“Get Lost” in the Library
One of the best things I did, in the process of finding journal articles to use in my dissertation, was to “get lost” in the library. I happen to be talking about a physical library, but I’ve also gotten lost in the online library too.
This is what happens: You wander down the aisles in the general area of journals you know about, and find a new journal you’ve not heard of. Pull a bound copy and browse through the articles. Find an interesting article, read the bibliography, and go in search of the next interesting article.
Its all about finding articles and tracking down leads to get the best journals to help you develop your topic–disseration or course paper. Not about being physically lost.
All of a sudden, time has flown. And there is a stack of valuable journal articles.
I’ve gotten lost online, by searching for different key words and getting more and more articles of interest.
To help you capitalize on your time and explore the library, check out how to best use Your Learning Style and Library Research
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on Monday, November 24th, 2008 at 7:35 am and is filed under Becoming Doctoral, General.
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December 7th, 2008 at 2:03 pm
You are not alone. I spend so much time in the library that one day my wife remarked that I am married to the library, not to her. Hang in there, better days are coming.We are all lost in the library.
December 11th, 2008 at 7:03 am
John–
It does sometimes feel like one is married to the library.
But I also want to emphasize that the Capella Librarians are _very helpful_ in helping find articles quickly. If you are taking more than 15 minutes to find articles on a particular topic, call the librarians for some search help.
Lynn