I.L. Course Catalog: Science and Math

Assignment-Specific Classes
Do you have a specific class assignment that requires research or background reading? Contact your library liaison to show your students how the library can be useful to them. We are willing to modify our information literacy classes to meet your needs. (e.g. Conflicting Viewpoints project: this class addresses scholarly vs. nonscholarly materials, basic search techniques in CLICnet and selected databases, and finding full text with only a citation.)

Finding Journal Articles
A. Databases

Features	Searching Methods
-Choosing a database	-Natural language (keywords) and controlled vocabulary (subject headings)
-Exploring the record	-Scholarly and Popular
-Reviewing the characteristics of a database	-Precision vs. Recall
	-Boolean operators
	-Truncation
	-False drops

 
B. Finding Full-Text Articles
-Learn how to use the Journal Finder with Article Linker (Serial Solutions), CLICnet, and interlibrary loan to find full-text articles with only the citation or abstract.

CLICnet
Learn how to effectively utilize the newly upgraded online catalog of the CLIC (Cooperating Libraries in Consortium) libraries to find science and math resources.  We will talk about general search strategies, including keywords, Boolean terms, refined searches, the Dewey Decimal System, and standardized subject headings. 

Reference Resources
What types of science and math reference resources (print and electronic) does the library hold?  What are they good for, and how are they used?  This class highlights a few key resources and talks about the purpose of reference resources.

Web Resources
The Supplementary Websites page provides links to various tools for finding reputable websites.  This class will show you how to evaluate web sources and how they can enhance your research.

NetLibrary
Learn both how to search this electronic book resource effectively and how utilizing netLibrary's special features can make your research easier.

Evaluation of Resources
What is a peer-reviewed journal article? How can you determine whether a resource is reliable? Make sure you are using the best resources possible for your science and math work.

To schedule a class, send an email to reference@csp.edu .  In order to customize/maximize learning objectives for you and your students, please schedule your classes at least two weeks in advance if possible.