English: Composition and the teaching of writing

Finding books

Use the OSU Libraries Catalog and/or Summit, the Orbis Cascades Catalog.

OSU Libraries Catalog: http://oasis.oregonstate.edu/

A catalog of the holdings of the OSU Libraries, including the two branch campuses: Guin Library in Newport and Cascades/COCC in Bend. Some tips:

Begin with keywords and then use the subjects to find similar books
Check the location of the book. If it says COCC or Guin, click on and have it delivered to Valley Library. If it says Reserves, ask for it by call number at the Circulation Counter.
If a book is checked out, click on and "request this item" from another library in our consortium.
If you can't find any books on your topic, you may need to use a broader term (ex. punctuation instead of comma) or a synonymous term. For help with this, check the thesaurus of subjects called Library of Congress Subject Headings (the "big red books") located behind the Reference Desk (Ref Desk Z695 .U66 ) and near the entrance to the Information Commons.

Summit (Orbis Cascade) Catalog: http://orbis.uoregon.edu/

A catalog of the holdings of academic libraries in Oregon and Washington. You can begin your search in Summit and then see if the books you want are available at OSU by clicking on the text that says "x Summit libraries have this item. If it's not at OSU, click on "request this item." The book will be delivered to Valley in 3-4 working days.

Articles in scholarly journals

Start with a database that indexes the journals in your subject area. Then determine if OSU has the journal by searching the journal title in the OSU Libraries catalog.

MLA International Bibliography

Produced by the Modern Language Association, MLA is the major database for literary studies. It includes citations for articles in scholarly journals, books, and parts of books.

ERIC

Index to research articles in journals, government and independent reports and conference papers covering all areas of education.

ERIC has 2 parts: CIJE (Cumulative Index to Journals in Education) is an index of articles published in education journals. RIE (Resources in Education) are ERIC documents (ED): curricular materials, independent reports, standards and guidelines, etc. that are available on a microfilm on the 3rd floor of Valley Library or, since 1996, in full text online.
There are 3 versions of ERIC. All provide the same content and include a thesaurus for selectng subject terms to use.
You can limit your searches to the Journals or Documents only. Documents have an ED# that you will need to use to locate the microfiche.

Education FullText

Index to articles in education journals. Database includes a thesaurus and the indexing is up-to-date.

LLBA: Linguistics and Language Behavior Abstracts

The database covers all aspects of the study of language including phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax and semantics. There is a thesaurus for selecting subject terms to use.

InterLibrary Loan (ILL)

Use InterLibrary Loan for articles not available at OSU and books not available through Summit.

There is no charge for this service.
Delivery can be as fast as a few days or as long as a few weeks, depending on the availability of the book or journal. Journal articles are delivered electronically, so they tend to come more quickly.
You can check the status of your request online through a link in the OSU Library Catalog: Your Library Record

Tips for more effective searches

Most, if not all, of your research will be done using electronic catalogs and databases. There are some techniques you can use that should improve your search results:

Finding the right words

Computers are literal, so the words you type in determine the results you get. Probably the most important--and most difficult--aspect of searching is finding the words that best describe your topic.

• Use printed or online thesauri to find the words used in a particular electronic resources. These will also give you broader terms, related terms, and narrower terms.

• Begin with keywords and look at the subjects assigned to the records you get. Use those subjects to initiate new searches.

• Each discipline has its own vocabulary (i.e, jargon). You can pick up on this by reading about your topic in a subject encyclopedia.

Refining your search

Use the appropriate search strategies to refine your search. Look at the "Help" section on the electronic resource for suggestions. There are some general strategies you can apply, though.

Too many results? Narrow or focus your search.

• Use " and " between words to find only those records with both words.Ex: grammar and theory

• Use limits (or modifiers) : dates, language, information type, format, etc.

• Phrase searching. Generally, quotation marks to treat words as a phrase. Ex: "standard English"

Too few results? Broaden or expand your search.

• Use " or "between words to find everything with one or both words. Ex: rhetoric or composition

• Use Truncation or wild card sybmbol. Often is * Ex: teach* (for teaches, teacher, teaching, etc.).