Graduate Student Resources: Chester Fritz Library

The facets and key questions below are from the Researcher Skill Development Framework. Research is cyclical, and a librarian can help you navigate through this process. 

• Embark & Clarify 
  • Curious
  • What is our purpose?
• Find & Generate 
  • Determined
  • What do we need? 
• Evaluate & Reflect 
  • Discerning 
  • What do we trust?
• Organize & Manage 
  • Harmonizing 
  • What do we arrange? 
• Analyze & Synthesize 
  • Creative 
  • What does it mean?
• Communicate & Apply 
  • Constructive 
  • How do we relate?

The library provides access to a variety of materials, including:

• journals (in scholarly databases and some in print)
• books (both print and e-books)
• magazines & newspapers (both print and online)
• theses/dissertations (both print and online)
• government documents (both in print and online)
• music (both in print and online)
• maps (both in print and online)
• streaming video
• DVDs
• rare and special materials

The library generally does not have textbooks. Work with the subject librarians to find alternates such as Open Educational Resources. You can also direct students to the Textbook Savvy guide.

If you have previously shown a DVD in class and are now teaching online, the library can help. Contact your subject librarian for assistance or see more information for Online Access to Videos for Classes.

Multidisciplinary Databases 

• Library "Everything" search 
• Google Scholar
• EBSCO Platform / Choose Databases Option 
• World Cat

Power Searching Strategies 

• * An asterisk will pick up variant endings of a word 
• " " Quotation marks around words select words next to one another 
• Use Boolean Operators "AND" (limiting) / "OR" (expanding) / "NOT" (excluding)

Field Searching - search for words only in the title, subjects, etc. to try to limit your results to more relevant articles 

Subject Searching - start with a thesaurus and add relevant terms to search 

Citation String

• Start with a relevant article or search for one and start there 
• Which articles did that article cite? Are they relevant to your research? 
• What articles did that article cite?

Pearl Growing - do a general search, look at what words relevant articles use, see which subject terms are helpful, and revise original search incorporating new information. 

Literature reviews are something you will find yourself doing during Graduate school. It's important to learn how to identify a literature review and how to write one. The library has a comprehensive guide on literature reviews.

• Want to know the different types of literature reviews? Click here.
• Want to find literature reviews? Click here.
• Need help with your literature review search? Click here. 

Citation Managers

There are many different ways to organize your references, but the easiest way is through a citation manager. Citation managers allow us to save, organize, and share articles and references. A few of the citation managers that the library promotes are Zotero, Mendeley, and EndNote; EndNote is a subscription-based citation manager, Zotero and Mendeley are free to use. Find more general information in the Citation Managers Research Guide and find more in-depth guidance for getting started with a free citation manager in the Zotero Research Guide.

Citation Styles 

The library has created a citation styles guide for additional information on the different citation styles. Find more information in the Citation Styles Research Guide.

Ethical Use of Sources and Writing

The subject of plagiarism is complex and this guide addresses it for students and faculty in a more positive manner by empowering writers with knowledge to avoid common pitfalls. The Ethical Use of Sources and Writing Guide also contains a basic tutorial that can be assigned. Referrals to other campus entities that support learning about this topic is included.

Need to FIND A DISSERTATION OR THESES?

• Dissertations produced at UND are available full text for UND members.
• UND Scholarly Commons also has many dissertations produced at UND that are available full text for anyone.
• Dissertations NOT produced at UND are now available full text for UND members.
  • If the full text is not listed as available, complete an InterLibrary Loan request. They can ask the publisher to add the full text to the database or request it from another library.