APA format - the formatting style for essays and papers in the social sciences, designed by the American Psychological Association. Go here for help.
Bias - an unbalanced weight in support of or against an idea. Biases can be held at times without us realizing it; against other people, beliefs, or whole groups.
Bibliography - This can refer to a few slightly different things, but usually means the formal listing of all materials you used during your research. Check this out.
Citation - Closely tied in with a bibliography, citations are crucial in any kind of research, and especially research writing. A citation not only gives credit to the person whose work you have used to support your own, but it also allows readers of your work to go and check that source for themselves. Citation formats can vary depending on the type of assignment you've been given, as well as the style guide you've been asked to use. Here's some help, and here's some more help, and don't forget to look around the rest of this guide too!
Confirmation Bias - a tricky form of bias that occurs when we stick to, or automatically trust, information that supports something we already agree with. It's a bad habit because you end up not knowing how to explain why you believe something.
Example: Your favorite YouTuber is reviewing a product you've been wanting. Because you already like that person AND you already want the product, you trust their positive review more. Confirmation bias wants you to stop there instead of finding the opinion of someone who might negatively review the same thing.
Databases - Also sometimes called "scholarly" or "academic" databases, these are where most of the published and peer-reviewed journals you'll need for assignments and projects are. You can explore and get comfortable with what you have access to by clicking right here.
Direct quote - This is if, when you are doing research, you use exact words from a source. Here's a video to help sort out the differences between quotes, summaries, and paraphrasing.
Ebook - an electronic book. These can be downloaded onto your computer, tablet, or phone.
Empirical - A type of data that can be gained through observation.
Fact - Something that can be verified to be true, real.
Footnote(s) - Notes at the bottom of written pages, typically commenting on a cited reference. Deeper explanations, as well as how and when to use footnotes, are here.
Journal article; scholarly article - These are articles published in journals and are written by experts in different fields. Every field of study has many journals, each of which contains articles available for other scholars to read. College and university students often end up conducting research that is published in journals, too.
Keyword(s) VS subject headings - Subject headings relate to how information is input and organized into databases. Keywords reflect your attempts to access those subjects through searching. The terms you put into a search engine off the top of your head usually are called "natural language" keywords. You could imagine it with PIZZA as a subject heading, while "cheese" "pepperoni" "veggie" "thin crust" might be keywords you use within the subject of PIZZA, to get more specific.
Lateral reading - the act of fact-checking something as you read it, by having another tab or window or other resources open to compare claims or ideas against.
MLA format - the formatting style for other written essays and papers, designed by the Modern Language Association. Go here for help.
Objective VS subjective - Anything objective is factual, and verifiable through evidence. Anything subjective is based on opinions or preferences and will vary from person to person.
Opinion - That's right, we all have them. If I say, "bacon is disgusting" - that's my opinion. You might think bacon is delicious, but that's still your opinion. It's only a fact if it can be tested, proven, and sometimes tested again. Opinions are subjective, as in the above definition!
Paraphrasing vs Summarizing - somewhat similar processes, but with major differences in how and when to use them.
Learn more about how to paraphrase, and how it differs from quoting, here.
Peer-reviewed - For a journal article to be reputable, one of the criteria is to be peer-reviewed. This means that one expert's findings must be judged by other experts in the same field of study before that article is allowed to be published. Peer review prevents a single person or persons from saying, well, whatever they want and passing that off as factual.
Plagiarism - This tends to happen accidentally, but sometimes people do it purposely. It's when you pass someone else's works or ideas off as your own. Read more about how to prevent this from happening to you here, because even accidental plagiarism could cost you your whole academic career. When in doubt, ALWAYS cite it. And for good measure, here's a short video.
Primary VS secondary source (humanities edition) - A primary source belongs to the person who created it, so let's imagine you are famous and someone someday gets to go through all of the text messages you wrote to learn more about you. (Yikes, eh?) You created a primary source because it's your life and your texts. (This sometimes happens after you're dead, so diaries or documents or reports created by historical folks are a common form of primary sources.) Check this out.
Secondary sources would be whatever someone does with the primary source. So again, if you're famous and someone writes a book about you based on having read your text messages, they've created a secondary source. Here's some more help with these concepts.
Quantitative vs Qualitative - Quantitative, think quantities. Quantitative data measures things and mostly presents percentages and charts. For example, a quantitative researcher might want to know how many people pass a course each semester and find that it is 96%.
Qualitative data describes things and tries to understand the reasons why. For example, a qualitative researcher with the same question might want to see what factors are responsible for students not passing. Which could mean students aren’t coming to class, or don’t turn in their assignments on time, etc.
Rubric - The description of a specific assignment, along with the breakdown of what should be included in that assignment and, usually, what your instructor is expecting you to include in your work and how it will be graded. If you are coming to the library for help, it is ALWAYS useful to bring a rubric with you.
Syllabus - Otherwise known as that multi-page document your instructor gave you at the start of the term that you may or may not have looked at since. You should though! Not only does it cover policies and expectations, but it allows you to see what's coming up!
Website endings - When you are researching online, sometimes there are clues right away about who owns or operates the site.
.edu - belongs only to colleges and universities.
.gov - belongs only to government websites (state and federal.)
.com - this stands for "commerce". Even though it tends to be the default website ending, it's usually used for businesses.
.org - this one is tricky because any type of organization can register a .org, but these are typically used by not-for-profit organizations. (Which, by the way, does not mean they're doing their work without making any money.)
As always, use all of the skills you possess when evaluating a source.
Works Cited Page - If you are using (citing) a source that you have read for your research project, it must go here. Typically used in an MLA format paper.
The above glossary was written by me, but if you want another fantastic one with even more terms than I have included, check this out. | Dead links are the worst. Please tell me if you spot any! wittmer.7[at]osu.edu
Maybe you've watched movies or TV shows where a library was a quiet place full of books where a grumpy person in glasses told everyone to shush. Maybe you went to the public library as a kid and participated in summer reading programs, but didn't go to libraries much after childhood. Maybe you've never enjoyed reading and thought there was no reason to go to a library because of that. Whether you love libraries, don't know much about them, or think they're boring places you have no reason to visit, you should know some things first.
Libraries aren't just about printed books. Yes, we love books and have LOTS of them, but contemporary libraries also have significant video, audio, digital, electronic, and sometimes "other" collections. For example, did you know you can check out calculators and cameras at the BLIC? It's true!
Academic librarians, like those you meet here, work in colleges and universities. Librarians don't just keep things in order! We help people find information, acquire materials that students and faculty need for their courses, teach courses of our own, provide some tech support and study spaces, and keep everyone in the loop by maintaining access to various databases and repositories needed on campus and beyond. (We also make things like these LibGuides to help everyone with whatever they're working on.)
We know our jobs can seem mysterious, so here are some "rules" about how we'd like you to think of us and what we do.
Rule #1. ASK IT ANYWAY.
There is no such thing as a “dumb” question, and there’s no such thing as a wrong question. No one can know everything, but everyone can ask for help and gradually grow their confidence.
Rule #2. START WHERE YOU ARE, NOT WHERE YOU THINK YOU SHOULD BE.
College can be interesting and fun, but most of the time it can be scary and frustrating! If you think your classmates are all doing better than you are - well! - they are probably thinking the same thing.
That’s why it’s best to learn to ask for help when you need it, instead of trying to just tough it out on your own. (Also, check out the "by the way" tab at the top of this box.)
Rule #3. LIBRARIANS ARE PEOPLE.
Librarians were students once, in fact, more than once, and we are still learning all the time. We can mess up and feel overwhelmed, too. We're not here to make fun of you for needing help.
Rule #4. REACH OUT HOWEVER YOU'RE COMFORTABLE.
Maybe you'd rather watch an example of how to do something than to ask a question out loud. Maybe you'd rather make a quick phone call, or write an email, or schedule a one-on-one meeting. Great! Tell us what works best for you and we'll do our best to accommodate.
Rule #5. WE WANT TO HELP YOU.
This is a major part of our job! You aren't "bothering" us.
Rule #6. WHATEVER IT IS YOU NEED TO KNOW, IT DOESN'T HAVE TO BE ABOUT SCHOOL.
If you want to know what there is to do around here, or how to find scholarships, or where you can go for lunch, or how to get stains out of your clothes, or how to get better at studying, or who your academic advisor is... ask!
We're here to help you find information. What that looks like or how that happens is up to you! We won't judge, because... go back to rule #1.
I want to include this because it's something that affects lots of people in college... or really, anywhere at any time. It's called "impostor syndrome" - and it's when this happens to you:
It can also feel like you don't belong somewhere as much as other people seem to, or that someday very soon, someone is going to realize you don't know what you're doing. Just because you're struggling to learn something new, or to figure out what's going on in your life, doesn't mean that everyone else around you already "gets it." Many of those "other people" feel just like this, too!
Despite how it feels, those pesky thoughts do not mean everyone else is "smarter than" or "better than" you, so try to avoid letting it get you down! If you're trying your best, you're already doing just fine! Everyone learns things in their own way, in their own time. Being wrong is part of the process and it is what helps us grow. Sometimes all we can do is make mistakes, learn from them, and ask for help. It's a good thing.
