Giving students hope in their time of need

The spring semester feels like it just started, but six weeks have already passed and soon, research papers will be due. Fret not; the Fullerton College Boyce Library begins offering research workshops next week.

Each semester the FC library offers a handful of workshops on researching and citation styles.  The workshops are open to all FC students and each is less thanan hour. 

The “Research at FC Library” workshop covers everything students need to know about finding information in the FC library catalog and in the online databases available to students.  The catalog allows library patrons to search the almost 90,000 items in its collection including books, e-books, CDs, DVDs and cassettes, according to the FC Library Web site. The research workshop will be offered March 1 at 11 a.m., March 2 at 6 p.m., March 3 at noon and March 4 at 7 p.m. 

An easy place to start researching a paper seems to be the Google search box, but students may not always find the information that they are looking for easily.  In the “Internet Research” workshop, a librarian will demonstrate how to search the Web and find the information that you need quickly and easily. The “Internet Research” workshop is offered March 1 at 7 p.m., March 2 at 11 a.m., March 3 at 6 p.m. and March 4 at 11 a.m 

Once a student finds what they are looking for on the Internet determining if it is a credible source can be a challenge.  That is where the next of the Boyce Library’s workshops comes in.  The “Evaluating Websites” workshop teaches students to evaluate information they find on the Web and determine its usability in an academic paper. 

The Web site evaluation workshop is offered the second week in March. March 8 at 1 p.m., March 9 at 7 p.m., March 10 at noon and March 11 at 6 p.m. 

Finally, after gathering all of their materials from on-campus, off-campus and internet sources students begin to put that information into a cohesive paper. Don’t worry about those citations either, there is a workshop for that too.  Librarians will help students navigate the MLA format at the “Works Cited with MLA” workshop.  Students will use practice sources and get an introduction to the software NoodleBib to make citing sources even easier. The MLA workshop will be offered March 8 at 6 p.m., March 9 at 10 a.m., March 10 at 7 p.m. and March 11 at 10 a.m. 

All of the library workshops are 50 minutes and no advance sign-up is required.  For more information, visit the Boyce Library website at library.fullcoll.edu.