Research Help
JSTOR has published a guide called Research basics: an open academic research skills course where you can get familiar with basic research concepts.
A short video about research skills by Inspire Life Productions.
Citations and Formatting
- A complete guide to MLA and APA Online Writing Lab at Purdue University
- MLA, APA, Oxford and Harvard MacQuarie University referencing guide
- A video about MLA citation by McMaster Libraries
Academic Writing
Academic Writing; A Handbook for International Students by Stephen Bailey
Academic Writing Style Workshop by Queens University Belfast
Source Criticism
EasyBib’s Web Evaluation Guide
Skolverket’s Check The Source (in Swedish)
IEGS Library Search Guide
Before you start your research it could be useful to read through these steps.
1. Get to know your subject
To get the basic information about the subject, read about it in encyclopedias. The encyclopedias will give you a summary and additional search words. The school has access to World Book Encyclopedia Online (in English) and Nationalencyklopedin (in Swedish). Ask the librarian for username and password for World Book Online, Nationalencyklopedin is available on school computers or home if you have registered in school. If you are studying from distance and need Nationalencyklopedin contact the librarian and she can set up an account for you.
If you want advice on how to use World Book Online, you can go to this page. I suggest you watch the video World Book Advanced.
Go to World Book Online or Nationalencyklopedin.
2. Choose your course
What approach will you have to your subject? Note the words you want to search with.
3. Get deeper into the subject
Now when you have an idea of what kind of information you need, there are several kinds of information sources you can search in.
Books
You can search for books in several library catalogues. You can search on titles, categories and subject words.
Go to the library catalogue list.
Databases
Search in quality controlled databases. For example JSTOR that provides access to a trusted archive of important scholarly journals. To use JSTOR you need to log in, ask the librarian for log in details.
JSTOR has published a guide called Research basics: an open academic research skills course where you can get familiar with basic research concepts.
Go to the database list.
Newspapers and magazines
There might be information about your subject in magazines and newspapers, especially if you are working with a current issue. The library subscribes to various magazines and newspapers. The school also has access to Mediearkivet, a Swedish database with articles from Sweden's most important newspapers and magazines. To access Mediearkivet you log in to SchoolSoft and follow the link under Files and Links. Mediearkivet only works in school.
Internet
It is easy to find information on the internet, but it is harder to know what sources you can trust or not. It is a good idea to use the Web site evaluation guide at EasyBib. It will help you evaluate the quality of the information sources you find.
When you search in Google you often get many hits. Google rank the hits after the content of the page, number of visitors or number of links to and from the page. This means that the top hits might not be the best ones. Google does not have a quality controller that go through the content of the pages that they link to, so use the guidelines from EasyBib when you do your Google search.
Web pages
Organizations and authorities often have useful information on their web pages. For example, if you want to know more about the Swedish government, start with a visit to their website. If you can’t find the information you need, contact someone at the company or organization, you usually can find their contacts on the web page.
And of course, ask the librarian. I will be happy to help you find the information you need.