Welcome! This guide lays out some library tips and resources for your research in WRTG 104. If you ever need help at any step of your research, please feel free to ask a librarian! You can chat, email, or make an appointment to meet.
If UR doesn't have the article or book you need, Interlibrary Loan (ILL) is a service that will deliver a copy to you. PDFs of articles usually arrive in two days or less! If you have the citation of the item you wish to request, go to the ILL page: https://illiad.lib.rochester.edu
& log in with your NetID to request an item.
From within any of the library any databases, click the 
button. It will find the full text of your article online if it's available through the libraries. Or, it will search the library catalog for you to see if we have your article in print--or let you request it via Interlibrary Loan.
Looking for books we don't have in the library? Try searching WORLDCAT (either for a title or by keywords on your topic). Click on the button to request a book through ILL.
Still can't find what you're looking for? Please contact me!
Citation managers like RefWorks, EndNote, Mendeley and Zotero help you track and organize your citations, so that when you're writing your paper, you can easily cite your sources. Citation managers also help you insert citations, create endnotes and bibliographies.
A database is an organized storage system you can search to quickly retrieve information. Many of the databases focus on a specific field of study or a certain perspective or lens of research. For example, PsycINFO pulls research and information from the fields of psychology and cognitive science. Depending on which lens you'd like to do your research through, you may want to choose a specific database.
If you're not sure where to start, DiscoverUR offers access to all the materials the University of Rochester has available.
Below are some databases that might be helpful to you as you study various aspects of empathy.
Getting the most out of Google Scholar: Google Scholar can be a great place to begin research as it will return many results from scholars in a variety of fields. But did you know that you can use Google Scholar to find more updated results based off of an older resource? If you find an article or book that is useful for your topic, but perhaps a little out of date, you can find out what scholars have said about it since its publication by using the Google Scholar "Cited by" link. You can also use the "Related articles" tool to discover other experts in the scholarly conversation.
When you're beginning your research process, it can be difficult to know what terms will bring you the best results. A tactic you can try is to do a little background research to determine some key concepts, alternative phrasing, and important people related to your topic. There are several ways to do this, but two of the fastest are to review the Wikipedia entry for your topic and to use CREDO Reference Collection to do a preliminary search.
Using Wikipedia: Find the entry for your topic and peruse for important names of people, places, or events within the article. These are often, though not always, linked to other articles within Wikipedia. Write these down as potential search terms. If it is a very broad topic, you may even be able to simply use some of the ideas listed in the Contents box. Check the list of references, bibliography, or further reading sections at the bottom of the entry to locate any resources you may want to find online or in DiscoverUR.
Using CREDO: Open CREDO Reference database and type your main idea into the search box. Hit the Enter key or click the magnifying glass to find the results list and a concept map of the topic and its potentially connected topics or limiters.
If you prefer to create your own concept map, you may use this handout, or try a free online concept mapping site like bubbl.us, MindMup, MindMeister, or similar.
You can ask yourself questions about Timeliness, Relevance, Authority, and Purpose to evaluate a source of information. First, choose the source you want to evaluate. Then, go through each of the questions below.
