Questions related to library resources for projects? Contact Brian Simboli   8-5003;  brs4@lehigh.edu

CLASS EXERCISE

In this exercise, you will find a set of resources that are candidates for use in the annotated bibliography you will be generating. Important: this exercise just focuses on a limited set of resources.  

Read the "Instructions for Research Project Annotated Bibliography" in CourseSite, then do the following.

As you find sources, put your answers to the questions below in a Word document and keep it for your work on the annotated bibliography.  

Move quickly--you are not creating a finalized bibliography, just learning about resources.

IMPORTANT: This exercise focuses on a limited set of resources. For your later work, if you need additional resources, see the many subject library guides in many subject areas or check with the science librarian. 

1. Find two sources of background information

Find two sources of information that will help give a broad overview of your topic or that help clarify concepts or terminology you may encounter in your research. This is "background information".

One should be a website that satisfies the criteria for website reliaibilty--called the "craap" test--in the page of this guide about evaluating sources.  Do not use Wikipedia as one of the answers—though definitely look at Wikipedia to see what other resources it might suggest!  

Use the Advanced Google search. 

The other should be an encyclopedia, if you can find one that is relevant. For encyclopedias, go to the Finding Sources of this guide, then see the box about "Background Information Sources" and find the encyclopedia tab. 

If you can't find a relevant encyclopedia article, find a second--reliable--website using Google.

Put the URLs for what you find into your Word document.

2. Find two popular articles

First, review the page “Scholarly versus Popular Articles”.

Then go to the Finding Articles page and search the resources in the box devoted to newspaper and magazine article databases. Newspapers and magazine articles are examples of "popular articles".

Follow the instructions. It's a bit confusing--some of the databases allow you to find scholarly articles, so follow the details in those cases about how to find popular (not scholarly) articles.

Put the URLs for the articles in your Word document.

3. Find two scholarly articles

For this exercise, go to the Finding Sources page, scroll down to the Article Databases box, and select the "Scholarly" tab. Use one of the databases you see there after reading the directions. Some of the databases have popular articles, so make sure to follow the instructions for finding scholarly articles.

Find two scholarly articles in the search results. Just very quickly skim their abstracts; no need to read the article for this exercise. 

Either the database itself will link to the full text, or you can get to it from "Lehigh Links", or you would have to order it via "ILLiad" from Lehigh Links. Please indicate what you find. (No need to order the article via ILLiad!).

4. Cite the two scholarly sources 

Go to the Citing Your Work page for directions.

5.  Find one ebook

Go to ASA, the search engine near the top of the library homepage.  To limit to ebooks, see the filter on the right of the search results. (There's a tutorial on this guide about searching for books. See it at "Background Information Sources: Books and Ebooks" (scroll down there).)

Put the book title into the word document.

6.  Find one government source

See the Government Resources page of the library guide. Hunt around in the links there, or if you want, use the advanced google search capability mentioned there, using the limit to “.gov” items. Or try science.gov.

Put the URL into the word document.

7. Find one visual or video related to your topic.

See the finding images box on this guide to find a visual. Or search in google, then look for links to images and videos at the top of the screen.

Put the URL for where you found the visual into the Word document.

Set up an ILLiad account--sometime after the class!

While you won’t use it for this exercise, spend two minutes setting up an ILLiad account. ILLiad enables you to order articles or books that Lehigh does not have. (Palci is another service normally used to find print books that Lehigh does not have; It can be useful throughout your career at Lehigh, but check whether it is still shut down during the covid period.) Go to http://library.lehigh.edu/ill. Click on ILLiad. Fill out required one-time registration information. *You don’t need to order articles for the exercise, but you may find ILLiad useful later in the course.* Wait until you are sure you need an article before using ILLiad.