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Library Instruction: Glossary

Glossary - What We Mean to Say

Abstract:

A brief summary of an article. The abstract for a scholarly article will summarize the authors' research purpose, methods and conclusions.

Bibliography:

A bibliography is a list of sources (citations) that were used for an assignment, essay, speech, research paper. Each discipline has its own style for creating bibliography entries. Here @ YCCC we use MLA (Works Cited) or APA.(References)

Call Number:

The letters and numbers assigned to a book to give it a unique location in the library. EXAMPLE: HF 5567.C45 2003 . YCCC library uses Library of Congress system which shelves material by subject.

Catalog (Library Catalog):

The library catalog contains a record for each item in our collection– this includes all books, e-books, DVDs, CDs.

Citation:

The information given in a bibliography or a database about a particular title. The citation may include the article title, periodical title, book title, place of publication, publisher, volume, pages, and date. See our MLA & APA tipsheets to learn how to format citations for your own bibliographies.

Database:

A collection of information, usually electronic, where you can search for sources. Examples of YCCC databases would include Academic Search Complete (articles), Credo Reference (encyclopedias) Films on Demand (videos).

Digital Object Identifier (DOI):

A string of characters used to uniquely identify an article.

Keywords:

Important words from your research topic or research question. Keywords are more flexible than phrases or sentences for searching. The more keywords in your search, the fewer search results you will get.

Interlibrary Loan (ILL):

A library service that allows you to request books and articles from other libraries.

Noodlebib:

A web-based tool that helps you manage citations, create bibliographies, and copy and paste citations from databases. Formatting styles here at YCCC include APA and MLA.

Peer Review (Refereed):

Articles published in peer reviewed journals have been reviewed and edited by a board of expert editors.

Plagiarism:

Using another's words, ideas, or other original work without giving proper credit (usually through citation).

Primary Source:

Primary source is used to describe several different types of sources. In the Sciences, a primary source is an original research article. In the Humanities, a primary source could be the text of a novel or it could be an artifact like a map or a diary.

References: Used in APA bibliographies

A list of sources you have used.

Scholarly Source:

Scholarly sources are written by experts-- people who know a lot about their subject like professors and they also refer to other sources in a works cited/references list to show where their information came from originally.

Search Engine:

An application that searches for, and retrieves, web pages. Examples are Google, Bing, etc.

Stacks:

The stacks are the shelves in the library where you can retrieve books, DVDs, CDs, etc. Each item in the stacks has a unique call number that helps you locate the itme.

URL:

The "address" of any particular web page on the Internet. 

Works Cited: Used in MLA bibliographies

A list of sources you have used.

World Wide Web (WWW):

The network of pages of images, texts, and sounds on the Internet which can be viewed using browser software.