Library Research Tutorial

As you discovered in the Information Cycle video, books take longer for authors/scholars to research, write, and publish than other forms of communication. Good reasons to use books are...

• Books can offer more in-depth analysis of topics/issues/subjects.
• On the other hand, they can provide a broad overview of topics.
• Scholarly books have bibliographies of additional sources that can be used for finding more information about the topic.

The Library website makes the University of Hawaiʻi Libraries Catalog searchable.  You can find books, maps, government documents and streaming media. 

There are 2 kinds of catalog records: one links directly to electronic resources such as eBooks (>over 140,000) and the other record gives information (call numbers) on how books can be found on the library shelves (over 50,000 in the Kauaʻi CC Library and over 3.5 million in the UH System Libraries). 

You can search for books at the Kaua`i CC Library. You also have access to all the books from all the University of Hawai`i System.  Books will to be delivered to KCC and you'll get an email when the book is ready to be picked up.  

Good reasons to use articles from magazines, journals, and newspapers are that...

• While they may contain bias, they are more likely to be fact-checked and reliable.
• They are needed for current information, especially scientific topics, current events, and social issues.
• For some local topics, Hawaiʻi magazines, journals and newspapers can provide information that is not available anywhere else.
• Scholarly research is highly regarded (and often required) for collegiate work; this type of information is found in peer-reviewed journals. (See the section Popular vs. Scholarly Articles below to learn more.) 

You can search for articles through the main library search bar on the homepage, but it is often more efficient to choose a library database to search within from the "Find" Library webpage. Library databases range from multisubject (such as Academic Search Complete) to subject specific databases.

Often instructors request that you have to find scholarly resources for your assignments. What does this mean? What is the difference between popular and scholarly works?

The differences between scholarly and popular periodicals are explained in this short video from the Peabody Library at Vanderbilt University.

This next video, from North Carolina State University, clearly explains the peer review process in accepting or rejecting research articles, which are written for the purpose of promoting knowledge in academic research.

Next: Using the Web for Academic Research