Geoffrey A. Jones Library

Research Guidance

This small collection of links includes sites that are trusted, recommended, and used often by the TJ Library staff.

Mapping your search strategy …

The first step in any effective research process is to figure out the best way to get where you’re going. Begin by determining some search terms and then s-t-r-e-t-c-h them out by finding similar and related terms. Next, play around with how you might string them together into meaningful search strategies.

• Think synonyms, similar terms, related terms (which are NOT the same as similar terms), date ranges, proper names of important people …
• As in: short women in sports … short = small, height-challenged, not tall; women = females, girls, not men; sports = athletics, recreation, play, specific sports with well-known short female athletes (gymnastics); when were women first allowed to participate in sports professionally? On a collegiate level?; when was Title IX enacted?; Mary Lou Retton, Nadia Comăneci …

Formulate a search string and examine the results:

• (wom?n NOT tall) AND (sport? OR athletic?)

Then … TAKE. YOUR. TIME. … and refine that search using your brainstormed terminology, Boolean operators, and tools provided by the databases (date limiters, subject categories and sub-categories …)

Beginning your journey...

First Stop: TJ Library

• TJ Library Catalog – Use your search strategy to locate print and eBook resources. Find a good Dewey Decimal call number? Browse! Don’t find an entire book on your topic? Take one of those big, fat reference books off the shelf and use the index!
• TJ Databases – Refer to Library handouts that outline which databases are most useful for which topics and which strategies work best with them. Use your search string(s) to find out HOW MUCH information you may find and of WHAT VALUE. You do not need to read every article at first … you just need to assess what’s out there.
• TJ Library Website – Follow the link to our list of Educational Websites to get to other libraries and useful resources.

Second Stop: GMU Library

• At the very least, search their online catalog and take a look at the long list of databases to which they have subscriptions.
• As a citizen of Virginia, you can walk into any GMU Library and make use of their books and databases on site. IF YOU VISIT: Be so prepared that they think you're in college … they are more likely to help researchers who are already knowledgeable about their topics – even if it's knowing what they don't know!
• To check out a print resource, visit your local public library and request an inter-library loan. GMU will send the volume to your library in about a week's time.
• If you are a SENIOR, you can request a “G number” through your Senior Tech Lab Director. A G number can be converted into a user account that will allow you to access all of GMU’s subscription databases remotely.

Third Stop: Virginia Tech Library

• If you are unable to procure the full-text version of an article through the TJ or GMU databases, you have at least one more option … If Virginia Tech subscribes to the print periodical (NOTE: this does NOT mean that they subscribe to a database that includes articles from that periodical), they will provide a copy to us through the TJ Library.
• Search the VT Library catalog to determine whether or not the print periodical is on their shelves. If it is, submit a completed “InterLibrary Loan Request – Periodicals” form to a TJ librarian … be sure to indicate the teacher to which the article should be delivered when it arrives – your teacher will pass it on to you.

Fourth Stop: Fairfax County Public Library??? Library of Congress???

• Or some other fabulous resource you’ve discovered or thought of???

To report problems with access, please send a detailed message to TJLibrary@fcps.edu.