This document provides an overview of a writing seminar presented by Traci Welch Moritz at Heterick Memorial Library. The seminar covers the seven steps of the research process, including identifying topics, finding background information, evaluating internet sources, using databases to find articles, and citing sources. It also discusses library resources at Ohio Northern University such as Polar and OhioLink that can help students with their research.

1. Writing Seminar
Heather Surface
Traci Welch Moritz
Public Services Librarian
Assistant Professor
Heterick Memorial Library

2. Introduction
 Welcome
 Traci Welch Moritz, t-
moritz@onu.edu
 Feel free to visit or email
 Librarians on duty 8-4:30, 6-9 Mon
– Thurs, 8-4 Friday and 10-3:30 on
Sundays
 reference@onu.edu

3. How am I suppose to remember all this
stuff?

4. Libraries at ONU
•Taggert Law  Heterick
Library
Memorial
Library
•Library for Law  Undergraduate
school, Library, accessi
accessible to all ble to all

5. ONU card = Library ID

6. What we’ll do today
How to do research
How to use library
resources to do
research
What resources to use
when doing research

7. Bibliography
Allows you to see what is out
there
Helps you narrow your topic
and discard any irrelevant
materials
Aids in developing the thesis
Makes you a better scholar

8. How to do
research
STEP 1: IDENTIFY AND DEVELOP YOUR TOPIC
STEP 2: FIND BACKGROUND INFORMATION
STEP 3: FIND INTERNET RESOURCES
*STEP 4: USE DATABASES TO FIND PERIODICAL
ARTICLES
STEP 5: EVALUATE WHAT YOU FIND
STEP 6: PULLING IT ALL TOGETHER
STEP 7: CITE WHAT YOU FIND
Seven Steps of the Research Process
Amended with permission by the Librarians at the Olin and Uris Libraries of Cornell University

9. HOW TO DO
RESEARCH
IDENTIFY AND DEVELOP YOUR TOPIC
•State your topic as a question
•Identify main concepts or keywords
•Test the topic -- Look for keywords and
synonyms and related terms for the
information sought
Subject headings in catalogs
Built-in thesauri in many databases
Reference sources
Textbooks, lecture notes, readings
STEP Internet
1 Librarians, Instructors

10. RESEARCH
FIND BACKGROUND INFORMATION
STEP
2

11. •Highly structured information
environment
Way individual records are arranged
Subject headings
Catalog software optimized for above
Deal with material in many formats
•Implies heavy human involvement
•Preparation relatively labor-intensive
Emphasis on precision
•Implies a learning curve to use successfully

12. Libraries at ONU
•Taggert Law  Heterick Memorial
Library Library
•Library for Law
school,  Undergraduate
accessible to all Library, accessible
to all

13. ONU ID is Library
card
EVA
Eva Maglott
00021559801
Eva Maglott
Please use all
digits in your
student ID
number.

14. POLAR
Think of the call number as
the street address of the
book on the library shelves

15. FIND A BOOK∞POLAR

16. FIND A BOOK∞POLAR
•Looks in several locations
(usually subject, article title,
abstracts or contents)
•Does not require an exact
match
•Generates comparatively large
number of hits (not precise)
•Good if you are not familiar with
terminology
•Look for the same or similar
words which keep appearing

17. FIND A
BOOK∞POLARItems”
Click on the “Find Similar
link found on each item record
•Looks in one place – subject
•Usually requires an exact
match between your term and
a pre-set list of terms
•Precise
•Can be used after keyword
search has identified specific
subjects

18. Find a Book∞OhioLink
 Materials owned by all Ohio colleges,
universities, several public libraries
 Ca. 10 million items
 Link from POLAR permits you to submit
requests. Available from Heterick home page
 Most requests arrive in 2-3 working days
 No charge
 Limited to 100 items at a time
 MAY RENEW UP TO 4 TIMES

19. INTERNET TOOLS
 Does the information located
satisfy the research need?
 Is the information factual and
unbiased?
 See handout “Critically Analyzing
Information Sources” the Writing
STEP Seminar Research Guide
3

20. Internet Tools
Google and Wikipedia aren’t intrinsically
evil, just use them for the correct purpose
in your research.

21. Internet Tools
Google Scholar
Note: If
working ONU buys
off Full-text
database Google asks
campus to link to
please see content
the OhioLINK
Permits
“google Google to Run Google
scholar” link to full-text Scholar
tab at the Search
Research
Guide for ONU user sees
licensed full-text
Writing articles
Seminar

22. RESEARCH
EVALUATE WHAT YOU FIND
How to interpret the basics
1. Accuracy of Web Documents
2. Authority of Web Documents
3. Objectivity of Web Documents
4. Currency of Web Documents
STEP 5. Coverage of the Web Documents
5 Kapoun, Jim. "Teaching undergrads WEB evaluation: A guide for library
instruction." C&RL News (July/August 1998): 522-523.

23. Critically analyzing web
sources
 What? is the page/site about
 Who? created and maintains this site
 Where? Is the information coming from
 Why? Is the information presented on the web
 When? Was the page created or last updated
 How? Accurate or credible is the page
From the University of Wisconsin
Library, worksheet for evaluating web sites

24.  Often tools for locating journal
and newspaper articles
 Most are subject-specific – some
multi-disciplinary
 Many give access to full text of
articles
STEP
 Heterick has 240+
4

25.  Academic Search Premier
 Lexis-Nexis
JSTOR : the Scholarly
Journal Archive
 Search by Subject/Discipline
for subject specific
databases

26. Find an Article
 Over 20,000 journals
indexed, most are full text
 Divided by subject area offered
at ONU
 Begin with a general
database, Academic Search
Premier

27. Find an Article
 Periodical means the
same as Magazine
Usually magazines are
more “popular”
 Journals
Scholarly or Professional
Peer reviewed

28. Find an Article

29. Find an Article

30. Find an Article

31. Find an Article

32. Find an Article

33. Find an Article
Keyword
Subject

34. Find an Article
 What if it’s not available PDF or
HTML?
 Always hit the “find it” icon and see
what happens next.

35. Find an Article
 Could be available in EJC, the
OhioLINK electronic database.

36. Find an Article
And could be available
in print

37. Find an Article

38. Find an Article
 Reserve means the periodical/journal is held at
the front desk.
 Current means the issue is new and is available
on the open shelves beside the computer lab.
 All others are upstairs and arranged
alphabetically by title.
 Bound means it’s out of the building
 Arrived means it’s on the open shelves
 Expected means it’s not here yet

39. HOW TO DO
RESEARCH
Pulling it all together
Accuracy. If your page lists the author
and institution that published the page and
provides a way of contacting him/her and…
Authority. If your page lists the author
credentials and its domain is preferred
(.edu, .gov, .org, or .net), and, …
Objectivity. If your page provides
accurate information with limited
advertising and it is objective in presenting
STEP the information, and…
6

40. RESEARCH
Pulling it all together cont…
Currency. If your page is current and
updated regularly (as stated on the page)
and the links (if any) are also up-to-date,
and…
Coverage. If you can view the
information properly--not limited to fees,
browser technology, or software
requirement, then…
You may have a Web page that
could be of value to your
STEP research!
6

41. RESEARCH
Cite what you find using standard
formats
There are 3 citation styles that
are in frequent used at ONU.
They are:
•MLA (Modern Language
Association)
•APA (American Psychological
Association)
•CMS (Chicago Manual of Style)
STEP
7

42. Research Ethics
ACADEMI
C

43. Research Ethics
 Copyright - intended to
promote the arts and the
sciences. It does this by
providing authors of original
literary, dramatic, musical, arti
stic, and certain other
intellectual works the ability to
control how their work is used

44. Research Ethics
 Plagiarism - “...the wrongful
appropriation or purloining, and
publication as one’s own, the
ideas or the expression of the
ideas
(literary, artistic, musical, mecha
nical, etc.) of an other.” – see
Heterick Help Page and

45. Research Ethics
 In other words, to plagiarize is
to copy someone else’s work
without giving him/her credit.
 Plagiarism is not always intentional. You
can do it by accident, but it is still
1 against the law. If you ever have a
question about whether something is
plagiarized, please ask!
1. How not to plagiarize your report -- Shannon Hosier Mersand

46. Research Ethics
2
How may I avoid plagiarizing?
 Identify any information that would not be considered
common knowledge
 Unless in direct quotes, make sure you paraphrase what the
original author said
 Use a quote if you can’t think of a way to paraphrase the
information
 always, Always, ALWAYS cite the source of any information
in your paper which is not considered common knowledge. If
you are unsure if something is common knowledge, cite it!
2 How not to plagiarize your report -- Shannon Hosier Mersand

47. HELP
Traci Welch Moritz, MLS
Public Services Librarian
Assistant Professor
Heterick Memorial Library
Reference
t-moritz@onu.edu
Librarians on 419-772-2473
duty 419-772-2185
8a-4:30p Mon-
Fri
6p-9p Mon-Thur