Information Competency Literacy Research Guides

Instructor: C. Pearson
Communication 122

PURPOSE: To complete library research for your speech assignments. Please review the following links for general information on your assignments:

Finding Sources for Your Speech Topic

CONTENTS

Choosing Search Terms

Once you have selected a topic, you will want to think of some alternate terms to enter into search tools, such as library catalogs, electronic databases, or search engines. Try to think of synonyms, narrower terms, related terms, and broader terms.

Here is a list of search terms for the topic, "how yoga benefits mental and physical health."

yoga
mental health
physical health
stretching (synonym)
health (broader term)
Iyengar yoga (narrower term)
hatha yoga (narrower term)

I may not use all of these terms, but it is a good idea to have them in mind when you begin the search process.

Find Books

To find books in the Cuyamaca Library, click on Library Catalog, which is on the library website under "books."
You may also want to order titles from the SDSU Library or from the Grossmont Library. Usually, we can get books from either of these libraries in two business days.
To order a book from another library, fill out the interlibrary loan form.

Find Articles

DIRECTIONS to find articles: 1) Go to Library homepage. 2) Click on Databases A-Z. 3) Select a database. Note: if you use one of these databases from a remote location, you must enter your campus username and password.

InfoTrac Onefile - Includes thousands of full-text articles from magazines and journals.
CQ Researcher - Excellent for political, social, family, education, and health issues.
Health and Wellness Resource Center - Provides articles on health topics.

Find Websites

We recommend the following search tools.

Don't forget, anyone can create a website! It is essential to evaluate your web sources carefully before using them to write an academic paper. For some useful tips on how to evaluate websites, check out the following links.

Evaluating Internet Resources - A list of criteria for evaluating websites. Created by the University of Albany Libraries.
Evaluating the Quality of Information on the Internet - A checklist for discovering quality in Web-based information, commentary on technical trickery, examples of bogus Web sites, and resources for learning more. From the Virtual Chase, a Research Site for Legal Professionals.
ICYouSee Guide to Critical Thinking About What You See on the Web - A tutorial of web evaluation.

Selected Websites

Cite Resources Using MLA Style

The MLA Handbook is located in the general stacks under the call number LB 2369 G52, as well as on the Reference shelves under Ref LB 2369 G52 (books in the general stacks may be checked out).

Important Note =>When using a magazine or journal article from a database, such as Infotrac Onefile, you must cite it differently than you would if you used a paper copy.

Here is an example of a citation in MLA style for a source found in the database Infotrac Onefile.

Phinney, Alan. "Cinderella Cactus." Sunset Oct. 2001.
            Infotrac Onefile. Gale Group. Cuyamaca College Lib.,
            El Cajon, CA. 17 Dec. 2003
            <http://web6.infotrac.galegroup.com>

The above citation in MLA Style would be very different if you found a copy of this article in an actual magazine.

Phinney, Alan. "Cinderella Cactus."
Sunset Oct. 2001: 78-80.

For additional help on how to format your citations, take a look at our MLA Style Guide, try one of the following guides:

Assembling a List of Works Cited in Your Paper - Covers four style guides: Turabian, Chicago Manual of Style, MLA Handbook, and the APA style guide. Created by Duke Libraries at Duke University.

Style Sheets for Citing Internet & Electronic Resources: Humanities (MLA & Chicago), Scientific (APA & CBE), and History (Turabian) - Created by the University of California Berkeley Libraries.

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