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The University of Massachusetts Amherst
Libraries Ask Us

Sustainability

Growing healthier communities based on sustainable energy use, agricultural production, building design, economic development and more.

Mind mapping tools

Organize your thoughts...

Refereed/Peer Reviews Journals

Journal vs. Magazine - What's the difference?

Plagiarism Quiz

Take this 5-minute quiz.

Plagiarism is misrepresenting somebody else's intellectual work - ideas, information, writing, thinking - as your own. In other words, it is a misuse of source material. Plagiarism is a serious violation of the UMass Amherst Academic Honesty Policy.

Source Evaluation Quiz

Take this five-minute quiz.

The RADAR Challenge is an online game developed by the librarians at Loyola Marymount University. You can play in teams during a class or library session. RADAR stands for Rationale, Accuracy, Date, Authority, Relevance.

Subject vs. keyword searching

When searching in a library database...

SUBJECT SEARCHING searches specific, standardized subject headings assigned to materials. A subject search limits your search to an exact word or an exact combination of words.

Advantage: Subject searching retrieves exactly what you ask for.
Disadvantage: Subject searching limits you to only what you ask for.

 KEYWORD SEARCHING retrieves any and all occurrences of a word or combination of words, whether the words appear in the subject headings, title, or description of the item.

Advantage: Keyword searching expands the search to all occurrences of a word or combination of words.
Disadvantage: Keyword searching may retrieve much more than you want.

Refined Google-ing

Type phrases in quotes.

Use the Advanced Search option to limit by date, language, domain, etc.

Use Google Scholar to retreive more academic sources.

Configure Google Scholar to import references into RefWorks (for citation management):
1. Select Scholar Preferences Link from the selections next to the Search Window.
2. Near the Bottom of the Screen click the radio button next to "Show links to import citations into" and choose "Refworks" from the drop-down menu.
3. Click "Save Preferences."

 

 

Preventing Plagiarism

The Turnitin Plagiarism Prevention System compares your paper to:

  • Proprietary and subscription databases
  • The Internet
  • Student papers submitted from other Turn It In institutions
  • Student papers previously submitted at UMass Amherst

Video tutorials

Pick from this series of short library videos to learn more about the research process.