On this page you'll learn more about different tools and resources of the UI Libraries, including how to get in touch with a librarian in your subject or research area!
Remember to ask for help!
You DO NOT have to, nor should you go it alone when you are working on a research project. Talking with your peers, your professors, and your librarians is not only acceptable, it is encouraged. Asking for assistance in defining or developing your research question or topic, choosing keywords, locating articles and books, synthesizing research, and even formulating your arguments is a good strategy and many of our most successful students seek assistance with some or all of these steps during their research projects.
There are a lot of us librarians here at The University of Iowa Libraries. And there are perhaps two important things you should know about us:
1. We're here to help you with your work.
*TRY THIS: Check out all the ways you can contact us:
2. Librarians have a Master's of Library and Information Science (MLIS), some have a second graduate degree and/or subject specialties that allow us to provide focused support to students doing research within their major or in major-specific coursework.
TRY THIS: Even if you don't yet have a major (btw - that's totally ok and in fact many of us who graduated changed majors multiple times along the way), check out the Library Subject Guides.These guides were created by our subject specialist librarians and contain lists of databases, resources, and other information relevant and specific to different courses and majors. These guides also have contact information for the subject librarians who created the guide. Find your subject librarian here: Subject Specialists.
TRY THIS. Check out our team of four (4!) Undergraduate Engagement Librarians dedicated to supporting you, our undergraduate students. We work in The SEAM in the Main Library and would love to help out.
Amongst The University of Iowa of Libraries 8 campus libraries you will find more than 5 million volumes! And we also have DVDs, technology, music, and even high tech tools located across all 8 campus libraries. If you need to or want to check out anything physical, like a book, a DVD, or locate course reserve materials you'll need to locate the item in InfoHawk+. Check out the 'Finding Books' tab at the top of this guide for more information.
UI Libraries subscribe to over 1,000 databases to provide you with free access to the scholarly and popular resources required by your instructors and important when conducting college-level research. Note: You will not find these articles (for free) with a simple Google search.
Check out the 'Findings Articles' tab on this guide for a list of databases commonly used by undergraduates to conduct research.
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Database A searchable collection of information sources. The library has many databases. Some databases contain only articles. Others contain other types of information, such as data, images, and videos. |
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Catalog The library's database of books. Our book collection includes print books and e-books. You can find specific books by searching for an author or title, or find books on a topic by searching with keywords. (Here at U of Iowa, this is called InfoHawk+) |
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Scholarly Source A piece of information written by someone with academic expertise, such as journal articles and some books. Many scholarly sources are peer-reviewed. Scholarly sources are great places to look for in-depth analysis, theory, and empirical evidence. |
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Peer Review An editorial process used by scholarly journals and academic book publishers. When an author submits an article or book, independent experts in their field review the work, then notify the editor of whether or not they think it should be published. |
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Popular Source A popular source is a piece of information written by a journalist for the general public, such as a magazine or newspaper article. Popular sources provide background information, real-world examples, and describe new developments in different topic areas. |
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Journal Article A type of scholarly source. Journal articles can be found in many databases the library subscribes to. They are often available to download as a PDF file. |
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Website A source format that can be found using a Google search. Websites include all kinds of information source content, such as news, online stores, government information, entertainment, personal blogs, social media sites, etc. |
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Call number A unique string of letters and numbers that represents the location of a print book in the library. You can find a library book's call number in InfoHawk+. |
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Permalink A permanent or static hyperlink assigned to a journal article or other digital resource, also called a stable link or document URL. Permalinks are used by databases to help users navigate back to an article or ebook. |
*List created by UNC Greensboro University Libraries and used with permission under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.