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UN 195 - Special Topics: Improve/College Experience
Ms. Lynn Walden

The Basics: Systematically Search the Internet & Locating Career Information

Prof. Mike Strahan, Olson Library (227-2463)

Olson Library "Ask A Librarian" reference assistance including interactive chat (227-2294) or
(info@nmu.edu)

Library Map

Library Catalog contains records for books, journal titles, government documents, etc., in a variety of formats (including online) held by NMU, LSSU, Finlandia U., and GCC libraries.  (Note:  Does not contain articles which appear in journals--see Searching/Locating Article Records below.)

Searching the catalog for career information

When searching the Library Catalog for books, etc on career information:

search under the term vocational guidance and your profession/career

Examples:
vocational guidance social work
vocational guidance nursing

Key Sources
The following sources contain brief information on a wide variety of careers/occupations.

Career myths and how to debunk them. (Published in Occupational Outlook Quarterly, fall 2005.)

Encyclopedia of Careers and Vocational Guidance - Ref. HF 5381 .E52
Occupational Outlook Handbook - Ref. HD 8051 .A62 (also available online)
Occupational Outlook Quarterly - Per. HF 5382.5 .U5 O3 (also available online)
Career Guide to Industries - Ref. HD 8051 .A64 (also available online)
Specialty Occupational Outlook, Trade & Technical - Ref. HF 5382.5 .U5 S594
Specialty Occupational Outlook, Professions - Ref. HF 5382.5 .U5 S595
Jobs Rated Almanac - Ref. HF 5382.5 .U5 K72 2002
O*NET Formerly the Dictionary of Occupational Titles, this online resource is touted as the nation's primary resource of occupation information.

Reliable web sites
Michigan Occupational Reports for Exploration
New and Emerging Occupations
America's Career InfoNet

Style Guide (citing your sources) - Guidelines differ depending on format
MLA Style Reference Formats Guide

How to Reference the online version of Occupational Outlook Handbook
Note: the publication date appears on the bottom of the HTML page, but not the PDF, and is the same for all entries in the 2008-09 OOH:

"Respiratory Therapists." Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2008-09 Edition. 18 December 2007.

United States. Dept. of Labor. Bureau of Labor Statistics. 21 February 2008

< http://stats.bls.gov/oco/pdf/ocos084.pdf >.

Journal and Magazine Articles - All subjects

The terminology for locating career information varies from database to database.

Use the database Subject Guide and search for the subheading/subdivision: Vocational Guidance

However, also consider searching by combining your profession/career with the following terms (recommend you copy & paste into a separate search box):

Profession or Career* or Occupation* or Vocation*
name of your profession or career

General OneFile
Index to articles in over 9,000 general and scholarly periodicals. Contains full-text articles from over 5,000 magazine and journal titles as well as newspapers from the Knight-Ridder/Tribune News Services. Full text coverage varies widely from title to title.

Begin with the NMU home page to search for campus parking maps & activities.

Evaluating Internet Information - Provided by Olson Library


Know your domain .edu .org .gov .mil .com .net
"Interesting Web Sites" Dihydrogen Monoxide - Research Division   

IDchip.com    vs.    IDchips.com

Learn about search engines

NMU Art & Design - To better understand search engines, view the Source

How Search Engines Work - Written by Danny Sullivan, authority on search engines, and owner of searchenginewatch.com web site.

Search Engine Showdown - Features Chart - Written by Greg Notess, Reference Librarian, authority on search engines, and owner of Search Engine Showdown web site. Also check his News page for latest on search engines.
Internet Archives Internet Archive - Extensive collection of archival visual resources. Check out the Wayback Machine.
Search Engines -
Single Search Engine, Crawler/Spider-based type

Google - Strongly recommend using Advanced Search. Consider using Images search to locate statistical tables, graphs, etc.

Google Images Advanced Search - Consider using Images search to locate pictures, statistical tables, graphs, etc .

Google Scholar Advanced Search - Scholarly materials including articles, books, technical reports, and conference papers. Limit search to subject area(s), and also consider the "Citator" feature. In results list, note "Cited by" and NMU-specific links.


USA.gov - Searches U.S. Federal & State Government web sites.
Search Engines -
Meta-search type

Dogpile Advanced Web Search - Provides results from Google, Yahoo, msn, and Ask.

Metacrawler Advanced Search - The first metasearch engine, and still one of the best.  Provides top results from 14+ search engines including Google. Default results display grouped by search engine.

c|net Search.com (1000 search engines) - Advanced mode available, along with Research by Topic -- search by 200 specialty topics.

Search Engines - Evaluative/Human-Powered Type Librarian's Internet Index - Maintained by California librarians. Weekly updates available via e-mail.

INFOMINE Scholarly Internet Resources Collection - Recommend using Advance Search mode, and select Resource Access - Free.

Professional Discussion
Groups
(not chat rooms) 		CataList - Locate list of discussion groups, and subscribe to same.

e-books:  EBSCO eBook Collection (general & scholarly)  Books24x7 (illustrated computer books)
Yourdictionary.com - Over 800 Online Language & Specialty Dictionaries


Interlibrary Loan - General Information
Allow minimum of 7-10 days (2-3 weeks during February & October) to receive materials. May take up to 30 days for obscure titles.




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For exceptions and full year hours