This online version will not provide any authorization numbers or passwords. We will alert the centers directly if these change. For this information, you may contact Stephanie Davis by phone (800) 750-9103, x 1435 or by e-mail at sdavis@arbor.edu.

Last updated October 25, 2000

All updates since the publication of the paper version (except editing out authorization numbers and passwords) are in red.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

The word research is derived from the French word rechercher, which means to seek, to search, to explore. According to William Irmscher the "main purpose of ... undergraduate research ... [is] to learn how to find materials, how to evaluate them, and finally how to integrate them into a new set of relationships"[The Holt Guide to English, pp. 304-305]. In other words, the research process enables writers to explore topics from a broader perspective and provides them with new ideas and approaches with which they will interact before forming their own conclusions.

George Brosi asserts that "the reason that so much is known today about the world and the universe is that scholars have built upon the work of those who have asked and answered questions in the past. Instead of starting the process of inquiry over and over again, scholars have first learned what others have learned and then tried to delve even deeper into the questions which perplex them. Thus scholarship is a cumulative process."[The Community of Scholars: http://www.english.eku.edu/services/comp102/hand2.htm]

Many students when they begin a research project are quick to jump to conclusions. They undermine both the benefits and the product of the research process. Research is not about finding books and articles that will support a particular viewpoint while quickly dismissing materials that contain opposing views. The best research is done when the writer sets aside preconceptions and looks at a variety of perspectives, interacts with what others have written, and comes to reasonable conclusions only after weighing the evidence. Quality research takes time and usually includes the following steps:

• Choose a Specific, Narrowly Defined Topic

The writer needs to focus research efforts on a specific topic. Background reading of encyclopedias and other library resources will enable the researcher to get a general understanding of the topic. This will enable the researcher then to focus on an area of interest that can be developed thoroughly within the limits of the assignment.

• Analyze the Underlying Concepts

Once the topic is chosen (or assigned), it needs to be analyzed. In other words, it needs to be broken down into various aspects or parts for further research and study. One way to help analyze the topic is to draft a number of specific questions that you would like to answer through the research.

• Determine Subject Headings and Index Terms

These aspects or parts then have to be translated into the appropriate terms that are used for storing and retrieving documents in library systems. The initial names for these aspects may not necessarily be the best terms for retrieving information from a catalog or index. For instance, the concept may be "emergency medical technicians," but the actual term used for storing and retrieving information on the concept may be "paramedics." Searchers can determine the appropriate subjects to use in their searches by consulting subject-specific thesauri or the Library of Congress Subject Headings.

• Search Catalogs and Indexes

After determining what the best term or terms are for each concept, begin searching the catalogs and appropriate indexes for information on your topic. Remember--avoid the temptation of looking for information that only supports your anticipated conclusions. Set aside any preconceived conclusions, and take an honest look at what information is available. You will find much more information.

• Gather Materials

Begin to gather the materials. Some may need to be found in other libraries or obtained through interlibrary loan. Check their bibliographies to find additional works that may be of value for your research.

• Evaluate Materials

Not all sources of information were created equal. Be critical. Do not use inferior materials, even when they directly support your work. Choose only the best resources for your research.

• Develop the Main Idea(s) and Supporting Details

After you have chosen the best resources for your work, develop the main idea(s) you want to express in your paper and outline the details you will use to support your main ideas. These could be the answers to the questions you may have drafted earlier.

• Complete the First Draft

Write a complete draft of the paper. At this point do not worry about grammar, spelling, etc. Concentrate on writing strong paragraphs for each of the main ideas.

• Document the Resources Used

Cite all direct quotations, paraphrases, summaries, unique phrases or significant words from the resources you have used.

• Revise and Proof Work

After having put aside your draft for a few days, read it over as if someone else had written it. Again, be critical. Try to read it from your intended audience’s perspective. Correct all mechanical problems, develop smooth transitions between your paragraphs, and proofread the entire manuscript a few times.

Research is rarely a linear process. Be prepared to loop back to previous steps. Analysis is the critical step.You will find few pieces of information that will cover your entire topic. What you will need to do is find information that is relevant to each aspect or part of your topic. It is up to you, then, to draw it all together from your own perspective.

Research usually requires work in libraries. Internet resources will not be sufficient for many of the projects you will be assigned. The library information below will help you understand how libraries are organized, will help you to search more precisely, and will guide you in evaluating materials.

There are three major types of libraries: special, public, and academic. Special library is an umbrella term used for libraries at a hospital, business, law office, or any other specialized locale. These libraries are typically not accessible to the general public; they exist solely to serve their specific clientele. Resources of a special library can often be accessed by other libraries through cooperative agreements, such as an interlibrary loan system. These libraries can be very helpful for your research.

You are probably familiar with the public library in your town. Public libraries serve the general population, and their collections are built accordingly. You cannot expect a public library to have the kinds of specialized materials you may need for some of your research. However, you should still check your local library to see what materials it does have.

The academic library is connected with a college or university. They are designed to support the kind of research that you will be doing throughout your coursework at SAU. It is most effective and efficient to do the bulk of your research at an academic library.

What is the Dewey Decimal Classification System?

A man named Melvil Dewey developed the Dewey Decimal Classification System in 1876. He thought that it would help libraries organize their books better if each book was given a number according to what it was about. That way, all books with the same subject would be close to each other on the shelf. That's what "classification" means.

How is it organized?

The word "decimal" refers to numbers that are based on 10 (ten). You will see that there are 10 basic categories in the Dewey Decimal system, and each of those categories is further split into 10 categories, and so on.

How can I find things?

Each one of the 10 major categories in the Dewey Decimal system covers a different subject. For example, the 300 category includes everything about the Social Sciences, such as Government or Law. The 800 category includes everything about Literature. Once you get used to how things are organized, you'll find it very easy to locate the information you're looking for.

Why is the Dewey system still used?

Melvil Dewey thought up this system just for organizing books, because there wasn't much else in libraries back in 1876. However, the Dewey Decimal system is also very good for organizing other kinds of information, even websites.

The Library of Congress Classification System (LCC) was developed at the end of the nineteenth century in response to expansion of the Library's collection and plans to move it into a new and larger building. Thomas Jefferson's initial classification scheme was found to be inadequate for the detail required by the large research collection. Several librarians, therefore, set to the task of devising a new system by which to organize the holdings of the national library. Letter by letter, the LC system of classification was formed, and is to this day under continual revision. While public and school libraries still utilize the Dewey Decimal system of classification, many academic collections transferred to LCC in the 1960s.

Arranged according to discipline, LCC was designed to reflect the holdings of the Library of Congress; it is not universal in coverage. Each item, according to LCC, is assigned a call number consisting of three divisions: class, subclass, and a final item-specific number. (from http://www.tulane.edu/~html/lc.htm)

There are other systems of classification that you may encounter in your library research, such as the United States Superintendent of Documents (SuDocs) system. In any case, familiarize yourself with the system. Many libraries have maps for each floor that show the layout of how materials are arranged by classification system or systems. If these maps are available, they are usually a handy reference to help you navigate the stacks.

The library catalog is one of the most important tools in any library. Most academic libraries have replaced their card catalog with an online (computer) catalog. The online catalog makes it possible to find materials quickly and to print the bibliographic information found.

Online catalogs are usually "user friendly" and give on-screen instructions for using them. Most libraries also provide an instruction sheet near the computer workstation or terminal to help the user get started. Don’t hesitate to ask a librarian to assist you in using the catalog.

Before searching any kind of electronic catalog or index it is always helpful to understand how the information is formatted and retrieved in the system. For instance, the following is an example of how information is displayed in SAU’s SIRSI system:

Line 1 assigns authorship of the work. This is the official heading for the author and may differ from the way the author’s name appears on the actual item being described. For example, a book may have Geoffrey Crayon on the title page, but the cataloger places the book under the official name heading Irving, Washington, 1783-1859. If there is more than one author of the work, the other(s) will be listed elsewhere in the record and will also be accessible by doing an author search.

When you find good information on your research topic, do an author search to see if the library has other related works by the same author.

Lines 2-4 describe the title and the statement of responsibility as closely as possible to the way this information appears on the original work. In this particular record "The vulnerable child" is the title. The subtitle directly follows the title: "what really hurts America's children and what we can do about it." And the statement of responsibility "/ Richard Weissbourd" is last.

Be careful. The way title searches are performed in online catalogs vary. Some require an exact continuous string of words starting with the first word of the title. Others will take any string of words as long as no words are missing in between. Still others will allow for keywords in the title to be searched in any order. Make sure you know how the system searches. You could miss some valuable sources by entering in your search strategy incorrectly.

Line 5 describes the publication information in the following order: place of publication, name of publisher, and date of publication (or copyright date when publication date is not provided).

Sometimes it may be useful to search for all materials by the same publisher. Some publishers only publish materials on a specific topic or discipline. You may search for publishers by using a keyword search of the entire record, unless the catalog has a direct search key for publisher (which is more convenient but rare). Some catalogs allow you to limit the results of a search by date or range of dates.

Line 6 is the physical description of the work. In this case the book has 15 pages of introductory materials, followed by 280 pages of text. The length of the book along the spine is 24 cm. This information may not be accessible in some online catalogs even when doing a keyword search.

Line 7 is a series title. This book is number 20 in the series.

Sometimes series are narrow enough in scope to be of help in your research. When this is true, you may want to search for any additional works in the series. Many catalogs allow direct searching by series title. Follow up by doing a keyword search of important words in the series title. (Series information is difficult to control and has been placed in various locations in cataloging records, some of which are inaccessible by a series search.)

Line 8 is a simple note informing the user that the work has an index. Notes vary widely in content and are usually helpful.

Line 9 informs the user that the book has an 11-page bibliography.

If the book is on target for your research, then the bibliography will be important for finding other works on your topic. A photocopy of these pages can be used to aid in the acquisition of the titles. Cross out in pencil those works that are not related to your topic. See if the library has those titles that remain. Use the list also to keep track of those items you may need to order through SAU’s interlibrary loan service.

Lines 10-13 list the subject headings that have been assigned to this work. These are controlled, standardized headings.

Subject searching of these headings is the most precise way to find other information on your topic. When doing a subject search, the words (usually excluding the punctuation) have to be entered exactly as they appear in the heading.

Line 14 is the call number which contains the classification number (usually Dewey or Library of Congress). The call number represents the location of the item in relation to other related items on the shelf.

Browsing the shelves in the same specific location (class) can be very beneficial for finding additional information on your topic. However, remember that the same classification numbers can be found in various locations in a library: the regular circulating collection, reference collection, oversize area, etc. Also browse (if you are permitted) the holding shelves where materials are being sorted before they are returned to their normal place in the collection. The best books are usually either out or on their way back to the stacks. If you have access to the holding shelves browse them. Books are usually out of specific order on these shelves, but it may be well worth the extra work to browse them.

Line 15 tells the user that there is only one copy of this title, provides the barcode identification number, and locates the book in the regstacks area of the library, in this case the main stacks where books can be browsed and checked out.

Subject searching is precise but difficult because the user must translate his or her concepts into an appropriate form for online searching. The best way to search by subject is to determine in advance which headings are valid for the catalog. Users need to consult the Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH), the multi-volume set used by cataloging librarians to assign subject headings. These are typically placed next to clusters of workstations used to access the catalog. Here is an example of a subject heading entry:

Looking up Employee motivation, you will find several entries. The UF stands for "used for" and simply lists the headings that were not chosen, so ignore the UF headings; they are not valid. The second abbreviation is BT, which stands for "Broader term." These are all valid subject headings which are wider in scope than the heading they are under. They are good sources for broad, background research. The BT terms for Employee motivation are Motivation (Psychology), Personnel management and Psychology, Industrial. These are valid headings you may use to find additional materials.

The third abbreviation under Employee motivation is RT, which stands for "Related term" and will suggest valid subject headings in some sense related to the original heading. Only one related term is given here, Goal setting in personnel management. The last abbreviation is NT, which stands for "Narrower term;" here are given Employee competitive behavior and Incentives in industry.

Keyword searching, rather than searching only the area of the assigned subject headings, will search the entire record for a match. This is a powerful way to search a catalog, but it often generates a lot of records that do not relate to your topic. There are ways in which the researcher can refine a keyword search to improve its precision. Combinations of terms are used along with a variety of linking words to express the relationships the terms should have with one another. The three main linking words (called Boolean operators) are AND, OR and NOT.

These can be expressed in diagrams as follows:

Each circle represents the set of records that matches the term being searched. The shaded area represents the set of records that has all three terms. To generate this result the words are linked with AND as follows: Family AND violence AND Alcohol. This operation limits the number of records that have to be read while improving the chances that the records that are read are closer to the topic being researched.

Each circle again represents the set of records that matches the term being searched. The shaded areas represent the set of records that has any one, two, or all three terms. To generate this result the words are linked with OR as follows: family OR domestic OR home. This operation increases the number of records that have to be read. Doing this insures that information is not missed. Usually related word or synonyms are used in this kind of search.

The shaded areas represent the set of records that has the word family intersecting with either the word violence or alcohol or both. To generate this result the words are linked as follows: Family AND (Violence or Alcohol). Note the parentheses in this case. The order of operations is critical. Violence must be linked with alcohol first and the result is then combined with Family. Some online systems operate from left to right. Others work by order of operation. To avoid problems use parentheses. Many systems allow them, some up to eight layers.

The shaded area represents the set of records that has the word family intersecting with violence but excludes the word alcohol. To generate this result the words are linked as follows: Family AND Violence NOT Alcohol. No parentheses are needed in this case. Be especially careful of the NOT operator; you may unintentionally exclude important information if it is miss-applied.

Truncation and wildcards are also supported by some systems. For instance, instead of having to link the related terms library, libraries, librarian, librarians, and librarianship using the OR operator, you can truncate a single search term with a special character to generate the same result.

Librar$ will produce a set that includes all records with the following words:

Librar y

Librar ies

Librar ian

Librar ians

Librar ianship

The wildcard is an imbedded symbol that replaces only one character space. For instance, the term wom?n will produce a set that includes all records with the word woman or women.

Common truncation marks for systems include: $, *, +, and ?.

Searching the SAU Library Catalog (SIRSI) from a Remote Site

SIRSI is the online library catalog for Spring Arbor University. All library materials, EXCEPT journals, are listed here. This includes all types of books, CDs, videotapes, audiotapes, MOD theses, etc.

ACCESS: SIRSI is available through the World Wide Web at http://lcweb.loc.gov/z3950. The SAU Library homepage (http://www.arbor.edu/whitelibrary/index.htm) also has a link to it. This is a Library of Congress website that gives access to library catalogs on the Internet. At that address, click on the highlighted words Search Other Catalogs. The next screen is a list of available catalogs in alphabetical order. Arrow down to Spring Arbor University--Spring Arbor, Mich. (SIRSI). Clicking on this goes to the search screen.

SEARCHING: To search in SIRSI, you need to do four things:

Enter terms - You can enter up to three terms or phrases. Click on the Term 1, Term 2 or Term 3 box to type your terms.

Enter index - You select the index you want to search in the second box for Term 1, 2 or 3. Click on the down arrow to display the options. The following search fields are the most commonly used:

Any Looks for the words or phrases anywhere in the record.
Author Looks for terms only in the author field.
Title Looks for terms only in the title field.
Subject Looks for terms only in the subject field.

Enter type of search - You can select either a Word List or Phrase search in the last box. Phrase works the best.

Do the search - You send the search by clicking on the Submit Query box. If you want to start over, click on the Clear Form box.

ADVANCED SEARCHING: If you have trouble finding what you need, try some of these advanced search techniques. These help you get more
appropriate results. Some narrow (get fewer items) and some expand (get more items) your search. These techniques can be used in combination.

Boolean Terms Use AND, OR or NOT to link terms together to get a better search.

AND locates records that have all the terms. Education and Whole Language finds records about whole language in education.

OR locates records that have any of the terms. Whole Language or Phonics finds records about whole language or phonics instruction methods.

NOT locates records that have some terms, but not others. Reading not Phonics finds records about reading methods other than phonics.

Boolean operators can be used in two ways. You can click on the AND, OR, or AND NOT radio buttons between the Term 1, 2, and 3 boxes. The default is AND. This lets you link terms in different indexes. You can also use AND, OR or NOT within a term box. This lets you link terms within an index. You must do a phrase search for the second method to work correctly.

Proximity Operators Use BEFORE, NEAR or ADJACENT to control term proximity.

BEFORE (or bef) locates one term in front of another. Group before Insurance finds records about group insurance.

NEAR locates one term close to another. Internet near Filter finds records more likely to be about Internet filters than if the terms where anywhere in the record.

ADJACENT (or adj) locates one term on either side of another. Tobacco adj Reform finds records about reform of the tobacco industry or tobacco industry reform.

You must do a word list search for proximity operators to work correctly.

SEARCHING TIPS: If you have trouble locating materials, make sure you are searching with the right terms. Please keep in mind that books are catalogued at a general level. A book about Toni Morrison and Alice Walker has the subjects American Literature, Afro-American authors or American Literature, Women authors. If you don't find anything using a specific term, try using more general terms. If you use general terms, then you can check in the indexes and tables of contents in the looks to see if they have a chapter or a section on your more specific topic.

You also need to make sure you are using the right type of search (phrase or word list) if you have used Boolean operators within a term box or used proximity operators.

LOOKING AT RESULTS: You can select any of three types of displays in the search screen:

Brief Gives author, title, publication information, and call number in lists of up to 20 items. Click Show More Records to view more records.

Full Gives all available information including subject headings one record at a time. Click Next Record or Previous Record to view more records.

Tagged Gives all available information within structured database tags one record at a time. Click Next Record or Previous Record to view more records.

In a brief record, you can click More on this Record to view the full record. In a full record, you can click Tagged Record or Brief Record Display to view the tagged or brief records.

PRINTING: Both brief and full records can be printed. To print the records on the screen, click the Print icon in the browser button bar.

CHECKING OUT MATERIALS: You may check out up to 20 items. Please contact Lois Hunt at lhunt@arbor.edu or call her at the circulation desk at (800) 968-9103, ext. 1442 or 1-517-750-6442 to request items. Please keep in mind some items may already be checked out. You can have a hold placed on checked out material so it will be held for you when it is returned.

Occasionally you may not be able to locate any books on your topic in the library you are working in, even though you have tried both subject and keyword searching in the online catalog. You may access books currently in print by subject, title or author in Books in Print, an annual multi-volume listing of books available in the United States. Books in Print is available at most libraries and is also available online through the First Search service. Amazon (www.amazon.com) and other online bookstores (e.g., www.buy.com, www.barnesandnoble.com, and www.borders.com) also provide a wealth of information on books.

Many useful books not currently in print may be located through the use of the World Cat database through First Search. The SAU library can interlibrary loan these books for you. See the information below on interlibrary loan and First Search. Check with a Spring Arbor University librarian in cases where you cannot locate any books on your topic.

There are hundreds of specialized subject indexes that will provide access to journal and other periodical literature. Each aspect of your topic may require a search in a different index. These indexes exist in numerous formats—paper, CD-ROM, and online.

You must match the aspect or part of your topic with the most appropriate available indexes. If you do not know which indexes to use, do not hesitate to ask a local librarian where you are doing the research or call a Spring Arbor University librarian.

• Check the Thesaurus

Some of the best indexes have controlled vocabulary subject access. A list of controlled vocabulary terms is typically called a thesaurus. These can be found in the reference section of the library or they may be located near workstations or index tables. Finding the correct terms saves time. Online databases sometimes provide access to an online thesaurus of subject terms.

• Search the Index

Searching an electronic index is similar to searching an online catalog (which has already been discussed above). Many of the same search options are available: subject, keyword, author, title, etc. Searching paper indexes can be time-consuming, but they can point to some important sources. Remember that multiple volumes must be consulted since they are compiled periodically. Start from the most recent issues and work backwards, unless you are looking for something that relates to a specific time period.

• Print or Photocopy the Citations

It is very important to get all the bibliographic information for each journal article you will use for your paper. Printing or photocopying is recommended since you will need complete information when compiling your bibliography.

• Check the Holdings List for Availability

All libraries use a serials holdings list which lists all the periodicals owned by that library. Most academic libraries now include the titles of the periodicals they own in the online library catalog; some libraries also have a printed list of periodicals. In either case, the listing will indicate what years/volumes the library has, what format (paper, microfiche or microfilm) the journal is in, and where the journal is located in the library.

• Photocopy or Interlibrary Loan the Articles

Acquire copies of the journal articles as quickly as possible. Many journal articles will have bibliographies that may point to other information of value to your research.

Professors often ask you to use "scholarly" articles or journals for an assignment. It isn't always easy to know what that is. There are distinct characteristics for each type of magazine.

First, is it a magazine? A journal? A periodical? A serial? These all mean that it is a source that is published periodically or, another way to say it, serially. Those called magazines are usually popular while those called journals are usually scholarly.

One way to tell if an article is popular or scholarly is how you find it. Most of the articles listed in academic indexes, such as Social Science Index, ERIC or Psychological Abstracts are scholarly. Articles from Business Index and Academic Index can be scholarly or popular, while articles from Reader's Guide are popular. Magazines available at a newsstand are generally popular too.

Another way to tell if a source is a scholarly journal or a popular magazine is by looking at the magazine itself. The content of an article is also indicative of the type of magazine it is.

Some examples are:

SCHOLARLY JOURNAL:

POPULAR MAGAZINE:

Scholarly and popular magazines are not the only types available either. Other types of magazines include newspapers, trade journals and opinion journals. Each type has a specific audience and use. The following chart provides examples of the various types of magazines, what audience they are aimed at and their uses.

The Internet is a tremendous collection of information that is growing rapidly. Unfortunately, few of the sources are good resources for research. Anyone can and does put information online and no one controls the quality. Information can come from companies, communities, organizations, educational institutions and individual people. Data on one web page can be accurate and reliable, while the data on another can be inaccurate, unreliable or even deliberately false. As you use the Internet for research, you must be prepared to be a skilled consumer and critically analyze the information you find.

Is the information you are looking for actually on the Internet? For reasons of copyright or lack of demand, many research quality sources will not be available or will be available through purchase only. Some reasons for information being unavailable are:

Keep these guidelines in mind when deciding what to look for on the Internet.

In traditional print resources, accuracy, authority, objectivity, currency and coverage are important criteria used to judge the quality of a source. These criteria apply to Internet resources as well.

Quality materials on the Internet can be evaluated by these criteria. If you are unable to apply any of these criteria to a source, it is not good enough quality to use.

One way to filter information you find on the Internet is to search using Web search engines that evaluate sources. All Web search engines search their own internal database of Web sources, NOT the entire Internet. Some "review" sites. Depending on the search engine, you can opt to search in a smaller database of reviewed sites or the entire database if it is only of reviewed sites.

Applying the above criteria is impacted by the various types of web pages available. Each type has a particular point, which can help you determine how to evaluate the information available at a site.

Some Web pages do not fit these categories, but most do. Understanding the purpose of the Web page is half the battle in analyzing the quality of the content. When you know the reason information has been provided, you can more easily determine whether it is deceptive, average or excellent information.

Once you have found information online and are ready to evaluate it, there are some circumstances that impact your evaluation and use that are unique to the online world. These are issues you should keep in mind as you decide what to use.

After considering the above information about Web sites and resources, you are ready to use the Internet to find the wealth of good quality information available. Please do use these points to make sure you don't drown in the sea of inappropriate and unacceptable quality information. Be a skillful information consumer. The following checklist is an easy way to apply these points.

The more questions you can answer yes to, the more likely the source is of high quality. Questions in bold must be answered yes for the source to be valuable. Some of these may be inappropriate for a particular source and ones not included here may be important.

Are the sources used for factual information clearly listed for verification (i.e., did they cite their sources)?

Is the information well edited (i.e., free of spelling, grammar and typographical errors)?

Can you determine who is ultimately responsible for the accuracy of the material?

Are statistical materials and charts clearly labeled for easy use?

Can you locate other sources to verify the accuracy of the information?

Is the information rated well by search engines that review sites?

Can you tell who is sponsoring the page (i.e. university, company or government)?

Is there any information about the purpose of the sponsoring group?

If the sponsoring group allows others to publish web sites on their system, do they filter the information?

Is there information, other than an email address, on how to contact the sponsor to verify their legitimacy?

Can you tell who the author is?

Can you tell if the author is qualified to write about this subject (i.e., education, experience and affiliation)?

Can you tell if the material is protected by copyright?

If the material is copyright protected, who holds the copyright and how do you contact them for permission to use it?

Is the information provided free as a public service?

Is the site free of advertising, both in the text and in the graphics?

If advertising present, is it clearly separated from the information content?

Is the sponsoring group unbiased (i.e., not advocating a particular product or viewpoint)?

Can you tell who the intended audience is?

Is it clear when the information on the page was first written?

Is it clear when the page was first placed on the Web?

Is it clear when the page was last revised?

Is there any other information to indicate that the material is kept current?

If the information is statistical or graphical in nature, does it indicate when the data was gathered?

If the information has been published in multiple editions, is there any indication what edition the information on the page came from?

Can you determine if the page is under construction or is completed?

If the source has a print equivalent, can you tell if the entire source or only a portion is available through the Web page?

If the information is from a source out of copyright, can you tell what has been done to update the material?

Are all aspects of the subject covered?

Can you tell if the information is limited by time period, format or types of materials covered?

For help on how to cite Internet information using the APA format consult the official APA page at http://www.apa.org/journals/webref.html

For help on how to cite Internet information using the MLA format consult the official MLA page Documenting Sources from the World Wide Web.

Phone (800) 968-9103, Ext. 1440

Or

(517) 750-1200, Ext. 1440

FAX: (517) 750-2108

The SAU campus library supports the research needs of students and faculty both on campus and at the centers. The library collection now includes over 100,000 volumes of books, microfiche and other media, and approximately 900 journals. Access is available to thousands of other journals through full-text online services. The library catalog can be accessed online through the SAU library's home page at http://www.arbor.edu/whitelibrary/index.htm. Students and faculty at our SAU centers and our eCollege students are welcome and encouraged to use the library. If available materials are needed, the library will send them to the student or faculty member upon request.

The library is open year round and during some holidays and breaks. Please call for hours. Typical hours for the Fall and Spring Semesters are:

Reference Help

Librarians are available for questions throughout the year. During Fall, Interim, and Spring semesters hours are:

Please call for availability during breaks and summer. Students at the centers (MOD, FLE, MED, etc.) should first contact Stephanie Davis (sdavis@arbor.edu) at (800) 96809103, x 1435 for reference help.

All students and faculty may check out materials. Off-campus students may check materials out for one month, renewable by phone. Faculty may check out materials for the academic semester. Books will be sent if requested by phone, fax or mail. Notification of overdue materials will be sent to you. If materials are still not returned, a minimum $65.00 replacement charge plus a $15.00 processing fee will be assessed. Library privileges will be suspended until the account is settled. The library encourages returning materials over paying the costs because many materials are hard to replace.

Copies of selected theses are bound and available in the library. These may be checked out for one month. These are irreplaceable, so please be responsible and return them in a timely manner. An index is available at each center, listing the theses by subject, title and author. It also indicates the project option number. A more current list is searchable through the library catalog.

The SAU library can borrow books and obtain photocopies of articles from other libraries through the OCLC interlibrary loan system. Public access to the holdings records of these other libraries are available through the First Search WorldCat database. The interlibrary loan service is for all SAU students, faculty, staff, and administration. It is IMPERATIVE books are returned on time. If materials are not returned, fines and fees will be assessed and library privileges suspended. The library needs a COMPLETE written citation, photocopy of an index page or bibliography, or a copy of a citation from a computer search for each item you want to borrow. Materials that prepare students for the Dantes, TCEP, and CLEP tests may also be requested. Requests for all materials should be mailed, faxed or emailed to the library. Please give the library plenty of lead-time (at least 2 weeks) to secure the loans for you. The address is:

The library has a variety of online resources for students, faculty and staff to use. Online resources are data, indexes of citations and full-text articles that are accessed through the Internet or by dialing into another computer system. Computer usable materials the library provides locally on CD-ROM are described in the CD-ROM Resources handout. Online resources include open access to the Internet, subscription Internet sites, and mediated database searching.

The Internet is a rich resource of information. The Internet is available for academic use on all public workstations in the library through the SAU Library's home page. Students may also use campus computer labs at certain times. Most SAU centers also have a computer with free Internet access for students to access the library's resources. All of these machines use Netscape Navigator to browse the web, which is a type of communication program that allows you to view files (Web pages) located on other Internet connected computers.

The library currently has access to a number of subscription Internet sites: First Search, IAC General Reference Center Gold, ProQuest Direct, netLibrary, and Newsbank. All are available from links on the Library's homepage at http://www.arbor.edu/whitelibrary/index.htm.

First Search is a collection of over sixty academic and business databases (online indexes and directories) that is now available through the Internet. It is an excellent research tool for topics including the pure and applied sciences, humanities, social sciences, business, health and medicine, etc. Most databases contain the citations and abstracts to journal articles, but others list materials such as books, Internet sites, tables of contents, or newspapers. Full-text is available in H.W. Wilson Select, ABI Inform (a business database), NY Times (current six months) and a variety of directories. The dates of coverage are generally the most recent few years, although this depends on the database.

ACCESS: Students on campus can connect directly to FirstSearch from the library's homepage at (http://www.arbor.edu/whitelibrary/index.htm) without having to enter an authorization number or password. From off campus students will have to enter an authorization number and password in order to access the service. You may receive the passwords by contacting Stephanie Davis at sdavis@arbor.edu. After entering the authorization number and the password click on the start button to enter First Search. Be aware that after 15 minutes of inactivity, the site will make you log in again.

HELP: Help is available in all screens by clicking on the [?] button. It is context sensitive, meaning it will go to the section of help that applies to the page you are on. It includes how to do a Basic Search, an Advanced Search, and a Command Search. It covers how to use the Browse Index, use History to combine searches, and how to change previous searches. Finally, it describes individual database and gives other information about searching. If you get too few citations or too many, please look over the searching sections in this screen to give you pointers on how to search more effectively.

SELECTING A DATABASE: The most important part of your search is selecting the correct database for your topic. This is CRITICAL. Don't waste time searching a database that doesn't have what you want. On the FirstSearch Home screen in the blue area under Databases select List All. This will produce the entire list of available databases with brief descriptions. For fuller information about a particular database click on the [i] button to the right of the description. You may select up to three databases to search simultaneously.

SEARCHING: Often searches don't get enough materials, get too much or get materials that are inappropriate. How you construct a search statement is vital to a good search. The sections below will help you develop a more precise search. If you have difficulty getting good results from your search and you have tried the suggestions for improvement in this handout, please call a reference librarian for assistance.

Basic Search - When you select a database you will automatically be sent into advanced search mode. If you would rather work with a basic search click Basic under the Searching category on the left side of the screen. Basic Search is for relatively simple topics. Click on the Search For box and then enter your search terms. You can search by keyword (which searches the entire record), by author, or by title. You may choose to rank your results by relevance or by date. Once you have entered your serach statement click on Search. The next screen is a short citation list of the results. You can return to the Basic Search by clicking on Basic.

Advanced Search - Advanced Search is for more complex topics. To do an Advanced Search, click Advanced under Searching on the left. This screen has three boxes to enter search terms in. Click on the Search For boxes and then enter your search terms. The index boxes have a down arrow that you can click on to select an index to search in. The defaults vary depending on the database you are in. See the Search Indexes section of this handout for more information. The boxes at the beginning of the second and third lines allow you to control how the search terms are combined. After entering your search terms, selecting the indexes and combining the terms, click the Search button. You do not need to enter information in all the boxes. You may also limit the search by entering the years of publication and other options in the bottom boxes. These boxes vary by database. You can return to the Advanced Search screen from anywhere by clicking Advanced.

Search Statements - In either the Basic or the Advanced Search, the search statement (what you search by) can return good or bad results. So developing a good search statement can save a great deal of time. It can include words or phrases. Multiple words and phrases are searched for separately unless you include search operators to combine them.

You may combine two words or phrases within an index by entering them in the same Search For box. You may combine words or phrases in different indexes in Advanced Search by clicking AND, OR, or NOT in the boxes to the left of the Search For boxes.

To control the order the terms are combined, use parentheses to enclose what you want combined first. An example is baseball and (brewers or twins). With the parentheses, the search locates documents with baseball and brewers or baseball and twins. Without the parentheses, the search locates documents with baseball and brewers or just twins.

The search operators are:

AND - The AND operator narrows a search by locating documents in which the search terms separated by AND are both found in the document.

OR - The OR operator broadens a search by locating documents that have either or both search terms anywhere in the document. OR can be used only twice in a search.

NOT - The Not operator narrows a search by locating documents that have the first term and not the second term.

W - The W operator narrows a search by locating documents that have the first and second terms right next to each other. "Balanced W budget" locates the two terms next to each other.

W# - The W# operator narrows a search by locating documents that have the first and second term with no more than the specified number of words between them. "Balanced W2 budget" locates documents with balanced within two words of budget.

N and N# work the same as W and W# in some databases.

Search Indexes - Each database has different indexes. In the advanced mode the Index box has a clickable arrow that lets you view all available search indexes. Each one of these is a field in the records. If you select the author index, only the author field is searched. Some indexes are listed twice, once as keyword, once as exact phrase. If you get too many results, try the exact phrase version. If you get too few results, try the keyword version. If you have difficulty finding records in the subject index, try the abstract or title index. By carefully selecting indexes to use, you can get only the results you want to look at.
Search Plurals - A way to broaden your search is to look for plurals of the search terms. Type + at the end of a word to specify that the search should include the term and simple plural forms too. This is available in Basic and Advanced Searches. Examples are:

poliovirus+ Searches for poliovirus, polioviruss, polioviruses

soccer coach+ Searches for soccer coach, coachs, coaches

statute+ Searches for statute, statutes, statutees

Browse Index - If you have trouble locating appropriate materials, you may be using the wrong terms to search with. Some databases use specific terms that are NOT the terms in common use. Browse to make sure that word or phrase exists in the database.

Click on the Browse Index button in either the Basic Search or the Advanced Search. (In the basic search mode it is an icon labeled Index above the Search For: box. In the advanced mode it is an icon to the far right on the same line as the Search For: box. Click on the icon, enter the word or phrase you want to check, and select an index. If your word or phrase is in the list, it appears in the middle of the list. The Arrow buttons take you up and down the list.

Previous Searches - The Previous Searches feature allows you to view or combine previous searches. You must enter at least one search before you can use it. You can only view searches done in the current database. You can view searches to see what you have done already. You can view the results for a previous search without redoing it. You can combine previous searches or a new search with previous searches.
Click on Previous Searches under the Results heading. For help, after clicking the Previous Searches button, click the Help icon. The online examples in Help are a good explanation of how to use this feature.

REFINING YOUR SEARCH:

Ways to Narrow Your Search - Narrowing your search allows you to get fewer, more specific documents. Too many documents means that you need to narrow your search. Some methods are:

Using search operators AND and NOT narrows a search.
Using W, W#, N, and N# narrows a search.
Use more exact search indexes to define your topic clearly.
Use exact phrase search indexes.
Use the Limit results icon at the top and bottom of any results list screen to add options to the search.

Ways to Broaden Your Search - Broadening your search allows you to get more documents. No documents or too few documents mean you need to broaden your search. Some methods are:

Using the search operator OR broadens a search by including other terms.
Using Search Plurals symbol + includes simple plurals of your search terms.
Use more general search indexes to define your topic loosely.
Use keyword search indexes.
Use terms that have broader, less specific meanings.
Remove any restrictive search operators such as AND or AND NOT.
Remove any restrictive search Limits.

VIEWING RECORDS: After you have done a search, you see an initial results screen that lists brief citations. To view the full record, click on the underlined, blue section of the citation. In databases with full text, clicking on the blue full text icon which directly follows the citation will retrieve the full article. Clicking the Back button in the Netscape command bar will take you back to the results list. If the search retrieved more than 10 records, the results will be listed 10 records at a time. Clicking on Prev (previous 10 records), Next (next 10 or less results), or entering in a record number in the box between these two icons will enable you to navigate through multiple screens of results.

MARKING RECORDS: A way to save time while viewing records is to mark records and look at them all at once. In the results screen, there is a small white box at the beginning of each record. Clicking on that box "marks" the record. Clicking again removes the mark. You can view and "mark" records in subsequent screens. When you are done marking records you may click on "Marked Records" under the "Results" heading and can then print or e-mail the marked records in either brief or detailed formats. To clear all of the marked records simply click on the "Clear Marks" button.

PRINTING RECORDS: Once you have completed your search and have identified items in the results list that you want, it is time to print.

Individual Records - First click on the small First Search print icon. Then click the Print icon in the browser (e.g., Netscape) command bar to print when the record is on the screen.
Marked Records - When you have finished marking records click you may click on "Marked Records" under the "Results" heading and then click on the small First Search print icon. This will format the records for printing. Next click on the your browser's print icon.

Full Text - In full text databases, first click on the small First Search print icon. Then click the Print icon in the browser command bar to print when the full text is on the screen.

LOCATING ARTICLES:

Copying - Check the libraries where you do your research to see they own the journal in paper, microfiche, or electronic format. Most libraries enable you to print or copy articles in a variety of formats.

Interlibrary Loan - You may request an interlibrary loan through SAU. When an individual record is displayed on the screen click the "ILL" icon, fill out your personal data completely, then click the submit button at the bottom of the form. It may take a couple of weeks for you to receive the information. In order for this feature to work, you must use the authorization number and password listed above or you must be on a computer that is directly connected to the college's network (see the Access section above). If not, print your results and request materials via fax (517) 750-2108 or e-mail (ahiler@arbor.edu). Make sure you send complete information about what you need along with your full name, address, and phone number.

LIST OF FirstSearch DATABASES: Notation in parentheses is the abbreviation in the Web site list. Asterisked items (*) have full-text.

*ABI/Inform (ABI_Inform) Provides abstracts of articles from international professional publications, academic journals, and trade magazines. Offers the full text of some articles.

Acxiom Biz - (AcxiomBiz) Contains over 18 million records from white page listings for businesses. Compiled from U.S. telephone directories.

Acxiom Home - (AxciomHome) Contains over 80 million records from white page listings for residences. Compiled from U.S. telephone directories.

AGRICOLA - (AGRICOLA) Covers all major agricultural subjects. Citations include journal articles, book chapters, monographs, conference proceedings, serials, technical reports, etc.

AIDS and Cancer Research - (AIDS_Cancer) Covers world wide scientific literature as summarized and indexed in Virology & AIDS Abstracts, Oncogenes & Growth Factors Abstracts, and Immunology Abstracts.

Applied Science & Technology Abstracts - (ASTA) Covers science, engineering and technology in academic and technical journals, trade and industry publications, and specialized subject periodicals.

Art Abstracts - (ArtAbstracts) Covers the arts from architecture to video comprehensively. Indexes over 222 art publications and lists where art reproductions are published.


Arts & Humanities Search - (AHSearch) Online version of Arts & Humanities Citation Index. Lists articles from more than 1,300 arts and humanities journals and to relevant articles in over 5,000 social science and science journals.

ALTA Religion Index - (ATLAReligion) Religious and theological literature for students and faculty. Supports religious and theological scholarship in graduate education and faculty research. Contains thousands of citations from international titles and multi-author works in the field of religion. Includes a full range of index citations to journal articles, essays in multi-author works, and book reviews from three ATLA print indexes: Religion Index One (RIO), Religion Index Two (RIT), and Index to Book Reviews in Religion (IBRR). Spans over 50 years with selected records going back to 1818.

BasicBIOSIS - (BasicBIOSIS) A subset of BIOSIS Previews. The most current 4 years of over 350 life science journals aimed at undergraduate biology students. Covers recent developments in all life science disciplines.

Biography Index - (BiographyInd) Covers 2,700 journals and 1,800 books. Indexes biographical materials on individuals from all walks of life.

Biological & Agricultural Index - (BiolAgIndex) Covers all sciences as related to biology and agriculture. Indexes 226 key journals.

Biology Digest - (BioDigest) Covers all life sciences. Aimed at college and high school students. Indexes over 300 journals.

Book Review Digest - (BookReview) Covers books reviews from nearly 100 American and Canadian journals. Over 7,000 reviews added every year.

Books in Print - (BooksInPrint) Complete information on all U.S. books currently available from publishers.

Business Dateline - (BusDateline) Indexes over 450 newspapers and local business magazines from the United States and Canada.

Business & Industry - (BusIndustry) Covers multi-industry, international information on companies, industries, markets and products. Indexes over 600 trade and business sources.

*Business Organizations, Agencies, and Publications Directory - (BusinessOrgs) Directory to international business. Includes phone, address, membership, activities and other information.

Cumulative Index of Nursing and Allied Health Literature - (CINAHL) Indexes over 900 journals in the nursing, allied health, biomedical and consumer health fields. Also includes citations to books, dissertations and professional standards.

Consumers Index - (ConsumerIndex) Covers general information on consumer products and services. Indexes over 100 journals, including Consumers Reports.

Contemporary Women's Issues - (CWI) Indexes over 600 journals, newsletters and reports. Gives a global scope to sociology, psychology, health, education, and human rights issues of women.

DataTimes - (DataTimes) Covers articles from over 100 U.S. newspapers and 30 international newspapers.

*Disclosure Corporate Snapshorts (Brief File) - (Disclosure) Contains basic information on about 11,000 U.S. companies filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Dissertation Abstracts - (Dissertations) Covers every doctoral dissertation completed at accredited U.S. institutions in the last 150 years. Includes some master's theses.
EconLit - (EconLit) Indexes over 400 economics journals. Books and dissertations in economics are also included.

Education Abstracts - (EducationAbs) Covers all education topics at elementary, secondary and college levels. Indexes over 400 education journals.

Environmental Sciences & Pollution Management - (Environment) Covers toxic hazards, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, and air, marine and water pollution.

ERIC - (ERIC) Covers educational materials from journals to unpublished documents. Very comprehensive on the subject.

*EventLine - (EventLine) International, multidisciplinary listing of past and upcoming events in the sciences, industry and business, and sports. Includes meetings, symposia, exhibitions, trade fairs, sporting events.

*FactSearch - (FactSearch) Online version of A Matter of Fact. Lists facts and statistics on a variety of topics. Original source is referenced.

General Science Abstracts - (GenSciAbs) Covers astronomy, biology, botany, chemistry, earth science, environmental issues, mathematics, medicine, physics, and zoology. Indexes over 140 journals.

GEOBASE - (GEOBASE) Covers geology, geography, ecology, international development and many related disciplines.

GPO Monthly Catalog - (GPO) Catalog of published government documents from all branches of government.

*H.W. Wilson Select Full Text - (WilsonSelect) Covers 430 titles selected from Readers' Guide, Social Science Abstracts, Humanities Abstracts, General Science Abstracts and Wilson Business Abstracts.

Humanities Abstracts - (HumanitiesAbs) Covers all humanities topics.

Index to Legal Periodicals & Books - (LegalPeriodical) Covers court decisions, legislation and scholarship. Indexes over 570 journals, yearbooks, law reviews and bar association publications.

Library Literature - (LibraryLit) Covers library and information science field. Indexes over 220 journals.

MDX Health - (MDXHealth) Covers health and medicine for the general public. Includes newsletters, magazines, newspapers, and medical publications.

MEDLINE - (MEDLINE) Covers medical research comprehensively. Indexes over 3,500 journals.

MLA Bibliography - (MLA) Covers Literature, languages, linguistics, and folklore. Provides over one million citations for items from journals and series published worldwide. Indexes books, essay collections, working papers, proceedings, dissertations, and bibliographies.

*The New York Times - (NYT) Full text of the most recent 90 days of the late edition. Indexing only since 1994. (This file has been discontinued.)

Newspaper Abstracts - (NewsAbs) Covers business and general reference information. Indexes over 25 national and regional U.S. newspapers, including The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, USA Today, and the Wall Street Journal.

OCLC ArticleFirst - (ArticleFirst) Contains citations only to the tables of contents pages of over 13,000 journals in science, technology, medicine, social science, business, humanities, and popular culture.

OCLC ContentsFirst - (ContentsFirst) Contains tables of contents pages and holdings information on over 13,000 journals in science, technology, medicine, social sciences, business, humanities, and popular culture. Not all resources in English. (This file will be discontinued soon)

OCLC NetFirst - (NetFirst) Covers Internet accessible resources. Includes Web pages, FTP sites, gopher servers, electronic journals, library catalogs, etc.

OCLC PapersFirst - (PapersFirst) Covers papers presented at conferences worldwide.

OCLC Union Lists of Periodicals Database - (UnionLists) Provides information on which libraries own over 750,000 journals from WorldCat.

OCLC WorldCat (OCLC Online Union Catalog) - (WorldCat) Over 37 million records of materials owned by libraries worldwide.

PAIS International - (PAIS) Covers public affairs information from over 370,000 records of articles, books, government documents, directories, etc.

Periodical Abstracts - (PerAbs) Covers general information on major topics. Indexes over 1,500 popular magazines and academic journals. Full text is not available.

ProceedingsFirst - (Proceedings) Provides tables of contents of papers presented at conferences worldwide.

PsycFIRST - (PsycFIRST) The most recent three years of PsycInfo, the online version of Psychological Abstracts. Covers all areas of psychology. Indexes over 1,300 journals published worldwide.

PsycINFO_1887 - (PsycINFO 1887) Journal articles, chapters, books, dissertations, and reports on psychology and related fields. Includes international material selected from periodicals written in over 25 languages since 1887. Includes current chapter and book coverage with worldwide English-language material published from 1987-present.

Readers' Guide Abstracts - (ReadGuideAbs) Covers popular subjects. Indexes popular magazines in the U.S.

RILM Abstracts of Music Literature - (MusicLiterature) Covers music and related disciplines. Indexes all types of scholarly works in 202 languages.

SIRS Researcher - (SIRSResearcher) Covers general information articles on social, scientific, historic, economic, political and global issues. Articles drawn from over 1,200 journals and newspapers.

Social Science Abstracts - (SocialSciAbs) Indexes 350 core journals in economics, geography, law and criminology, political science, social work, sociology, and international relations.

Sociological Abstracts - (SocAbs) Abstracts on all aspects of sociology. Provides access to the latest research in sociology and related disciplines in the social and behavioral sciences. Includes citations (and abstracts since 1974) for articles in over 1,500 journals. Draws information from an international selection of journals, serials, conference papers, books, and dissertations.

Sociological Abstracts, Abridged - (SocAbs_Abridged) Indexes 252 English-language journals in sociology and social sciences. Selected subset of Sociological Abstracts.

Wilson Business Abstracts - (WilsonBusiness) Covers 345 English-language business magazines. Includes accounting, personnel and small business.

*The World Almanac and Book of Facts - (WorldAlmanac) General information on arts & entertainment, U.S. cities and states, celebrities, nations, sports, etc.

*World Book Encyclopedia - (WorldBook) Online version of the 1998 World Book Encyclopedia. Contains over 17,500 full text articles and other resources. Good for general reference.

*Worldscope GLOBAL (Brief File) - (Worldscope) Basic information on nearly 9,000 of the world's largest companies.

This index is available at the IAC SearchBank site. The index covers general interest and business topics and includes magazines, newspapers, and reference books. It is a good research tool for general information on current events, business, industry, the arts and entertainment, etc. Access is no longer limited to computers that are connected directly to the college server. From the library's homepage click on IAC SearchBank.

We have access to several subscription dial up databases. Mediated means the librarians search for you when a search is necessary. The searches are done by the librarians due to the expense and to the difficulty of use. Use of these databases is limited. The databases the library accesses are DIALOG and STN.

This database offers access to a large number of indexes, both full-text and citation only. Subjects covered include business, government and law, and a large variety of industries and technical fields. Academic subjects are covered as well.

This database specializes in scientific and technical indexes, especially those in the medical, pharmaceutical and chemical fields and industries. Materials are both full-text and citation only.

So when should you use these online resources? The Internet is a wonderful place to look for free information so long as you are aware of what type of sources are available. You will find mostly general, non-copyrighted information, marketing sites and personal sites. Subscription sites on the Internet must be accessed with passwords and are paid for by the user or the user’s institution. These provide quality indexes of current general, business, and scholarly academic articles and materials. Frequently some full-text is included. Mediated databases provide materials similar to subscription sites, but don’t have access through the Internet or through easily used programs, so librarians access these resources for you. Please talk with a reference librarian if you aren’t sure whether to use one of the subscription sites, to search the World Wide Web, or to ask us for a mediated search.

We will provide assistance with research problems by phone as requested. Librarians are available throughout the year. Please call for hours. You can contact the librarians by email and messages left in their voice mail will be answered promptly. We encourage you to do as much as possible locally and to have a clear idea of what materials you need us to identify when you contact us. We will send you the searches and you will be responsible for locating as many materials as possible from local area libraries.

Handouts are available on how to use all of the online and CD-ROM resources. We have handouts on how to use the Internet and how to evaluate information found on the Internet. We also have handouts on how to use specific print resources and how to locate information in specific academic areas. If you are interested in any of these, please contact the library. Many of these materials are also available from the SAU Library's homepage (http://www.arbor.edu/whitelibrary/index.htm) by clicking on Library Guides.

All SAU students, staff and faculty may check out print materials from over 365 public and academic libraries throughout Michigan. A MichiCard sticker applied to a valid SAU ID card or a plastic MichiCard will serve as the statewide library card. A list of participating libraries is available through the SAU library and copies are posted in the AE Centers.

You are responsible to return the borrowed materials to the library from which you checked them out by the due date given. Overdue notices and fines will be handled by the library you checked the materials out from.

The libraries that participate in the Michicard program have been very gracious in making their collections available to others. Many librarians across the state will provide reference help for those who do not demand to be served. Please do not abuse the privilege. SAU librarians should be consulted when extensive research and reference help is needed. You may contact Stephanie Davis (sdavis@arbor.edu) at (800) 968-9103, x 1435 or any of the other librarians.

For information on CLEP tests see http://www.collegeboard.org/clep/

For information about Dantes tests see http://voled.doded.mil/dantes/exam/dsst/

For information about TECEP tests see http://home.earthlink.net/~hwatts/tecep.html

The SAU library can provide materials to help you study for any of these tests. Please contact Angie Hiler (ahiler@arbor.edu) at (800) 968-9103, x 1439 to have materials sent to you. Please give her plenty of lead-time (3-4 weeks) to get them to you because they are in high demand.

ProQuest Direct, a full-text database of business and management resources, is still available. There is a link to Proquest Direct from the SAU Library's homepage.

Click on Connect

Enter the account number and password.

Click on Connect

Since this is identical to Firsh Search's ABI Inform database, we no longer provide search instructions here for ProQuest. If you are interested in using ProQuest rather than First Search, we provide an extensive guide.