photograph by Dan4th Nicholas shared via the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic License

In a previous post we learned about plagiarism and the importance of citing your work. So, how do you properly cite a resource? There are several citation style guides that provide a standard format for referencing your sources. Most of your instructors will require you to use one of these popular guides: American Psychological Association (APA), Modern Language Association (MLA), or the Chicago/Turabian.

Need help getting started? NOVA offers tutorials for each of these style guides!

APA

MLA

Chicago/Turabian

If you need more help, please contact your NOVA Online library staff at NOVA Online-Library@nvcc.edu. Happy Searching!

Now that finals are over and you have some free time, why not use the library’s resources to start a new hobby? Hobbies offer many benefits and now is the time to get started!

Here are a few free resources available through your NOVA library. Use your myNOVA username and password to use each item:

1. Learn to sew with this video:

Sewing Basics

2. Learn about electronics and complete projects with this e-book:

Make: Electronics by Charles Pratt 

3. Learn about french cuisine and how to cook it with this video:

World Foods: French Cooking

4. Learn Chinese with this audio book:

Starting Out In Chinese 

5. Learn to play classical guitar with this e-book:

Classical Guitar Lessons for Beginners : Teach Yourself How to Play Guitar

6. Discover new music with this database:

Music and Performing Arts 

This is just the beginning! Try searching for information about these and other hobbies on the library homepage. Have fun and enjoy the break!

What do the pictures above have in common? Here’s a hint: each one can be found in Britannica’s ImageQuest database.

If you’ve ever needed to add an image to an assignment and you weren’t sure where to look, ImageQuest is a great place to start. All the images are free to use for personal, non-commercial use.

All you need to access ImageQuest is your myNOVA username and password. If you need help using this database, please contact the library at NOVA Online-Library@nvcc.edu.  Happy searching!

Everyone knows that directly copying another author’s work is plagiarism, but there are also less obvious forms . Plagiarism takes many forms and the consequences can be severe, so it pays to be well informed.

What is plagiarism?

Plagiarism is copying an author’s work and passing it off as your own.

This definition may seem simple, but plagiarism can be much more complicated.  Did you know that you could be held responsible for plagiarism if you paraphrase (i.e., to put in your own words) an author’s work without providing a citation?  Even if you cite your source, if paraphrasing is not done correctly, you could still be plagiarizing.

Why bother citing?

The purpose of college-level research is to locate and analyze literature created by experts in your field, then process all of the information that you found to create your own new ideas or conclusions. Citations are important, because they give credit to the authors who helped you develop your ideas.  Citations also give your paper authority, because they show that you have read literature on the topic and that your conclusions build upon work of other authors. When you provide proper citations, your professors will see that you understand the purpose of college-level research.

When in doubt, cite!

When in doubt, cite it!  There are some cases where you may not need to cite (e.g., common knowledge [explained later]), but plagiarism is a “better safe than sorry” situation.  If you are not sure whether a source needs to be cited, go ahead and cite it!

If you aren’t sure how to cite, ask a librarian! Your NOVA Online librarians are citation/plagiarism experts and we are happy to help you. Please contact us at NOVA Online-Library@nvcc.edu for more help.

Business Source Complete offers great information from thousands of scholarly business journals. Whether you are doing research for a class assignment or getting background information on a potential investment, Business Source Complete can help.

Business Source Complete provides case studies, SWOT (Strength, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) analyses, market research reports, industry profiles and more. To log in to Business Source Complete, use your myNOVA username and password.

Below you will find a brief video introduction to Business Source Complete:

 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_TLuf9k5rnI

If you need more help, please contact the library at NOVA Online-Library@nvcc.edu. Happy Searching!

In a previous Research Series post, we learned to identify keywords for our research. Once we have our keywords, then we can begin searching a database.

In order to find information in a database, you must create a search string. A search string is a combination of keywords and search operators (e.g. AND, OR, *) that tells the database the information you want to receive. Here are a few tips:

1. Use quotation marks ( ”  “ ) around phrases (two or more words); this tells the database to look for the words in a specific order.

“global warming”

2. Put the word AND between each new keyword or phrase; this tells the database to look for resources with ALL your keywords.

“global warming” AND atmosphere

3. Put the word OR between two or more keywords to find articles that use common synonyms for your topic.

“global warming” OR “climate change”

4. Use an asterisk ( * ) to find multiple versions of one keyword.  For example, using pollut* as a search term will include results that refer to pollute, pollutes, polluted, polluting, and pollution.

pollut*

Here are some examples of search strings in two NOVA databases:

Proquest Research Library

Academic Search Complete

As always, if you need more help creating a search string or anything related to research, please contact the NOVA Online Library. Happy searching!

During your time at NOVA, you may be asked to write about a controversial issue. For example, a teacher assigns an argumentative essay assignment on global warming. To begin your research, start with the Opposing Viewpoints in Context database.

The Opposing Viewpoints in Context database offers opinion/editorial articles on each topic as well as academic, reference, magazine, and website articles. Use this database to understand different perspectives on debated topics in both your academic and personal life.

If you need help using this database, contact the library at NOVA Online-Library@nvcc.edu. Happy searching!

What is a keyword?

A keyword is the main idea of your topic.

Why do we use keywords?

When doing research it is important to focus your search. Keywords can help you do this. Once you identify keywords for your topic, you can also identify synonyms or related terms to help you find more information. Finally, library resources produce better results when you use keywords.

Example:

Let’s say that your research question is this:

“What is the connection between running and weight loss among teenagers?”

Using this example, we might decide that our keywords are:

running, weight loss, teenagers

Some similar terms to use include:

jogging, aerobic exercise, cardiovascular exercise, fat loss, weight change, teens, adolescents, youth, high school students, college students

Need Help?

If you need help identifying keywords for your topic, please contact the NOVA Online Library (NOVA Online-Library@nvcc.edu). Happy searching!

Happy National Career Development Month! A great resource to help you explore career options is Ferguson’s Career Guidance Center database provided by NOVA’s library.

Ferguson’s offers 3 major resources:

Use the Job and Industry Profiles section to find detailed profiles of more than 3,000 jobs in over 94 industries.	Use the Job-hunting and Workplace Skills section to learn valuable information for finding employment including tips on: etiquette, teamwork, resume writing, and leadership.	Use the Career and Industry Resources section to find resources devoted to college and career advancement including scholarships, fellowships, internships and apprenticeships.

Ferguson’s Career Guidance Center offers everything above and more, including a career interest assessment. So, whether you are just starting out, you are interested in advancing your career, or you would like to change fields this database has something for you. Happy searching!

Need more guidance? Contact your career services counselor .

Let’s say you wanted to look up the U.S. Supreme Court Case involving Apple Computer and Microsoft. Where would you go? Luckily, NOVA has a database for that!

LexisNexis offers court documents on thousands of American legal cases. You can search by citation (513 U.S. 1184), parties (Apple v Microsoft), or topic (interstate commerce).

However, LexisNexis is not just for legal cases. You can find information on U.S. and world news and research on over 80 million companies!

If you need help using this database, contact me at NOVA Online-Library@nvcc.edu and/or view this video tutorial. Happy searching!