Erin recently blogged about a new feature in MyEBSCOhost that allows you to add notes.  You can also add notes in RefWorks for individual articles.  Check out the RefWorks Basic Guide, which shows you how to Create an Annotated Bibliography.  Just follow the instructions to Create an Annotation to add your notes.

If you already have a MyEBSCOhost account you can easily transfer all of your references to RefWorks.  Just follow the steps on the Exporting from Library Databases guide for EBSCOhost databases and export from your MyEBSCOhost folders.  You have to option when you export to RefWorks to delete the articles from your MyEBSCOhost folder or leave them there, so you can either continue to keep them in both places if you like.

Hungry to learn more about RefWorks?  Check out one of our RefWorks Online Seminars.  Just go to the RefWorks Information Page (linked as RefWorks from the Library Homepage) to register!

-Sommer

1. You have been searching for 20 minutes to 1 hour with no success (don’t wait hours or days to get help).

2. You want to learn how to use RefWorks to store and organize your Library Research.

3.  You are starting your Dissertataion Literature Review and want to discuss some strategies.

4. You are working on your Comprehensive Exam and need help finding information on a specific topic.

5.  You are new to Capella and would like an overview of  the Library. Click here for an online Tour of the Library.

6.  You want to know what the weather is like in Minneapolis – First Hand!

7.  You opened Lexis Nexis or any database and it frightens you.

8.  You need to know “what the heck” a peer-reviewed article is and WHY faculty are so obsessed with them.  Click here for information on “Peer-Reviewed Articles and How to Find Them”.

9.  You want help evaluating a source that you found outside the Library. Click here for a guide on Evaluating Sources.

10.  You are about to fling your computer at the wall and quit Capella because you can’t find information on your topic.

Calling a Capella Librarian: Click Here to hear what a typical call sounds like.

Robin

Simply put, the journal publishing industry is a lot like the music industry.  They want to get paid for their content.   You’ve probably had the experience where you find the perfect article through a search engine like Yahoo or Google, but then it takes you to the publisher’s website.  They demand $20-$30 per article!

It’s ok to start your research by gathering a little background info online, but for scholarly articles, Capella Library is the way to go.   We have purchased tens of thousands of exclusive peer reviewed journals on your behalf.

Here is how our collection compares. 

According to Ullrichsweb.com, there are only about 4000 scholarly journals that are published “open access” or freely online.  Meanwhile, the library has over 30,000 scholarly journals, chosen exclusively for Capella’s programs.

Take our tour of the library to get started.  Your research will be much easier, quicker and more efficient when you start with a direct library search.

– Erika

Tour the Library

We’ve recently launched an updated media piece titled “Tour the Library” where you can learn where to go for what in the Capella Library. New learners will benefit from learning how to navigate within the Capella Library, and seasoned learners might learn something new.

Tour the Library is linked from the Library Homepage, the Guides & Tutorials page, and of course this blog post: Tour the Library.

Tour the Library will help answer the following burning questions:

• What’s available in the Capella Library?
• Where do I go when I want to find articles, books, and dissertations on my topic?
• How do I easily locate a book or article in the library when I have the citation (reference) information?
• How can I obtain something unavailable in the Capella Library without having to pay for it?
• Where can I go for guidance on improving my research skills?
• Is there a tool available through the Capella Library that will help me organize all of my references and create APA style reference lists?

So take a Tour of the Capella Library today! And when you need help, Ask a Librarian.

-Sommer

Here are two more below:

1. Sort by Relevance:
Sometimes your results look random at first, since the databases sort articles by date as a default.  So the most recent article will be at the top – not the most relevant.  Luckily, there’s an option to change the way articles are sorted to Relevance.  Look for a Sorting drop-down menu all the way on the right of your article results list – straight across from the number of articles.  It should say “Sort By – Date.”  Change it to “Sort By – Relevance” to bring the best articles to the top (according to your keywords).

2. Contact a Librarian for Search Help:
The librarians are available most weekdays from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. CST.  We recently added extra hours on Monday, when we are open until 8 p.m.  We’ve added some Saturday hours, as well: 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. CST.  These are the hours you can normally get us right away via phone.  We promise a reply in 8 business hours for email, but our average is much lower.  (If you don’t get a response in eight hours, check your junk mail folder or let us know!  Sometimes our emails get rejected without us knowing.)

– Erika

Other times, learners may ask whether there are any essential tips that I can offer for people just starting out at Capella.

Here are the first two below:

• Too Many? Too Few? – What do you do if you get too many or too few results? This video will show you some good strategies for fixing your article results.
• Company vs. Collection — Many people make the mistake of saying they searched “EBSCO” or “ProQuest.” I can understand why, because that’s the huge logo at the top of the database screen, but it’s misleading. Pay attention to the name of the database that you click on in the Databases A-Z list. That will tell you the name of the article collection that you are searching. (This is sort of like how a Ford Taurus looks very different than a Ford Excursion. EBSCO and ProQuest are just the companies that provide the article collections. If you are searching inside an Ebscohost database, you are likely searching only one of a dozen possible collections.) Knowing the database name will also ensure that you have the right information in your APA citations.

What do you think? Are there library tips you wish you knew earlier? I’ll post more tips next week.

- Erika