Keeping Up With the Librarians

If you haven't noticed, some pretty big stuff is happening around here today! The university has revamped the writing center page and launched an overhauled reference and citation generator. We're pretty excited since writing and APA continue to be areas we get questions about regularly, so we hope you find these updated resources helpful.

To celebrate this launch, we've created an online escape room that touches on something else we're obsessed with – zombies! We've clearly taken some inspiration from recent television shows that we may or may not be obsessed with and created an escape room based on some of the common struggles we see people encounter with APA. Good luck!

Escape from PS648!

Updated and new guide alert!

Do you need help researching a private company or nonprofit organization? We've updated Research a Private Company and Research a Nonprofit Organization guides to provide more detailed steps on how to find information on these tricky-to-research entities. 

We also have a brand-new toolkit for RefWorks to help you navigate this great, time-saving resource.

Research a Private Company

Ever run into trouble when researching a private company? We're guessing the answer is probably yes. Private companies can be notoriously difficult to research since they don't have to disclose as much information as public companies. So our Research a Private Company guide has been updated to make the impossible a bit more possible (or, at least, a bit less impossible). It provides a walk-through approach to researching these companies and tips and things to consider as you tackle your research.

Research a Nonprofit Organization

Next on the list of hard-to-research entities is nonprofit organizations. We've rewritten our Research a Nonprofit Organization guide to also be more of a walk-through with tips and tricks along the way to help you uncover as much information as you can.

RefWorks Toolkit

We've transitioned our RefWorks How Do I guide to a new RefWorks Toolkit. It highlights how RefWorks can save time by managing your citations more easily and efficiently and includes tips and tutorials. As a bonus, we've pointed out their awesome add-on tools, which can help you format your citations in APA.

Ever struggle to use the library? Then, our new Toolkits are for you!

The toolkits offer a central location where you can find the "tools" you may need to help you research a topic or use a resource.

For this launch, we've focused on providing Database Toolkits, which offer tips on how to use our largest, and most popular, databases more effectively. Additionally, there are tutorials if you're new to the database and other insights that might be useful to you. For example, one of our featured databases is Business Source Complete. This toolkit offers links to the database (and in this case, a specialized collection within Business Source Complete: SWOT Analysis), videos on how to search Business Source Complete, and tips and resources that align with research that you may be doing in your courses.

We currently have four toolkits available, with more coming soon! If there's something, in particular, you'd like to see, let us know in the comments or reach out to us through Ask Us!

Need a publishing matchmaking service for your paper? Look no further than Cabells, the first step in your publication process.

Cabells provides general information, evaluation metrics, rankings, submission details, and publication acceptance rates for over 11,000 academic journals. Read on to learn how Cabells can help you find the right publication to publish your paper!

Searching & Browsing

There are a few ways you can find publications in Cabells.

• Enter a keyword in the search box to search for journals related to that keyword. For example, enter educational technology to find journals that publish content on this topic.
• Use the Filters option next to the search box to help you narrow your focus to journals that meet your publishing needs. You can browse journals by filters such as Discipline, Peer Review, Open Access, and Call For Papers.

Journal Record

Click on each journal to find the journal record, which gives you details about the journal to help you pick the right publication for your paper.

• About: General information about the journal, including a direct link to manuscript guidelines, frequency of publication, submission guidelines, and type of peer review. 
• Metrics: Such as Cabells Classification Index, a journal ranking system based on subject; an Altmetric Report which provides an overview of where and how often articles are mentioned online, including social media sites; and a journal's acceptance rate (psst...the higher the percentage, the harder it is to be accepted).
• Contact: Provides a direct link to the journal's website, editor information, and calls for papers if available. 

So, if you have a paper that's just waiting to find the right home, check out Cabells today!

And, if you can't remember how to get there, you can always click on Research Databases from the home page to access all of our databases.

Hello, friends! It’s a beautiful day here in Phoenix. It’s partly cloudy, not disgustingly hot, and the humidity from our recent rain showers has given my normally pancake-flat hair some volume. (And, yes, for those of you not local to the area, any type of weather other than sunshine is newsworthy here.)

Since it’s such a great day today, it seems like the perfect time to tell you about upgrading your account to the current platform.

Why upgrade?

We know that upgrading your account can be difficult. And, while we wish we could offer everything forever, we are slowly phasing out the legacy RefWorks platform. Here are some of the benefits we’ve experienced when we upgraded our accounts (because, yes, even the library staff has to upgrade our accounts):

• The current RefWorks platform offers a refreshed interface that is a lot easier to navigate. Organizing materials is easier in the current RefWorks, and you can more quickly navigate the site.
• You don’t need to maintain a separate username and password. With the current platform, you only need to select your university to log in. As long as you’re logged into your student portal, you’ll be logged right into your account (and if you’re not, no biggie – you’ll be prompted to log into your student portal at this point).

If you log in to RefWorks using https://refworks.proquest.com/ or by selecting to export your citations to the new version of RefWorks, you’re already using the current platform and don’t need to do anything (yay, you!).

But, if you are using the legacy platform located at https://www.refworks.com or by opting to export to RefWorks legacy, you might want to consider upgrading to the current RefWorks platform.

Yes, it’s the announcement you’ve been waiting for…

We have some new stuff! (Go on, I’ll give you a minute to finish cheering. We’re pretty excited, too.)

We’re pleased as Punch to announce the addition of some new databases and the expansion of a couple of databases we already offered, but now cover more subject areas.

New

Data Planet

Do you thrive on numbers? Do statistics and historical trends make your heart beat in anticipation? Then Data Planet is for you! Data Planet provides data sets across a wide selection of topics, from economics (mortgage rates and gas prices) to labor (unemployment rates) and health (health expenditures by state). I dug around in there for awhile (because I'm a nerd like that) and I was amazed at some of the things I found: historical national debt numbers, water use by certain industries (mining, agriculture, etc.), how many miles the U.S. drove as a collective population. So, if you need data or you're looking for statistics to backup your research, check out Data Planet.

SAGE Campus

If you're looking to update your data science skills (and who isn't, these days), SAGE Campus has you covered. It offers a number of topics, such as data visualization or programming in Python, and allows you to either pick the courses you want to take or follow a learning pathway. Learn things like how to use social media data in your research or how to mine text from the web for analysis. Please note that you'll need to sign up for a SAGE Campus account to access courses in this database.

Expanded
 

SAGE Knowledge

SAGE Knowledge now includes SAGE Business Cases, which provides scenarios of business decisions you’ll face outside of the classroom. Check out Managing the Move to the Cloud – Analyzing the Risks and Opportunities of Cloud-Based Accounting Information Systems or Denim Products Incorporated: Creating and Using a Master Budget for some examples of what you’ll find.

SAGE Research Methods

Doctoral students, this one's for you! SAGE Research Methods has been expanded to include a bunch of new content (too much to list out here). One feature worth taking a look at, if you haven't already, is the Project Planner, which walks you through your research project, start to finish. Access all of the supporting documentation referenced in the planner to ensure you've good a good grasp on what you'll need to do to conduct and finish your research.

SAGE Videos

SAGE Videos, formerly known as SAGE Education Video Collection, now includes videos from a number of subjects (not just education). Subjects covered including business, communication, counseling, criminal justice, education, management and leadership, nursing, political science, psychology, and social work.