Metropolitan College of New York


 
mcny library

Need help with your literature research? Here are the answers to some Frequently Asked Questions.

How do I?

  1. BORROW MATERIALS
  2. FIND A BOOK
  3. FIND OUT WHAT BOOKS I HAVE CHARGED OUT AND WHEN THEY ARE DUE, TO RENEW BOOKS OR TO CHANGE MY PIN
  4. FIND ARTICLES AND SAVE YOUR RESULTS
    1. EBSCOHost
    2. WilsonWeb
  5. FIND INFORMATION ON THE WEB
  6. FIND RESERVE MATERIALS
  7. VIEW THE PURPOSE HANDBOOKS
  8. START RESEARCH ON A TOPIC
  9. LEARN HOW TO CITE REFERENCES WITH APA OR MLA STYLE
  1. TO BORROW MATERIALS, REGISTER WITH THE LIBRARIES.
    1. Go to Student Services.
      • get your MCNY ID card, or
      • get this semester’s sticker if you already have an ID card
    2. Come to one of the Libraries with your ID card.
    3. Fill out a form with your name, address, etc.
    4. The Library staff will input your information.
    5. You will have your barcode registered as your user ID and you will be issued a 4-digit PIN.
    You are now ready to borrow materials.


  2. TO FIND A BOOK, USE THE ONLINE CATALOG.
    1. Go to Metropolitan College of New York website at www.metropolitan.edu
    2. Click on:
      • Library
      • Find Books, Articles and Databases
      • Search the Library Catalog Online
    3. Type the title into the text space and click on TITLE to search.
    4. If you do not know the title, type in the author's name, Lastname, Firstname and click on AUTHOR to search.
    5. If there is one result, you will need to note the call number and location.
    6. If there is more than one result, first click VIEW (to the left of the entry). Then note the call number and location.
    7. If the location is STACKS, the book may be found in the circulating collection and may be charged out for 4 weeks.
    8. If the location is RESERVE, take the call number information to the Circulation Desk at the Manhattan Library. A staff member will retrieve the book for you. At the Extension Center Libraries, please consult the staff member on duty. Reserve books may be charged out for 2 hours and must be used in the Libraries.


  3. TO FIND OUT WHAT BOOKS I HAVE CHARGED OUT AND WHEN THEY ARE DUE, TO RENEW BOOKS, OR TO CHANGE MY PIN (YOU WILL NEED TO KNOW YOUR BARCODE AND PIN).
    1. Click on the User Services button in the online catalog, or
    2. Go to www.metropolitan.edu and click on Library.
    3. On the left hand menu bar, click on Your User Record.
    4. Click on Display Your User Record.
    5. Choose and click on User Status Inquiry (for charged out materials with due dates), User PIN Change or Renew Material.
    6. Enter your barcode and PIN and follow the directions.

  4. TO FIND ARTICLES AND SAVE YOUR RESULTS, USE THE LIBRARY DATABASES.
    • On the campuses, click the icon Library Databases on the desktop in the Libraries and the Learning Centers, or
    • To access them remotely from your home or office, you must have your barcode and PIN. You must update your library record each semester for continued access.
      1. Go to Metropolitan College of New York website at www.metropolitan.edu
      2. Click on:
        • Library
        • Find Books, Articles and Databases
        • Use the Library’s Databases
      3. Enter your barcode and PIN as directed. A list of databases will appear. Click on the database your are interested in using.
      4. For information about a database, click on
      5. For help with a database, click on
      6. If you need further help, please consult a Reference Librarian.

      Two commonly used databases:

      a. EBSCOHost consists of 18 databases. The one you will most likely need is Academic Search Premiere, which is checked.

      1. Click on EBSCOHost.
      2. Click on Continue.
      3. Enter your search terms. For example, to search for articles about educational technology, you may search using And, Or, or Not:
        • And - combines search terms so that each search result contains all of the terms. For example, education and technology finds articles that contain both terms.
        • Or - combines search terms so that each search result contains at least one of the terms. For example, education or technology finds results that contain either term.
        • Not - excludes terms so that each search result does not contain any of the terms that follow it. For example, education not technology finds results that contain the term education but not the term technology.
      4. You may want to retrieve only Full Text articles. Full text articles contain the complete text of the original source. Check the Full Text box in the Refine Search window. Click Search.
      5. You may want to retrieve only Peer Reviewed articles. Peer-reviewed journals are publications that include only those articles that have been reviewed and/or qualified by a selected panel of acknowledged experts in the field of study covered by the journal. Check the Peer Reviewed box in the Refine Search window. Click Search.
      6. The resulting list of titles will be sorted by publication date. At the end of each entry, a file type is indicated:
        • HTML Full Text: the article is displayed formatted and is ready for printing.
        • PDF Full Text: the article opens in the Adobe Acrobat Reader. To print the article, use the print capability available from the Reader.
      7. The results may be printed, emailed, saved to a disk, or saved to a folder so that all of your chosen articles can be printed, saved or emailed at one time by clicking these options at the top of your results page.
      8. To save your results to a folder:
        • Click on Ebsco link.
        • Select databases to search and click on Continue.
        • Before typing a search, click Folder is empty.
        • Ebsco will ask user to Sign-in to EbscoHost.
        • Click on this. If the user has a UserName & PAssword, they can sign-in;
        • if new, they can register
        • Previous folder info if any will be displayed.
        • Users can then save individual items to My folder and retrieve them at a later session.

      b. WilsonWeb includes 11 databases with full-text articles.

      1. Click on WilsonWeb.
      2. OmniFile Full text Mega should be already checked.
      3. Enter your search terms. See the examples of Natural Language and Boolean searching on the search page.
      4. To request only Full Text or Peer Reviewed articles (see explanation above in Steps 4 & 5 in EBSCOHost), click on the Advanced Search button on the left menu bar.
      5. The resulting list of titles will be sorted by relevance (how closely the articles match your search). The icons to the left of the title offer different formats for the articles:
        • HTML Full Text: the article is displayed formatted and is ready for printing.
        • PDF Full Text: the article opens in the Adobe Acrobat Reader. To print the article, use the print capability available from the Reader.
      6. The results may be printed, emailed, saved to a disk, or saved to a Search History so that all of your chosen articles can be printed, saved or emailed at one time by clicking these options at the top of your results page.
      7. To save your results to a Search History:
        • Click on Search History before starting a search in WilsonWeb.
        • Create an ID [type 5-15 characters] in the box labeled Enter ID.
        • After executing a successful search on WilsonWeb, click again on Search History.
        • Place a checkmark next to the search to be saved.
        • The next time you sign on, click on Search History, sign in with your ID and a list of saved searches will be displayed.
    1. TO FIND INFORMATION ON THE WEB USING GOOGLE.
      1. Open a web browser.
      2. Type www.google.com in the address field.
      3. Type in your search term(s):
        • If a common word is essential to getting the results you want, you can include it by putting a "+" sign in front of it. (Be sure to include a space before the "+" sign.)
          • Educational +technology
          • Educational +technology +peer review (or +white paper, +tutorial, +pdf)
        • Another method for doing this is conducting a phrase search, which simply means putting quotation marks around two or more words. Common words in a phrase are included in the search.
          • e.g. “Educational technology”
      4. The resulting list of web links will be sorted by relevance (how closely the links match your search).
      5. To save your search results:
      6. For additional help, choose Advanced Search Help on the Google screen or consult a Reference Librarian.

    2. TO FIND RESERVE MATERIALS (BOOKS, ARTICLES), USE THE ONLINE CATALOG OR SEE RESERVE READINGS LISTS IN THE MAIN LIBRARY.
      1. If you know the title of the book or article, you may type it into the text space in the online catalog and click on TITLE. (See steps 1-4 in FAQ#2). The location will be designated RESERVE.
      2. You may also look for the title in the Reserve Book Lists.
      3. Take the call number information to the staff at the Circulation Desk at the Manhattan Library or to the Staff Member at the sites. They will retrieve the book for you.
      4. Reserve books may be charged out for 2 hours and must be used in the Libraries.

    3. TO VIEW THE PURPOSE HANDBOOKS, USE THE ICON ON THE DESKTOP OR THE LIBRARY WEBPAGE.
      1. The Purpose Handbooks are updated each semester and are posted to the desktops in the Libraries and Learning Centers and to the MCNY website.
      2. At the Libraries, click on the Purpose Handbooks icon.
      3. To view the handbooks from your home or office:
        • Go to Metropolitan College of New York website at www.metropolitan.edu
        • Click on Library
        • Click on Login under the Purpose Handbooks on the right side.
        • Enter your barcode and PIN as directed.
        • Click on Purpose Handbooks at the top of the Online Resources page, or just scroll down past the database list.
    4. TO START RESEARCH ON A TOPIC, SEE USEFUL WEBSITES AND RESOURCES ON THE LIBRARY WEBPAGE.
      • Go to the Metropolitan College of New York website at www.metropolitan.edu
      • Click on Library.
      • Click on Useful Websites and Resources.
      • Click on Writing Guides on the left hand menu bar.
      • Choose the Thomson, Duke or Purdue sites. They are all guides to writing research papers.
      • To find resources pertaining to your major, click on Online Research Guides on the left hand menu bar.

    1. TO LEARN HOW TO CITE REFERENCES WITH APA OR MLA STYLE, SEE WEBSITES ON THE LIBRARY’S WEBSITE.
      • Go to the Go to Metropolitan College of New York website at www.metropolitan.edu
      • Click on Library.
      • Click on Useful Websites and Resources.
      • There are several websites listed under Citing Resources for Research Papers.
      • There are also paper copies of citation manuals in the Libraries. Ask for them at the Reference Desk:
      • APA:Publication manual of the American Psychological Association.
      • MLA: MLA handbook for writers of research papers.

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