Welcome to the Mansfield Library's online tutorial!

This tutorial is designed to serve as a self-paced guide to the research process. Ideally, it complements a research class that requires the completion of a research paper. However, this tutorial stands alone as well. Students will pick a topic to research and all assignments and the final project will be based on this topic.

Instructors:

• Sue Samson, Associate Professor and Library Instruction Coordinator
• Office: ML 326
• Office Hours: Monday, 9:00-11:00 a.m.
• Phone: 243-4335
• Kim Granath, Associate Professor and Electronic Resources Librarian
• Office: ML 328
• Office Hours: Tuesday, 9:00-11:00 a.m.
• Phone: 243-6017

Course Materials:

• Syllabus
• Supplementary Reading List, available on Eres (Electronic Reserve)

This online instruction unit shows how to identify and focus a research topic, write a thesis statement, and develop a plan for gathering information resources. It identifies different types of information sources—primary and secondary—and their relevancy for various topics. It also shows how to conduct electronic research—locate online resources and develop an electronic system of notes, quotes, and a working bibliography—to be used when writing a research paper. This module serves as the master module with links to Modules 2-5.

This online instruction unit focuses on finding books and media available in UM Libraries by using the online catalog. It also introduces WorldCat, a consortium of library catalogs from around the world, and discusses how and why this databases can be useful to research projects. An exam completes the unit.

This online instruction unit introduces online indexes to the contents of periodicals. It focuses on the use of several general academic indexes that include the full-text of periodical and newspaper articles. It further discusses how to identify the most appropriate indexes for your search topic and how to locate or access the articles when they are not available through full-text in the database. An exam completes the unit.

This online instruction unit introduces the World Wide Web as a resource for academic research. It provides guidelines for understanding URLs and navigating with a browser. It teaches how to use Web search engines, meta-search engines, the hidden web and subject directories to identify quality resources. An exam completes the unit.

This online instruction unit identifies criteria for evaluating information sources found in the library, as part of databases, or on the World Wide Web. It shows how to determine the accuracy and reliability of these resources for use in a research paper. An exam completes the unit.