Research Tools & TutorialsLibrary
General Research
Guides/Tutorials
The Library of Congress Classification (LCC) is a classification system that was first developed in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries to organize and arrange the book collections of the Library of Congress [located in Washington, DC]. Over the course of the twentieth century, the system was adopted for use by other libraries as well, especially large academic libraries in the United States. It is currently one of the most widely used library classification systems in the world.” (source The Library of Congress)
LCC is arranged by subject, an organization that will help you as you conduct research for your papers and projects. The arrangement encourages intelligent browsing and often results in serendipitous finds as you peruse the shelves. Researchers who engage in this behavior enjoy an advantage that online searching hasn’t been as successful in emulating. In addition, most academic libraries in the United States use LCC to arrange books. So, as you continue your academic career, the LCC skills you learn at Midland College should transfer to your future colleges and universities.
Research 101
A step-by-step guide to the research process from choosing your topic to citing your
sources (created by Emily King and Caprice Roberson of the College of Southern Nevada)
Research Like a Boss
"Research Like a Boss" is a video series hosted by LRC staff and English faculty.
This series provides a good introduction to conducting research at Midland College.
Citing Sources
Using the Internet
DuckDuckGo
A general Internet search engine, but unlike Google and other general search engines,
DuckDuckGo does not track your usage. If privacy is important to you, you should consider
switching to DuckDuckGo.
Google Scholar
A Google search interface that attempts to limit results to scholarly sources. Useful
for finding that elusive article to which you don’t have access.
TinEye
A reverse image look-up tool. If you need to locate the Internet source for an image,
upload an image file and TinEye will attempt to resolve an address for you.
WolframAlpha
An Internet calculator providing answers to mathematical formulas, unit conversions,
physics and chemical computations and more. Want to know how many days it’s been since
February 1, 2002? Enter “How many days has it been since February 1, 2002?”
Boolean Operators
A brief introduction to Boolean Operators including what they are and how the can
be useful to you when using both library digital resources and search tools on the
wider Internet.
Resource Databases
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