Abstract: The abstracts are short summaries of the content of the source. Library databases usually include abstracts of the articles, reports, book chapters and other material indexed. You can use the abstracts to decide if the source you’ve found will be useful in your work before you print, save, or retrieve the material.
Bibliography: A list of sources, usually pertaining to a certain topic. Bibliographies might not provide an indication of the quality of the works they list. Bibliographies that provide evaluative summaries of the material on the list are called annotated bibliographies.
Boolean Operators: The standard terms used to combine keywords and other search terms. They are named after 19th century mathematician George Boole.
- AND narrows searches because it stipulates that both terms/phrases must be included
- OR broadens searches because it tells the database you want either one or both of the words/phrases
- NOT narrows and focuses searches because it excludes words/phrases
Please see the tutorials on Boolean Operators in the "How Do I...?" section of the library web site for more information.
Boolean Searching: Searching using Boolean Operators
Citation: Information about a specific work that allows you to identify and locate the work. A typical book citation provides the author and title of the book, edition information, name of the publisher, and where and when the book was published. A typical journal article citation lists the author and title of the article; the title, volume, issue, and page number of the journal the article appeared in; and the date the article appeared.
Citations can be written in different formats. Style guides such as APA, MLA, Chicago Manual of Style, etc. offer different rules for standard citation format. Citations you find in the databases or in other sources may use any one of these style guides or may use a custom format. You may have to re-format citations you find into correct APA style (or other required format) before using them in your own writing.
Database: A collection of information organized for efficient search and retrieval. There are many different types of databases for different information and purposes. Library research databases are collections of searchable information about research sources. Some library databases are referred to as "citation" or "index" databases. These are tools that can help identify material (articles, books, dissertations, reports and more) relevant to your research topic but do not actually contain the full articles, books, etc. that they index. "Full-text" databases allow you to search for and immediately access the full text of the sources. Some library databases may offer a mix of full-text and citation-only sources.
Online Catalog: A catalog is a list of all the materials (books, journals, magazines, etc.) owned by a library. Online catalogs not only make these listing available on the web but also offer advanced search interfaces that can help you navigate and find items in the catalog in different ways. Usually, online catalogs simply list available material and give information on where to find the material elsewhere in the library. In recent years some library catalogs have begun to include links to full-text sources such as e-books and online journals so that library users can access material directly from the catalog. However, this is not yet a common feature. Usually library users need to take extra steps to acquire material listed in a catalog.
Periodical: Any source that publishes issues or volumes of new material on a regular basis, such as journals, magazines or newspapers. Periodicals are good sources of current information because they generally have a quicker publication cycle than books.
Popular Magazine: A periodical that is published to give casual information to the general public rather than to present scholarly scientific research. Newspapers and magazines generally fall in to this category - examples include Newsweek, U.S. News & World Report, Time, Sports Illustrated, Cosmopolitan and Reader's Digest. Written for general interest these publications do not cover topics in depth, do not set academically rigorous standards and are not reviewed for accuracy by scholarly experts. Therefore, these sorts of sources are not good for sound scholarly research & do not provide strong support for scientific arguments.
Primary Source: A document that contains accounts of an event or research written by a participant, witness or by the person conducting the research.
Professional or Trade Journal: A periodical that reports news and information related to a specific profession or trade. People use professional and trade journals to keep informed of important new developments in their field. Examples of professional and trade journals are ABA Banking Journal, Irish Marketing Review, and Supply House Times.
Reference Librarian: A librarian who assists patrons in finding information on a specific topic or for a specific research project. At Walden you have a team of reference librarians you can contact for assistance in identifying and obtaining information for your Walden work. You can contact them by email (waldenlb@waldenu.edu), by phone (800-437-0501) or by clicking the "Ask a Librarian" button on any library web page. Your local libraries also have reference librarians; depending on the policy of your local library you may be able to ask them for assistance. Many libraries provide this service through their websites as well as at the Reference Desk in the library.
Reference Book: A book that provides facts, definitions, data, or summary of a topic. Types of books included as reference books are indexes, dictionaries, encyclopedias, almanacs, bibliographies, concordances, handbooks, manuals, etc.
Secondary Source: Any material that analyzes, describes, and/or synthesizes primary sources (see above). Secondary sources include literature reviews, reference books, textbooks, commentaries, criticisms, bibliographies and histories.
Scholarly Journal: Periodical that publishes articles written by researchers and experts in a specific discipline. Scholarly journals are the major vehicle used for publishing original research. They are often referred to as peer-reviewed, academic, or refereed journals. American Journal of Public Health, Journal of Personality & Social Psychology, Harvard Business Review and Lancet are examples of scholarly journals.
Subject Index or Thesaurus: An alphabetical listing of specific vocabulary terms used to index records in the database by topic or main idea. Using the subject index or thesaurus in a research database can help you quickly find the best keywords for your topic and help you run efficient searches for the most relevant material. Please see our Subject Searching tutorials in the "How Do I...?" section of the library web site for more information.
