Click on the arrow symbols to expand or contract the menu choices to select specific pages of content:

• 1: Library Virtual Tour
  • 1.1 UMW Libraries Tour Home
  • 1.2 Simpson Library Tour
  • 1.3 Library Map
  • 1.4 Site Map
  • 1.5 Outcomes
• 2: Topic Development and Source Selection
  • 2.1 Objectives
  • 2.2 Topic Selection
  • 2.3 Purpose or Need
  • 2.4 Identification of Important Concepts
  • 2.5 Important Concepts
  • 2.6 Subject and Keyword Selection I
  • 2.7 Subject and Keyword Selection II
  • 2.8 Subject Approach I
  • 2.9 Subject Approach II
  • 2.10 Subject Approach - Some Examples
  • 2.11 Content Treatment
  • 2.12 Popular vs. Scholarly
  • 2.13 Primary and Secondary Sources
  • 2.14 Scope of Coverage
  • 2.15 Types of Materials
  • 2.16 Outcomes


• 3: Finding Background Information
  • 3.1 Objectives
  • 3.2 In Reference Sources
  • 3.3 Directories
  • 3.4 Encyclopedias
  • 3.5 Dictionaries and Thesauri
  • 3.6 Biographical Dictionaries and Sources
  • 3.7 Almanacs
  • 3.8 Yearbooks
  • 3.9 Handbooks, Manuals and Guides to a Field of Study
  • 3.10 Atlases, Gazateers and Guidebooks
  • 3.11 Indexes, Abstracts and Bibliographies
  • 3.12 Statistical Sources
  • 3.13 Locating Reference Materials
  • 3.14 Locating Reference Materials in the Catalog
  • 3.15 Locating Reference Materials in a Subject Research Guide or Handbook
  • 3.16 Locating Reference Materials by Browsing
  • 3.17 Outcomes


• 4: Performing Effective Searches in Electronic Databases
  • 4.1 Objectives
  • 4.2 Whiat Is a Database?
  • 4.3 What's In a Database?
  • 4.4 Phrase Searching and Keyword Searching
  • 4.5 Field Searching
  • 4.6 Truncation and Wildcards
  • 4.7 Boolean Logic
  • 4.8 Boolean AND
  • 4.9 Boolean OR
  • 4.10 Boolean NOT
  • 4.11 Nested Boolean Logic
  • 4.12 Proximity and Adjacency
  • 4.13 Limits and Filters
  • 4.14 Summary
  • 4.15 Outcomes


• 5: Using the Library Catalog
  • 5.1 Objectives
  • 5.2 What Is It? Reference Sources
  • 5.3 What's In It?
  • 5.4Access Point
  • 5.5Author and Title Searches
  • 5.6Subject Searches
  • 5.7Library of Congress Subject headings (LCSH)
  • 5.8Subject Searching
  • 5.9Keyword Searching
  • 5.10Subject and Keyword Comparison
  • 5.11Record Interpretation
  • 5.12Interpreting Library of Congress Call Numbers
  • 5.13How to Read Library of Congress Call Numbers
  • 5.14Library Locations
  • 5.15Other Library Catalogs and Book Databases
  • 5.16Outcomes


• 6: Finding Periodical Articles
  • 6.1 Objectives
  • 6.2 What Are Periodicals?
  • 6.3 Newspapers
  • 6.4 What Are Magazines and Journals?
  • 6.5 Scholarly vs. Popular
  • 6.6 A Quick Review
  • 6.7 Why Should I Use Periodicals?
  • 6.8 Some Examples of Articles
  • 6.9 How Do I Find the Articles I Need?
  • 6.10 What Are Indexes?
  • 6.11 Abbreviations and Explanations
  • 6.12 Sample Titles of Indexes
  • 6.13 The Change to Databases
  • 6.14 What's In a Database?
  • 6.15 What Is An Abstract?
  • 6.16 Types of Databases
  • 6.17 The Advantages of Full-Text Databases
  • 6.18 How Do I Select the Database of Index I Need?
  • 6.19 Using Indexes and Databases
  • 6.20 Subject Searching in Databases
  • 6.21 Drawbacks of Subject Searching
  • 6.22 Keyword Searching in Action
  • 6.24 Drawbacks of Keyword Searching
  • 6.25 Subject and Keyword Searching: A Summary
  • 6.26 Tips on Performing Effective Searches
  • 6.27 Does the Library Have the Periodical I Need?
  • 6.28 Finding Your Magazine or Journal
  • 6.29 What if the library Does Not Have the Magazine I Need?
  • 6.30 Outcomes


• 7: Locating Information on the Internet and World Wide Web
  • 7.1 Objectives
  • 7.2 Origins of the Internet
  • 7.3 Four Things You Can Do
  • 7.4 The World Wide Web, Hypertext, and HTML
  • 7.5 Organization/Structure of the World Wide Web
  • 7.6 Internet Addresses - URLs
  • 7.7 More on URLs
  • 7.8 Parts of a URL
  • 7.9 Moving Around on the Internet
  • 7.10 Search Tools
  • 7.11 Choosing a Search Tool
  • 7.12 Tips on Choosing a Search Tool
  • 7.13 Directories
  • 7.14 Virtual Libraries
  • 7.15 Search Engines
  • 7.16 Meta-Search Engines
  • 7.17 Using the Information
  • 7.18 Outcomes
    


• 8: Use of Information
  • 8.1 Objectives
  • 8.2 Evaluation and Citation
  • 8.3 Evaluation: Authority
  • 8.4 Evaluation: Currency
  • 8.5 Evaluation: Accuracy
  • 8.6 Evaluation: Scope
  • 8.7 Evaluation: Objectivity
  • 8.8 Evaluation: documentation
  • 8.9 Evaluation: Presentation
  • 8.10 Evaluation Example
  • 8.11 Citing Sources
  • 8.12 Citation Styles
  • 8.13 Plagiarism
  • 8.14 Intellectual Property
  • 8.15 Copyright
  • 8.16 Copyright: Public Domain
  • 8.17 Copyright: Fair Use
  • 8.18 Fair Use for Students
  • 8.19 Outcomes

TALON MODULE 5: Using the Library Catalog
Access Points

There are four major ways, called access points, to search the catalog:

author
title
subject
keyword

Author, title and subject searches are phrase searches in the catalog, meaning that the computer looks for an exact match of the word or phrase starting from the beginning of the term. Although you may leave off the end of a word or phrase, you may not leave out words in the beginning or middle, except in a few special cases.

Keyword searches look for words or phrases located anywhere, and you can search more than one word or phrase at a time. The keyword search capability is what makes an online catalog distinct from a card catalog.

Most library catalogs include additional types of searches as access points, such as call number.

Concept & Design by Laurie Preston Content Authored by Laurie Preston & Jack Bales Reviewed/Updated

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