Page 216 - Between One and Many The Art and Science of Public Speaking

Chapter 7 Researching Your Message 183

library is the intellectual center of most universities and colleges—the repository
of the history of ideas and thought. Although campus libraries vary in their ex-
tensiveness and degree of sophistication, the basic principles of a library search
are the same whether in a physical or virtual library.
The fi rst step in using a library is familiarization. Most campus libraries
feature in-person and online guided tours, handouts, and special seminars for
groups interested in a particular area of research. Your instructor may have your
class take a library tour or send you on a library scavenger hunt to familiarize
you with the library. Whatever you do, though, don’t wait until you are facing a
speech deadline before familiarizing yourself with your library. If you didn’t do
it during your fi rst few weeks on campus, make it a priority now.
We recommend the following four steps for library research.

Tips and Tactics
Four Steps of Library Research

1. Select key words.
2. Search the library catalog.
3. Search relevant indexes, abstracts, and other databases.
4. Consult reference sources.

Although each step isn’t required every time for library research, it’s useful to
know about each step and how the steps are connected. Let’s look at each in
detail.

Select Key Words
Key words are signifi cant ones taken from the abstract, title, subject heading, key word
16
or text of an entry and used to search an electronic database. They are like the
A word in the abstract,
combination to a safe: If we have the right combination, we can easily open the title, subject heading, or
door; without it, our chances of opening the door are slim. Thus, the most effec- text of an entry that can
tive library search begins with searching key words on the topic of interest. be used to search an
In addition to key words, subject headings, developed by the Library of electronic database.
Congress, are standardized throughout libraries across the country. These head-
ings often lead to sources we might otherwise miss. For example, suppose we subject heading
are interested in the topic of the “three strikes law.” We searched our university A standard word or
library’s catalog for books on the topic and found three. However, the detailed phrase used by libraries
to catalog books or other
record for the books revealed that the Library of Congress uses the subject head-
publications.
ing mandatory sentence. Searching for that term yielded 21 books—a sevenfold in-
crease. Although we normally begin our search using key words and phrases
that seem logical, we check the offi cial subject headings and try them as well.
These can multiply our results several times over.
Another hint for key word or subject searching is to use truncation and wild-
card symbols. For example, at our university a star (*) is used for these purposes.
Thus, to search for sentence, sentences, and sentencing, we would type sentenc* in the
search box. The search engine will fi nd all records with any string of characters
following sentenc. Similarly, to search for both woman and women, the key word
wom*n would do the job. Be sure to ask what characters your library uses as wild-
cards, as it varies from library to library and database to database.