Pellissippi Library Tutorial - Finding Information

PSTCC Library Tutorial

Finding Information

Finding Information

Information is presented in many formats. To save time and effort searching for useful information, you need to understand and evaluate the information sources available to you at the Pellissippi Library's four locations.

How do you decide which resource to choose? The type of resource that you select depends on the kind of information that you need.

You might use books to find information in depth or a statistic about a topic. If you need information about a current or popular topic, you might look in a magazine or newspaper. If you need scholarly information about a subject, you will need to consult a scholarly or professional journal. Magazines, newspapers, and journals are all considered periodicals because they are published at regular intervals, or periods. You might also look for information on the World Wide Web.

Books	Magazine	Journal	World Wide Web	Newspaper

Which tools should you use to find these resources in the Pellissippi State Library?

To find books

and World Wide Web resources:

To find periodical articles:

Use on-line databases that contain many articles on academic and general-interest topics. The periodical database used most frequently in the library is Academic OneFile, the library's premier periodical database Academic OneFile indexes more than 10,500 periodicals, over 4,000 of which provide full-text articles.

You may also use one the library's multisubject databases such AGent Federated Search, to search multiple databases at the same time.

During the remainder of this tutorial, you will learn how to use the on-line catalog and Academic OneFile. You will also get a chance to practice and reinforce what you learn by completing an on-line quiz, and an assignment to use your searching skills.

We will begin by learning about the library's on-line catalog.