DRGN 1000: Red Dragon Seminar (Montoya)

Welcome to the Course Guide for DRGN 1000: Red Dragon Seminar with Professor Montoya. Below you will find a selection of information and resources that will be helpful when completing assignments for this course. 

A helpful hint to remember is that research is exploratory process. Good research means that you will be searching different resources (databases, online, catalog, etc.) and you will search each one multiple times with different keyword combinations. 

Conducting research can be difficult when you are unfamiliar with the terms being used to describe certain types of items. If your instructor asks you to use a periodical, would you know what they meant? If you had to locate the call number in an item’s record, could you? It is important to familiarize yourself with what particular library words mean. 

Refer back to some of the handouts received in class. The Definitions handout and Types of Periodicals chart will be particularly useful to keep. 

When you begin a research project, it is a good idea to take a moment to reflect on your prior knowledge of the topic area. How much do you already know about this topic? How confident are you in moving forward with this topic? In most cases, you will need to do a bit of research to get some general information on your topic. 

A great way to gather background information is through searching reference materials. Reference materials such as Encyclopedias and Dictionaries are arranged alphabetically and contain a general overview of a term or subject matter. The library has access to encyclopedias and dictionaries in print and online through particular databases. Two great general reference databases are located below.