Research

Research

History Questions

History Questions

, , Library Resources, Matt Dilworth, Research
Over the course of the summer, we have been looking at how to perform high quality, academic research in all of the major disciplines IU East teaches.  While we started with general techniques usable in any research, that’s only the tip of the iceberg.  Each area of study has its own quirks and special types of knowledge, and we want you to be good at whatever type of scholarship you choose to major in.  This week, we’ll dig into the study of history. History is an area of scholarship with a broad scope – you might be researching something that happened five years ago, or five thousand.  Few other subjects have as wide of potential range.  Fortunately, there are a … Continued
Political Science Questions

Political Science Questions

, , Library Resources, Matt Dilworth, Research
This summer, we’ve been exploring what goes into good, academic research.  And although there are plenty of great basic skills and techniques usable for any discipline – which we covered in the first week – each subject taught at IU East has its own unique character and needs.  Here, we’ll look at the sources for your research in political science. Like with most other academic topics, there are a number of excellent databases that will give you great research articles – start with a database like ProQuest Political Science or Military and Government.  Another great source is CQ Researcher (despite being named ‘Congressional Quarterly, it is produced by journalists, not the US government), which has incisive, deep reports on a … Continued
English Questions

English Questions

, , , Library Resources, Matt Dilworth, Research
If you’ve been following this blog, you know we’ve been examining how to do in-depth research in each of the major academic disciplines IU East offers.  There’s a lot that is the same for any type of scholarly research, and we started off looking at those general techniques.  But every field of study has its own, unique needs, and to be a great researcher, you need to learn them.  This week, we’ll look at English and literature. Obviously, we have a lot of great general purpose databases for locating research articles – some of these include MLA International Bibliography and ProQuest Language and Literature.  But another great source is JSTOR, a database that has journal articles dating back more than … Continued
Celebrating Computing

Celebrating Computing

, , Library Resources, Matt Dilworth
This week is Computer Science Education Week, and a great time to learn about the ubiquitous technology that has reshaped the world.  Established to honor the birthday of Grace Hopper, an early computer programmer and the inventor of the computer language COBOL, CSEd Week is focused on preparing students in all disciplines to learn about and embrace computers in order to be competitive in the modern job market. And we have plenty of resources for studying any aspect of computing – programming, history, education, and more.  For articles, try a database like ProQuest Computing or Communication & Mass Media Complete or the computer science section of Taylor & Francis.  And there’s more online, as well, with sources like the Computing … Continued
Last Minute Research

Last Minute Research

, Library Services, Matt Dilworth, Research
This time of year, with everything we have to do, a lot seems to get pushed to the last minute.  Last minute shopping, last minute decorating, last minute cooking, last minute cleaning… and last minute research.  We’ve all been there.  A big assignment, and it’s coming due… but we haven’t had time to do the research yet. It isn’t an ideal situation.  And just like last minute shoppers have to deal with picked-over stores, your options will be a bit more limited.  But fear not – you can still do great research and turn in a great project. Obviously, if your assignment is due tomorrow, using Interlibrary Loan won’t help.  So you’re limited to resources available right now.  But there’s … Continued