Welcome back to This Week in Reference and Happy Halloween!
We’ve had some very scary questions this week! We helped a few students research the Day of the Dead for an Explore Chicago class. Also, it’s very scary to learn that you’ve already run out of printing money for the quarter but you still have so many papers to finish before classes are over! Did you know that you can add more money for printing to your student ID Card through Demon Express? We help people find information for research, help navigate printing questions, and much much more!
Some of the less spooky research questions coming across our desks this week were about:
- Zen Buddhism
- Prison Reform
- Shoe Manufacturers
- Stan Brakhage
And a detailed look at one of our email questions this week:
Question: I am trying to find information about organic food for a compare/contrast essay. Can you help me?
Answer: Yes we can! You can find different types of information (journal articles, encyclopedias, and links to news/issues) in the library’s Environmental Sciences & Studies Research Guide.
A great way to begin is to use sources of background information that provide overviews, explanations, terminology and the different aspects of your topic. You can find those linked from the “Background Info” section of the Research Guide.
You can also find some useful books covering your topic in the library catalog simply searching with the phrase ‘organic foods.’
Finally, when you’re ready to search for articles that discuss issues relating to your topic, use the “Articles” link on the above Research Guide. Begin by searching in the Academic Search Complete database with the phrase “organic foods” in the first search box, then in the adjacent drop-down menu, select ‘SU Subject Terms’ before searching.
That will generate more results than it’s practical to work with, so you’ll need to identify a secondary concept that you can express in your search using the second of the three search boxes like food labeling or health concerns, or something else. Use the background information sources you looked at earlier to help identify words/phrases that express those secondary concepts.
Remember also you can limit by date of publication, and also limit to scholarly articles using the little check box provided in the left hand column.
Thanks for reading This Week in Reference, and don’t eat too much Halloween Candy!