MEx89

Library Resources

MEx89

Lori Mullooly Interim Associate Director for Curriculum and Academic Engagement Company Librarian - G3, H3, I3 lori.mullooly@westpoint.edu

Jenn Chess Interim Assistant Director for Communication & Assessment Company Librarian - A2, B2, C2 jennifer.chess@westpoint.edu

Agenda

• Overview of STEM databases
• Database search strategies
• Overview of SCOUT

• Inter-library Loan (Resource Sharing)
• Scite and Keenious
• Organize research using a matrix or Zotero
• Literature Reviews and synthesis

• Review and questions

Student Learning Outcomes

• Perform searches in STEM databases and SCOUT
• Explain several database search strategies

• Describe how to request a resource using resource sharing
• Develop a level of comfort for using GenAI research tools responsibly
• Apply ways to organize research
• Identify how literature reviews are different than annotated bibliographies

How your research process may feel

The research process

Identify topic

Background reading

Narrow topic

Formulate research question

Find and evaluate sources

Formulate thesis

Write and cite

Library Website:library.westpoint.edu

ME 404 Website:https://library.westpoint.edu/mae/mex89

Database Search Strategies

keywords

boolean operators

filters

Advanced search

iterate!!

Interlibrary Loan/ Resource Sharing

ORGANIZING YOUR RESEARCH WITH ZOTERO

• automatically captures source metadata
• allows for efficient tagging and note-taking
• can generate citations in various formats - you can add to its defaults!

**Add citation styles to Zotero library, instructions are on our website.

ORGANIZING YOUR RESEARCH WITH A MATRIX

Literature Reviews

Annotated Bibliography and Literature Review

1. Synthesis and analysis of multiple sources

1. Brief descriptions and evaluations of each source

2. Organized by theme, methodology, or chronology

2. Organized alphabetically by author

Used in academic settingsOrganize and analyze existing literature on a topic Require proper citation of sources Involve critical analysis of sources and their relevance to a research topic Can be used as stepping stones for more extensive research projects or papers

3. Provides a comprehensive orverview of current state of knowledge on a topic

3. Entries include full citation information and a brief summary

4. Sources treated individually

4. Multiple sources cited in one paragraph

5. Each entry is one source

5. Compares and contrasts sources

6. Rigid format with similar structure for each entry

6. Flexible structure, essay-like format

7. Requires summarizing and evaluating skills

7. Requires synthesis and analysis skills

Use Boolean Operators ANDUse Boolean Operators ANDOR () *

Searching for Literature

Organize, Organize, Organize Synthesis Matrix Citation Manager (Zotero) Word Document

What “Literature” Should I Use? Books/eBooks Journal Articles Theses Dissertations

Use Search Terms and Keywords in Different Combinations

Use Boolean Operators ANDOR NOT () * “”

Generative AI Research Tools

You MUST use GenAI according to assignment level guidance by your professor!

Copilot/SCOUT ACTIVITY

Step 1

Step 2

Step 3

Prompt Copilot to give you keywords and phrases for your topic

Go into CoPilot and sign in with your Microsoft credentials (being in Edge is helpful)

Choose some keywords and use Boolean Operators to search SCOUT for an article on your topic

GenAI/SCOUT Activity

Step 1

Step 2

Step 3

Choose Keenious or Scite

Prompt the research tool to give you research about your topic

Check SCOUT to see if we have the article you need

Top Takeaways

• Use SCOUT and databases to find literature
• The library can get you anything you need through ILL/Resource sharing
• GenAI tools can help you find additional research

• Organize your research with a matrix or Zotero

• Librarians can help! We are experts at source evaluation
• Make an appointment
• Use chat
• Use your company librarian (email, appointment, etc.)

Advanced Search

Using the advanced search feature can help you narrow your results even before you start searching!

formulate thesis

A thesis is the answer to the reserach question you began with. For example, if your research question was: Why did the demographics of the West Point Corps of Cadets change between 1970 and 1990? Your thesis could be: The demographics of the West Point Corps of Cadets changed between 1970 and 1990 because of reasons x, y, and z.

Filters

Nearly all databases will have a version of filters, sometimes called limiters, to narrow down search results.

Identify a topic

Topics may be

• Assigned by a professor for a paper or project
• Something of personal interest for your own independent reserach
• Intially very large in scope

Background reading

Background reading:

• Provides a general overview and context for the topic
• Is usually secondary source material
• Is essential for narrowing your topic and formulating a research question

Iterate!!

To iterate in research is to continually refine your topic, question, and searches

Initial Search: solar panels AND cities

• Results: 2,350 articles - too broad

Refined Search #1:

• solar panels AND cities AND pollution
• Results: 475 articles - more focused

Refined Search #2:

• solar panels AND cities AND pollution AND efficiency
• Results: 186 articles - better, but scanning reveals many articles focus on manufacturing pollution, not environmental pollution

Step Backward:

• solar panels AND cities AND "air quality"
• Results: 320 articles - more relevant to environmental factors

Refined Search #3:

• solar panels AND cities AND (dust OR "particulate matter") AND performance

Results: 78 articles - good focus on actual environmental factors Final Integration:

• solar panels AND cities AND (dust OR "particulate matter") AND performance AND (cleaning OR maintenance)

Results: 42 highly relevant articles that address both the problem and solutions

Narrow your topic

After reading about the topic, it is time to narrow down the scope of your research. Two methods of achieving this are:

• Limit by geographic location
• Limit by time period

Research is:

• Iterative
• Recursive
• About discovery

Annotated Bibliography Example

Citation

Annotation

Literature Review Example

Citation

Citations are integrated into paragraphs and paragraphs are organized thematically,

Boolean Operators

Boolean Operators are specific words that are used to connect search terms and refine search results in databases and search engines.

• AND
• OR
• NOT

knee pain AND injury

knee pain OR injury

knee pain NOT injury

" " Quotations are a Boolean Operator that force a search only on the specific terms inside the quotes

find and evaluate sources

Use SCOUT and databases from the USMA Library website to find primary and/or secondary sources about your research question.

library.westpoint.edu

Formulate Research Question

For academic work, we formulate complex questions based on our curiosity, and conduct research to lead us toward an answer. For this process, research questions should be:

• Interesting
• Clear
• Complex
• Focused
• And most importantly: researchable

Use Keywords

Many databases and library catalogs cannot be searched using natural language. Choose the most important words from your topic or research question to search with.

Topic - Solar Panel Efficiency in Urban Environments Question - How does urban air pollution affect the energy output of residential solar panels? Keywords - solar panels, urban environments, air pollution, energy output

Brainstorm alternate keywords

• dust accumulation
• solar energy
• energy output residential
• solar performance degradation

• renewable energy
• solar panel maintanence
• urban pollution

If permitted, use GenAI to brainstorm additional keywords

• photovoltaic efficiency
• particulate matter

• solar irradiance

Write and cite

As you write your paper, don't forget to cite all of your sources. Why cite?

• Give credit to the ideas of others
• To participate in the scholarly conversation
• Provide readers a path to follow back through the development of your ideas
• Add authority to your work
• Avoid plagiarism
• Place your work in context

How your research process may feel

Identify topic

Background reading

Narrow topic

The research Essay process

Formulate research question

Formulate thesis

Find and evaluate sources

Write and cite