!!! Storage Guide: Reusable Content: Brenda

Zotero will automatically generate bibliographies and format your research papers in any of hundreds of styles including MLA, APA, Chicago, and Turabian. Zotero is easy to learn, has exciting features, and works best as a Firefox browser plugin. 

Summon (the default search on the library homepage) searches newspapers too!
After entering a search, limit to newspapers from the left menu:

Need a specific date or era? 
Use the date limit:

Oxford Reference Online

A subset of scholarly articles are "peer-reviewed" or "refereed" (that is they are reviewed / refereed by other experts in the field before being accepted for publication).

You can limit your search to scholarly or peer-reviewed articles in Summon (the library default search) and many other library databases. 

If in doubt or if there's no such limit, consult Ulrich's (periodical directory).

Ulrich's indicates if a journal is "refereed" i.e. "peer-reviewed".

Note: some "peer-reviewed" journals include content that is not peer-reviewed (for example, book reviews).

Phone: 802.443.2200
helpdesk@middlebury.edu

Location: Main Floor, Davis Family Library.  See on Help Map

Walk-in HelpDesk Hours

Want to find information on the classes you are taking, connect to their websites and more?  Go to the Course Hub!

go/hub

Save your work on Middfiles, not your own laptop or usb/flash drives.  Middfiles is backed up daily and is accessible on and off campus.

Background or "reference" sources such as scholarly encyclopedias are a good starting point for a paper. 

• Get a succinct overview of a topic and related facts,people, events, etc. 
  
  
• These resources may help you identify a topic to explore more indepth. 
  
  
• Often they include bibliographies that will lead you to more in-depth studies.

After you've narrowed your results to academic / scholarly articles, how do you tell which ones are most relevant for your topic?

• Read the abstract (summary) of the article
• Read the introductory paragraph(s) to get the thesis statement and purpose of the article
• Read the conclusion to see what the author found.
• Look at the bibliography to see what related resources were consulted, and look up any that seem relevant.

Most but not all scholarly articles are "peer-reviewed" (that is they are reviewed by other experts in the field before being accepted for publication).

Some article databases even provide a checkbox for these. 

If in doubt or if there's no such limit, consult Ulrich's (periodical directory).

Ulrich's indicates if a journal is peer-reviewed.

Note: some "peer-reviewed" journals include content that is not peer-reviewed (for example, book reviews).

go/askus

(research help options, hours...)

Click here for larger map

For more options, use MIDCAT Advanced Search or Main Menu.

Our Equipment Search lists available cameras, computers, and more!
 

  Worldcat - Find and borrow items from libraries world-wide. Click on the Request Item from Interlibrary Loan icon from the record to request an item.

Save your work on Middfiles, not your own laptop or usb/flash drives (which may get lost, stolen, or crash).  Students are given their own private & secure space on Middfiles (it's not just for your "Classes" folder).  Middfiles is backed up daily and is accessible on and off campus using WebDav.

Can't connect to Middfiles?, see our help documentation (go/middfiles) or visit the Technology Helpdesk in Davis Family Library to set up your connection.

• Check the data sources used by books or articles on your topic (in the bibliography or table source).
• Think of which organizations are likely to produce the data and check the web sites of those sources.
• Surf the web using terms likely to appear in full-text statistical tables or reports. Try a specialized data search engine such as Zanran (web search engine for finding data and statistics in graphs, tables, & reports)
  
• Consult this guide for major sources of statistics & data (both free and subscription resources). Use the tabs at the top to navigate.
  
• Ask a librarian.  They are familiar with a variety of general and specialized sources.

Just like any source, run it through the C.R.A.A.P. Test or C.R.A.P. Test to help you evaluate what you find.

Specific tips for evaluating data sources:

• If the source is responsible for the data, find out more about the source or author - read About Us pages and do more research about the source.
• If the source uses outside data, go to the original source and verify - see if they "cherry-picked" the data, thus distorting it or misleading by omission.
• Look for other reputable sources that either corroborate or challenge the data.

In addition here are tips for evaluating visualizations such as infographics:

Research Tip:

• Use the bibliographies of the sources you find to identify additional primary and secondary resources to locate and use.

To find book-length bibliographies in MIDCAT:

• Uses Advanced Search and combine your keywords with the subject term bibliography, for example:

If Middlebury does not have the item, request it via Interlibrary Loan (go/ill)

Tip: Worldcat, LibrarySearch, and many library databases include a link to Interlibrary Loan from each item we don't have. Look for the a Request button or links with the words Interlibrary Loan, Illiad, or similar. 

         or  Link to ILLiad

Using these embedded links will put the information right into the form for you!  If you don't see this link, you can manually enter the information at go/illiad (first time users will be prompted to set up their profile).

Want to know more about how Google indexes the web and returns search results? 

Want to know search tips for common queries?   See:

Search Operators

Tips & Tricks

REFINE YOUR SEARCH

Don't forget to use the date limit if you want to narrow results to the most recent content (for secondary sources) or to a specific date range for primary sources contemporary to your topic.

Click on Add Results Beyond Your Library to add citations you can get via Interlibrary Loan.

Organize your research and automatically create bibliographies in MLA, APA, Chicago, Turabian, and more.

Download: Zotero website

Learn More: Midd Zotero Guide

Zotero for Groups

What makes a publication a scholarly journal vs. a popular magazine? Check out this guide.

Brenda Ellis

Research and Instruction Librarian
Davis Family Library 208
802.443.5497
bellis@middlebury.edu

Wendy Shook

Science Data Librarian
Armstrong Library 206
802.443.5799
wshook@middlebury.edu

Catalog of library holdings worldwide. 

Provides links to borrow items from other libraries via Interlibrary Loan.