Self-Help Instruction
Instruction & Learning at ZSR
We love teaching students in face-to-face classes, but we realize there are times that you might need help when there isn’t a librarian scheduled to come to your class, or you need help immediately rather than scheduling something further out in the future. That’s why we’ve created this page.
Below you’ll find resources to help you with all aspects of research from how to think through the research process to videos walking you through the technical steps necessary to use various resources to one-page handouts giving you an overview and introduction to a variety of tools. If you can find what you’re looking for below, remember you can always ask!
Find Answers
The Z. Smith Reynolds Library faculty and staff know that there are times when you want to find something out, but want to see if you can find it on your own first: maybe you are doing research late at night, off campus, or just do not want to ask the question. Now you can: Search our FAQ.
If you enter your question in the search bar and nothing comes up, you can send the library an email through the site and a librarian will get in touch with you.
Research Guides
The Z. Smith Reynolds Librarians create a number of websites tailored to specific research needs. Some of these resources are created for general subject areas and others are custom designed for specific classes and assignments. These guides generally include books, articles, and other sources useful for your assignments as well as instruction on how to use various resources. You can find these research guides on our website.
Instructional Videos
The Z. Smith Reynolds Library has created a collection of videos and screencasts to help you use our resources. We call it The Toolkit.
Each video is short – typically between a minute and three minutes – and is designed to answer a specific question. So if you want to know what to do when full text doesn’t work, how to find the newest DVDs, or how to get better search results with Boolean searching, you can find it there.
1-Page Handouts
The Z. Smith Reynolds Library also provides one-page handouts on a variety of topics. You might find these useful if you have a specific question. If you are a professor, you might find these useful in distributing to your class. All are licensed under a Creative Commons 3.0 license and you are free to use them as you’d like.
There are other resources available on the web that are helpful in much the same way as the resources listed above. Here are some we believe you might find particularly useful.
- Plagiarism how to avoid (from EBSCOHost)
- Wikipedia class-based projects
- Zotero quick-start guide
Information Literacy Textbook
Your librarians are hard at work creating a textbook to support learning how to do research. We’re currently finishing up a few chapters and editing, but we anticipate its availability in the Fall of 2012. Within this book you’ll be able to find useful information for everything from how to begin the research process to strategies for finding resources to techniques for evaluating them. For more information, here is a video we created to explain the project:
Ask
Still need help? That’s why we’re here! Just ask!
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Did You Know?
The Library Toolkit has been designated by the Association of College and Research Libraries as a PRIMO recognized resource.
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Classroom Tools
The library provides tools for instruction and collaborative work and offers one-on-one meetings on incorporating technology — blogs, wikis, and Google Apps among others — into your classroom and teaching.
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Teaching with Technology
The Z. Smith Reynolds Library offers instruction on the use of technology in the classroom as well how to enhance teaching with technology. Handouts from these technology sessions are available on the Technology How To page.
For more information, please contact Rosalind Tedford, Director of Research & Instruction.