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“Once you learn to read, you will be forever free” ~ Frederick Douglas

literacy, marisa vanzant, reading September 8, 2014 Ann Tobin, Frances Yates, outreach mdilwort

September is National Literacy Month. Used in this context, literacy refers to the ability to read and write. Why does literacy have an entire month devoted to it on the national level? According to dosomething.org (https://www.dosomething.org/facts/11-facts-about-literacy-america) “1 in 4 children in America grow up without learning how to read.” Appreciating the fact that you are able to read, and taking action to help others read is a great way to celebrate National Literacy Month. Right here at IU East, in the Center for Service-Learning (CSL), located in the Campus Library, we have lots of opportunities for you to help. Currently we are in our second year of providing “literacy coaches” to meet specific community needs. Interested in learning more about … Continued

New Faculty research interests interest us!

faculty, teaching August 25, 2014 Frances Yates, Matt Dilworth mdilwort

We often think about our professors as teachers. They are the authorities in their subjects who know (or know how to find) the right answer. But knowledge doesn’t end when you graduate, whether that’s with a Bachelor’s, Master’s, or Doctorate degree. Our professors are lifelong learners. They continually research, then share their findings with colleagues, through conference presentations and publications. Our faculty are intellectually curious people, and we were interested to find out about the research interests of new faculty. Katherine Miller, assistant professor of anthropology, has research interests in Mesoamerican bioarchaeology (particularly the biological remains of the Maya people), odontometry, biodistance analysis, and biogeochemical analysis; social relationships like kinship, identity, and sociopolitical interaction; and behaviors including cultural body modifications, … Continued

Communications Questions

communications, reference databases, Research, scholarly resources August 18, 2014 Library Resources, Matt Dilworth, Research mdilwort

This summer, we have been exploring in-depth research for each of IU East’s major fields of study, and this week we conclude with communications. The general techniques that we covered in the first week will serve you well here, too, but there is plenty more available. For most research questions you might have, you will want to start with a general communications database. The best choices are Communication & Mass Media Complete or ProQuest Telecommunications, which are easy to use and offer a lot of full text. For e-book sources, try the Media Studies section of OxRef or eBrary. And if you are interested in a journalism perspective, Newspaper Source and ProQuest News and Newspapers are great choices (the latter … Continued

Sociology Questions

reference databases, Research, sociology August 11, 2014 Library Resources, Matt Dilworth, Research mdilwort

Throughout the summer, we’ve been exploring how to do academic-level research in each of the major disciplines IU East offers degrees in. While there are plenty of commonalities and general techniques that we covered in the first week, each discipline has its own dedicated material. This week, we’ll look at the study of sociology. While social theory is most concerned with how things like class, religion, law, and social behavior relate and interact in the present, it is possible that you will be interested in historical social theory, or how social change occurred in the past. If so, a historical database like JSTOR will be ideal. For most research questions, though, you will want a general sociology database. The largest … Continued

Science Questions

reference databases, Research, scholarly resources, science August 4, 2014 Library Resources, Matt Dilworth, Research mdilwort

This summer, we’ve been looking at how to do insightful, quality research at IU East. And while there are great general sources and techniques available that benefit any researcher, each discipline has its own special sources and quirks. This week, we’ll look at the natural sciences. If you’ve been following these columns, you’ll notice that there is some overlap with mathematics, since math is in many ways the ‘language’ of science. People who are good at science often first studied math. Science is an incredibly broad topic, and which scientific discipline you are interested will affect your searching. For example, finding current material (books and articles published in the last few years) is vitally important in most topics of biology … Continued