal articles usually are reports of empirical studies, review articles, or theoretical articles. Reports of empirical studies are reports of origina/primary research. Sometimes they appear in the "Research", or "Original Articles", or "Research Articles" section of a journal. These articles typically have the following parts:
1. Title
A simple summary of the main idea of the paper. It should identify the main topic, the variables or theoretical issues under investigation and the relationship between them. (For example, the word "Outbound" would NOT be a title for a research journal article because it is not clear what the topic of the article is, but it may be a title for a magazine or newspaper article.)

2. Name of Author(s) and Institutional Affiliation
Affiliations tell you which institution(s)/organization(s) that the author(s) belong to and it is usually where the research was conducted. It is common to have multiple authors who have collaborated on the research and the writing of the paper.
3. AbstractA brief, non-evaluative, comprehensive summary of the contents of the article.
4. IntroductionUsually the introduction describes
  • What is the problem and how importance it is
  • What have other researchers found out about the problem before (review of the relevant literature)
  • What are the hypotheses and objectives of the study
  • What are the research design and how is the design influenced by the hopotheses
  • what are the theoretical and practical implications of the study
5. MethodDescribes in detail how the study was conducted. Enables the reader to evaluate the appropriateness of the methods used in the study and the reliability and validity of the results. Method usually includes the following subsections:
  • Participants
  • Materials
  • Procedure
6. ResultsSummarizes the data collected and the statistical treatment of the data. A brief statement of the main results or findings followed by a report in sufficient detail to jusfify the conclusions. It is common to find figures and tables in this section.
7. DiscussionEvaluates and interprets the implications of the results, espeically with respect to the original hypothesis. Includes a clear statement of the support or non-support for the original hypothesis.


8. References
Lists works cited in the text of the article. Intended to get credit to the work of previous researchers and document statements made about literature. (Note: This part is almost always included at the end of a research article.)

Examples of Research/Scientific Journal Articles
Example 1: Bréban, S., Chappard, C., Jaffré, C., & Benhamou, C.. (2010). Login to Proquest to construct this search: Hypoleptinaemia in extreme body mass models: The case of international rugby players. Journal

Thursday, January 28, 2016

Finding Additional Topics

CBC Library Databases
CBC Library Books
Web
    updated 1/23/2016 y.y.

    Wednesday, October 14, 2015

    American Literature - Online Resources

    List of American Literature journals.  See also ProQuest Learning: Literature; it is part of the ProQuest package but uses a different platform and includes periodicals, reference sources and study guides to literary works.
     

    Books include works of literature and literary criticism in ebrary, most as part of our College Complete subscription and available to unlimited users, although we have purchased a few individual titles like the New Anthology of American Poetry, Volume 3 : Postmodernisms 1950-Present, available for one user at a time.