Selecting the Most Useful Resources

Different kinds of information sources are useful depending on your topic and the kind of information that you need. The following summarizes the major types of information sources and the tools to find these sources.

Books

Books are good for general background and in-depth coverage of a topic. They are often not as current as articles, because they take a long time to research, write, and publish.

To find books in any library, you will need to use a library's catalog. At USU, you will need to use the online catalog. Access the online catalog by clicking the Library Catalog link from the library home page.

For more information on how to search for books on your topic, see Finding Books.

Articles

Scholarly Journal Articles: Good for focused treatments of a topic. Generally, these will be high-quality information based on research and reviewed by experts in the field.

To find scholarly journal articles, you will need to search a journal index (sometimes called an article database). These will provide citations (author, title, name of journal, date, etc.) and, often, brief summaries of the articles.

Newspaper and Popular Magazine Articles: Good for current treatment of a topic. These are also good resources for editorials and opinions. Not peer-reviewed.

To find newspaper articles, choose the Electronic Resources & Databases link from within Find Resources on the library home page. Scroll down the left side of the page, and click Newspapers-Multisearch.

For more information on searching for articles, see Finding Articles.

How can I connect to the Journal Indexes/Article Databases from off-campus?

Most libraries' online catalogs are publicly available on the web. However, the Merrill-Cazier Library subscribes to many research resources that are restricted to the USU students, faculty, and staff, such as journal databases, e-journals, and e-books.

Off-Campus Access via the USU Proxy Server

To access journal databases and indexes and e-journals off campus, you need to re-configure your web browser to connect to the USU network. Instructions are provided by the USU Help Desk.

A USU (cc) e-mail account is required. To set up an e-mail account, follow the instructions.

For additional off-campus access information or to contact a librarian, see Off-Campus Access to Library Resources.

Web Sites

Web sites can be good for very specific information about people, companies, products, etc.

Keep in mind that you have to take the responsibility to evaluate web sites for quality more rigorously than peer-reviewed articles; anyone can create a web page and put it on the Web, regardless of their expertise on a topic. For more information, see Evaluating Resources.

To find web sites, use a search engine such as Google or a web directory of sites organized by topic, such as Librarians' Index to the Internet or Infomine.

For more information, see Searching the Web.

Reference Books

Reference books include general encyclopedias, specialized encyclopedias in a specific field (like education, psychology, or medicine), dictionaries, almanacs, etc.

Reference books are a great place to get started on research, because they provide quick definitions, overviews, or facts.

Most reference books are in print and available on the first floor of Merrill-Cazier Library. Ask a librarian at the Information Desk for help locating a useful source for getting started.

Some reference books are available online. See, for example, the Oxford Reference Collection Online (available to USU students only. If you are off-campus, you will need to use the USU Proxy Server to access this collection).

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