Abstract
A one-paragraph description, often written by the author(s), at the beginning of a journal article or other document. Compare with Annotation.
Annotation, Annotated Bibliography
An annotated bibliography is a list of citations to books, articles, and documents. Each citation is followed by a brief (usually about 150 words) descriptive and evaluative paragraph, the annotation. The purpose of the annotation is to inform the reader of the relevance, accuracy, and quality of the sources cited. For guidance, see How to Prepare an Annotated Bibliography.
Bibliography
A bibliography is a list of citations for books, periodical articles, articles in books, theses, and other materials. Published bibliographies on specific subjects are often found at the end of articles and entries in reference books. The presence of a bibliography is one of the signs of a work of scholarship as opposed to a popular work, for example.
Citation
Information which fully identifies a publication: a complete citation usually includes author, title, name of journal (if the citation is to an article) or publisher and place of publication (if to a book), and date. Often pages, volume numbers, and other information are included in a citation. Citations to online sources may contain URLs.
Periodical Indexes, Abstracts, and Databases
Periodical indexes are searchable databases of articles which have appeared in journals, magazines, or newspapers. They cite the author, title, name of periodical, volume, pages and date of publication. They often include abstracts--brief summaries of the content of the article--and links to the full text of the article online. Examples include MLA Bibliography, BIOSIS, and EconLit. These online database are available in the in the Databases section of the Library's web site and also through records in our Catalog. Some specialized indexes that are not online are available in the library's reference collections in print.
Reference
A department within a library where you can find librarians, reference assistants, and a collection of reference materials to help you with your research needs. Help is available in person at the reference desks, by e-mail, by phone, and on chat reference.
Reference Assistant
Reference assistants are not professional librarians, but they are trained to help you with many of your research needs. Some reference departments employ reference assistants to help answer reference questions and provide general information about the library.
Reference Collection
A selection of online, CD-ROM, and printed library materials used by reference librarians and reference assistants to help people find information or to do research. Reference collections contain many sources of information, such as encyclopedias, dictionaries, almanacs, directories, or statistical compilations. They may also have bibliographies, indexes, and abstracts. Printed reference materials usually do not leave the library. Online reference materials are available in the Library web site.
Reference Librarian
Reference librarians are specialists in the field of information retrieval. Generally they have a Masters degree in library and information science, and many have other graduate degrees as well. They are available at reference desks, via e-mail, chat, and on the phone to help you find the information you are looking for.
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