Research Tip: The Research Process Guide

The Research Process guide, which is accessible from the Research Process tab on the library's homepage, will walk students through the steps required to complete a successful research project or paper.

You will find information on:

• Developing a Topic
• Selecting a Topic
• Develop Research Questions
• Identify Keywords
• Find Background Information
• Refine a Topic
• Locating Information
• Find Books
• Find Videos
• Find Articles
• Find Websites
• Search Strategies
• Evaluating Information
• Evaluate Sources
• Primary v Secondary Sources
• Types of Periodicals
• Using Information Correctly
• Notetaking
• Paraphrasing
• Legal/Ethical Information Issues
• Plagiarism
• Citation Styles
• Works Cited Examples
• Copyright

Research Tip: Course Reserves

What are they? Where are they? 

Course Reserves are library materials that check out for two hours and can only be used within the library building. They are available at the Circulation Desk and you'll need your student ID card to check out materials.

How can I find them? Does my professor have any course reserves?

You can find course reserves using the syllabus provided to you by your professors, or you can view the Searchable Course Reserves List in the Hewes Library Catalog. You can search by class, professor, or department.

New ScotsRead Titles

Take a break from academic reading and try a ScotsRead book.  New titles include:

• Hand That feeds You by A. J. Rich
• Go set a watchman by Harper Lee
• Marriage of Opposites by Alice Hoffman
• Pirate Humters by Robert Kurson
• A Thousand Miles to Freedom by Eunsun Kim
• Silver Linings by Debbie Macomber

Research Tip: Learn About your 2 Library Accounts

Each MC affiliated patron has two accounts.  The accounts manage the resources you borrow from Hewes Library and those throughout the country.

Your Library account is accessible through the library catalog and will allow you to:

• See what you have checked out
• Renew items online
• Place I-Share requests (books & media) from other academic libraries in Illinois

Your ILLiad account will allow you to:

• Place requests for journal articles
• Download filled article requests
• If a book is not available though I-Share, place a book request

• Library Account
  

  Renew and request materials.
• ILLiad Account
  

  Manage your interlibrary loan materials.

If you haven't set up your Library Account, see last week's instructions.  Your ILLiad account is already set up for you - all you need to do is verify some personal information when you log in for the first time.

New Items at Hewes Library

New items are added to the Hewes Library collection on a continual basis. Recent titles have included:

• Good Stuff by  Salman Akhtar
• Stone Mattress: Nine Tales by Margaret Atwood
• In the Unlikely Event by Judy Blume
• Glass Cage: Automation and Us by Nicholas Carr
• Queen's Necklace by Alexandre Dumas
• Women in Religion by Mary Pat Fisher
• Chief Executive to Chief Justice by Lewis L. Gould
• Rethinking the Other in Antiquity by Erich S. Gruen
• Subcultures: The Basics by Ross Haenfler
• Gabriel: A Poem by Edward Hirsch

Research Tip: Setting up your Library Account

First-Time Users will have to create your Library Account before you can view items you have checked out or place a request in the I-Share Catalog. To create your Hewes Library Account, please follow the steps outlined below. You will only need to do this once.

• Visit the Create New Account page on the Login Screen of the Hewes Library Catalog.
• Enter your personal information:
• First Name
• Last Name
• Monmouth College Email Address
• Desired Username: We recommend using your Monmouth College Network ID.
• Password: We recommend using your Monmouth College Network Password.
• Borrower ID: This is your 7-digit barcode number located on your Monmouth College ID Card.
• Last Name on your Library Account
• I-Share Library that you are affiliated with: Monmouth College

Once you have created your account, you will be able to view your personal information, including which items are checked out on your library account or you can renew items online.

Database of the Month: Academic Search Complete

The Database of the Month for September is Academic Search Complete.  Provided by EBSCO, Academic Search Complete (ASC), is a wonderful multi-disciplinary database that features a large variety of academic and popular articles - many of which are available in full text.

According to EBSCO, ASC contains:

• More than 13,800 indexed and abstracted journals
• More than 9,000 full-text journals
• Full text for more than 7,800 peer-reviewed journals
• PDF content dating back as far as 1887
• Searchable cited references provided for more than 1,400 journals

At Monmouth College, we recommend Academic Search Complete for students just getting started with their research and those wishing to make a complete review of the literature on their topic.  Recognizable to some already, we regularly use this database with all of our first year students since the interface is very user friendly and it contains a wide array of sources - including media items.

Find Academic Search Complete on the library's Databases: Find Articles page.

Access to library databases is limited to the current students, staff, and faculty of Monmouth College.