Library Resources & Help
Hi everyone! Thanks for checking out the library. We are here to help you with any question, but specifically, we are experts in finding and using information. If you are working on a research project and run into any issues or questions, we are here to help! Our homepage is a great place to get started on your research; we do know it can be a bit confusing at first, so please ask us as many questions as you want.
If you'd like some one-on-one help finding resources, click here to book an appointment. I'm happy to help!
| 401-598-1121
You can also chat or text with the librarian on duty.
A guide full of resources for your course is available here
Criteria for Evaluating Sources
When doing research, you should use a variety of sources such as books, articles from newspapers, magazines, or journals, and websites. To ensure you are including only valid information in your research, evaluate your sources using the criteria below.
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Authority / Credibility |
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Accuracy |
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Scope / Relevance |
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| Currency / Date Some written works are ageless (e.g., classic literature) while others (e.g., technological news) become outdated quickly. It is important to determine if currency is pertinent to your research. |
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| Objectivity / Bias / Reliability Every author has an opinion. Recognizing this is instrumental in determining if the information presented is objective or biased. |
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Style / Functionality |
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The library's databases rely on a method of searching called Boolean logic. It is a system of showing the relationship between ideas using the operators "AND," "OR," and "NOT." This logic is recognized by many searching tools as a way to define a search string.
Using the operators
AND is used to to search a set of two or more related ideas. So, if you want to look for articles that contain both the words or concepts fishery and harvest, you would search for that string.
- Use AND to narrow your search
- AND shows the overlap between two concepts
For example, my search for "fishery and harvest" returned over 2,000 results, which is too many for me to browse through. So, I had to think another aspect of the topic I was interested in. When I changed my search string to "fishery and harvest and bioindicators," the number of results became more manageable.
OR is used when there are synonyms of a term that may appear in relevant articles. Searching, for example, reindeer or caribou will cast the widest net for seraching.
- Use OR to broaden your search
NOT eliminates a term from your search. If, for instance, your initial search for "fishery and harvest" returns mostly articles about salmon, and you are not interested in that particular fish, you can search "fishery and harvest not salmon."
Publication Date
The databases will allow you a variety of options to refine your results, typically on the left hand side of your results page. Pay attention to these and especially consider limiting your results by their publication date. Chances are, you do not want articles written more than a few years ago.
Explicit Search
If you are searching for content about, for instance, higher education, consider that this is actually a phrase (consisting of more than one word), and search for it explicitly using quotation marks. As in, "higher education."
Truncation
In many cases, there will be multiple suffixes to a single root word that you'd like to search. Most databases allow the * to be used in place of the ending for a word in order to capture all forms.
For example, a search for "nation*" will return all forms of the word - including nations, national, nationalism, nationalistic, etc.
Avoid adding the plural "s" to a word where possible, and use the truncation symbol when you search should allow for multiple forms of your search terms.
- Internet ArchiveDigital library of free books, music, movies, software, websites, and more.
- Internet Movie Database (IMDB)Popular source for movie, TV, and celebrity content.
There are a few ways to limit your Google search to make your results more effective. Of course, a Google Scholar search will bring you lots of academic results, and it is a great place to start. The problem is that accessing the full text of those resources may require a subscription - if you run into this problem, please email me so I can help you locate the article in our subscriptions.
Here are some tips for making your Google search a better one
1. Domain limiting
If you don't know the difference between .org, .edu., .com, .gov, read this first.
Google allows you to limit your results to those articles appearing only on websites with certain domains. For example, to return results only from government sites, you would type your search string followed by "site: .gov"
In fact, you can search any website using this technique - just enter the entire address after "site:"
2. Explicit phrase
If you are searching for content about higher education, consider that this is actually a phrase (consisting of more than one word), and search for it explicitly using quotation marks. As in "higher education."
3. Related search
If you find a website that has really great content, and you want to find something else that is similar, perform a related search by typing - related: yourwonderfulwebsite.com
If you use the library's databases for your research, you can copy and paste pre-generated citations - look out for the option as it may appear differently in each interface but is generally represented by an icon of quotation marks.
If you need to cite a resource not located in a database, I recommend using the OWL as a reference. Alternatively, reach out to me for help with citations!
