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Resources: Adult & Graduate Onsite

 

  Visit Our Library

We encourage you to make the trip to campus to conduct your research in our beautiful facilities.  Please check out the hours and location information before your visit.  If you want to work on your laptop while you're on campus, check out these directions for connecting to BCInternet.

Research Tips

  1. Start early. Despite the immediacy of the internet, the bulk of all published information (especially scholarly information) is still available only in print, which means that it may take time to track down the best sources for your paper.
  2. Have a topic in mind. Your professor is a great resource in helping you select a potential topic.
  3. Brainstorm different words/terms to use to describe your topic. Various authors use various words to mean the same thing.
  4. Begin your search. If you want books, go to the online catalog. If you want articles, go to the article databases page. If you're new to a particular resource, take a few minutes to familiarize yourself by viewing the online tutorials above.
  5. Review what you've found so far.
    • If you didn't find anything, try broadening your topic.
    • If you found too much information, be more specific.
    • If the information you found is old, look for other ways or words to describe your topic. Read enough to know why the terminology is out of date.
  6. If you've found some really good, on-topic articles (or even one good article), look at whom the author(s) are citing. This is a great way to find more resources.
  7. Take advantage of the linked subject headings available in those articles. Some databases even have a "more like this" feature, which enables you to search for articles with similar themes.
  8. Always write down when and where you found an online article. The web is an especially ephemeral source of scholarly information, so make it easy for your professor to confirm that you have done your research well by giving him complete citations.
  9. REMEMBER: Research is a reiterative process. That's why it's called RE - search!

Library Tutorials

Provided here are a variety of training options to help you learn how to use the online library resources:

Links to Resources

Citation Guidelines

  • For quick access to style guidelines, see Guides to Cite It (Turabian, APA, MLA, Chicago) or Citing Sources. The OWL (Online Writing Lab) from Purdue University offers online handouts covering writing, research, grammar, and MLA and APA style.
  • For help with properly citing research sources, try EasyBib. You can enter citation elements (title, date, author, etc.) and have them formatted into MLA syle for free. APA and Chicago style formatting require a subscription. Citation Builder creates citations for you in APA, MLA, and Chicago CBE/CSE formats. KnightCite is an online citation generator (using APA, MLA, or Chicago style) that allows you to register for a free account so you can save your work.
  • Disclaimer: Those who choose to use citation generators or free citation services are responsible to ensure that the citations rendered are accurate according to the style manual.

Ask for Help

If you are onsite and need research assistance, look for a library staff member.  From off campus, if you need personal assistance with your research, contact

Use Other Libraries

Below is a list of other libraries that may have materials available for your use. You will need to check with these libraries to see what policies they have for public access to their materials.