It’s almost finals week! Are your ready? Even though a lot of things are winding down, we still have some stuff you might be interested in. For example, we have study guides for the GMAT and PRAXIS available. Testing and Education Reference Center also has online practice tests for PRAXIS and NCLEX.

If you think you left something in the library, come by the front desk. We have a nice collection of papers, books, insulated mugs, and flash drives. Just give us some identifying info on the thing you lost and it will be returned to your loving arms.

If you need some downtime reading to help you de-stress, we have that too. Check out our recommended lists, or ask a librarian for help finding something.

Teachers often differentiate between primary vs. secondary sources for your papers. How can you tell the difference?

A primary source may be
-an original, first hand account of an event or time period
-an original, creative writing or work of art
-a report of scientific discoveries
-raw data from clinical trials or experiments
-factual, not interpretive

A secondary source may be
-a description or analysis of a primary source
-criticism of a work of art or literature
-an analysis of research results

Some examples of primary and secondary sources:

Primary: recording or transcript of an interview with a participant or witness
Secondary: an article about that interview

Primary: diary, personal journal, letters
Secondary: A book about that person’s personal diary or letters

Primary: poem, short story, novel, play
Secondary: an article about the poem; a book of literary criticism about a novel

Primary: painting, sculpture, original music
Secondary: Articles or books analyzing the art or music

Primary: speech
Secondary: commentary on that speech

Primary: newspaper and magazine articles published at the time of an event
Secondary: description of news gleaned from those articles at a later time

Primary: published results of scientific or social research or experiments
Secondary: publications about the significance of research or experiments

Primary: government documents (census, marriage, military, treaties, constitutions)
Secondary: description or report of your findings in those documents

Primary: an autobiography (a first-person life story)
Secondary: a biography (a life story written by another person)

Primary: photographs, maps, postcards, posters
Secondary: article or book describing those visual materials

-J. Adams

Our survey of student opinions on the library is over and we got lots of good responses. Thanks to everyone who participated! We already had our drawing, and Ransom Coslett is the winner of the $50 Amazon gift card. Congrats to Ransom!

If you missed the survey this time, keep an eye on your email next year for another chance to share your opinion and enter the drawing. Some highlights of the survey:

Out of 101 people, 46.5% were commuters and 53.5% were residents.

The biggest response (31.7%) was from business majors.

Most people use the library for research (78.2%) and a place to study (66.3%). That’s what we’re here for!

More than half don’t know about this blog. (For shame! Go tell your friends about us!)

24 people asked for longer hours.

17 people asked for more books in various areas (children’s, young adult, music, art, current novels). Check out our lists of cool stuff we already have.

1 asked for more movies.

10 asked for more computers.

6 asked for more journals and magazines.

14 like us just the way we are. (Awww!)

So what do you think? Leave us a comment on what you like, what you want to see more of, and what we could do better.

We’re working on getting the full survey results up for you to see. Watch this post for updates.

The Merner Pfeiffer Library has just joined Better World Books, a company which resells used books and contributes funds to global literacy, plus saves books from landfills. Our membership will help us on several levels:

-The library can ship discards to BWB for free and they will resell, donate, or recycle the books.

-Everyone on campus can shop their online bookstore at http://www.betterworld.com
and get 10% off using this coupon code: RUF09 (that is zero9)

-If any of our discards are sold, the library receives a percentage, and another percentage is given to our chosen charity, the National Center for Family Literacy www.famlit.org

-Students can run a book drive on campus for a service project through BWB’s Reuse First for Students program.

BWB has already raised over $6 million for global literacy and has saved over 22 million books from landfills!

Here is a YouTube clip of a CNN story about BWB!
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Julie Adams

Teachers often require that we use scholarly journal articles as sources for papers rather than popular articles. How do we tell the difference?

Scholarly Journals
Appearance: Articles are long and serious with many words
May contain charts or graphs
No glossy pages or photographs
Studies will have an abstract, methodology, results
Audience: Scholars and students
Authors: Scholars in the field of study
Documentation: Has references, bibliography, and/or footnotes
Purpose: Reports results of original research or experientation
Publication procedure: Many scholarly articles go through a review process by other scholars in the field, often university professors, who examine the article and make suggestions before publication. These articles are called “peer-reviewed” or “refereed”.
Where to find: College database subscriptions such as JSTOR, Project Muse, PsycInfo, etc. They may be print or online.
Examples:
Journal of Abnormal Psychology
Nature
American Literature
Journal of American History

Popular Magazines
Appearance: Attractive, colorful, glossy
Heavily illustrated
Many advertisements
Audience: General readers
Authors: Reporters, usually not experts on the subjects
Documentation: Sources not usually cited in references or bibliographies
Purpose: Provide general information
Publication procedure: Written by hired reporters, edited by magazine editors, and published.
Where to find: Generalized databases such as General OneFile (Tennessee Electronic Library) will let you differentiate between popular magazines and academic journals.
Examples:
Psychology Today
National Geographic
Newsweek
Business Week

Julie Adams

TWC Students: The annual student library user survey was sent to you by email Monday by Jessica Dunsmore. Here is your chance to give us all your brilliant suggestions. Be sure to fill out and submit your survey. One lucky participant will win a $50 Amazon gift card.