Reference Help Available Today:
Whether you are doing scholarly research for a class, or just finding out about a topic because of personal interest, it's important to think about whether the sources you find are reliable and factual. The two videos below, "Sort Fact from Fiction Online with Lateral Reading" from Stanford University, and "Lateral Reading" from the University of Louisville, talk about one useful method for evaluating sources, especially websites.
The basic idea behind lateral reading is that you can do some quick searching (using Google or another search engine) to find out information about the organization that created the website, the people who are part of that organization, and what their other connections might be. If the website includes information that itself provides further links or references, you can also search for information about those additional sites or citations. All of that will help you determine what undisclosed agendas or biases might influence what the website and organization are presenting as fact.
There is a great Misinformation Lexicon at the University of Louisville libraries website. Wikipedia can also be a good place to search for basic information on organizations and sometimes people (usually only fairly well-known or public figures, though).
OCU's guide to APA style with a number of useful links and other information.
This is a great resource for explanations, tutorials, and other help using APA format.
The library also has a physical copy of the APA style guide in the Permanent Reserves; ask at the Circulation desk:
Concise Guide to APA Style by
Concise Guide to APA Style, Seventh Edition is the official APA Style resource for students. Designed specifically for undergraduate writing, this easy-to-use pocket guide is adapted from the seventh edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. It provides complete guidance for new writers on effective, clear, and inclusive scholarly communication and the essentials of formatting papers and other course assignments.
Online citation generator; last updated in 2018, but no ads.
Online citation generator; lots of ads unless you upgrade.
ZoteroBib is strictly an online citation generator. The full Zotero (https://www.zotero.org/) is a downloadable tool that enables you to collect, reuse, and share bibliographic information.
Request a Journal Article
If ... it isn't available full text online or in the library's journals list.
search and click on "Request through ILL (arrives in 3 days to 3 weeks)"
fill in article title and author, journal title, date, volume, issue, and page numbers plus your contact information
Request a Book
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Please read: Warning concerning copyright restrictions.
The copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) governs the making of photocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted materials. Under certain conditions specified in the law, libraries and archives are authorized to furnish a photocopy or other reproduction. One of these specified conditions is that the photocopy or reproduction is not to be "used for any purpose other than private study, scholarship, or research." If a user makes a request for, or later uses, a photocopy or reproduction for purposes in excess of "fair use," that user may be liable for copyright infringement.
A thesis is a document written by a graduate student as part of the master's degree process. Theses are generally kept in the library of the university where the student earned his or her degree.
A dissertation is generally a book-length research study completed by a graduate student completing a doctoral degree.
You may search for theses and dissertations written at OCU through the Thesis Search box on this page.
OCU has copies of (almost) all theses written by graduates of our school. If you want a copy of a thesis from another school, you will need to request it through Interlibrary Loan (ILL) and we will do our best to obtain it for you.
