Library FAQ or "Where to Start"

"I have a paper for my English 1002 class - what do I do?"

There are three types of sources that most professors allow: reference books, "circulating" books, and journal articles. ("Circulating" means they "circulate" or get checked out.) Reference books are a great place to get started, since they will give you background information: where is your author from, what other things have they written, what style is your story or poem written in, and much more. Books tend to be longer, and talk about the author's life or their writing on the whole. Journal articles tend to be focused on specific characters, themes, or other parts of one story or poem. Start with reference books and books, and then journal articles.


"I have to give a speech but my professor says not to use Wikipedia. What else is there?"

If you're just getting started, why not try a reference book? Reference books are designed to help you get the background information you need - to use directly, or to use as a springboard into books and journal articles.

If you want to start by using resources found on the computer, check out "Credo Reference" under Finding E-Books. This collection of over 400 reference books is sure to have something on almost any topic, and can give you ideas for other words or phrases to use to help you find even more information.


"I need journal articles."

Journals are a type of magazine that are written and edited by experts in that subject or field. "JAMA" or the "Journal of the American Medical Association", is one of them. Not all journals will have "journal" in the title - "Explicator" is a journal that analyzes short stories and poems. Often your professor will require "peer-reviewed" or "scholarly" articles, which both mean the same thing - that those articles have been examined by experts in that field before being published.

To find journal articles, you will need to use tools called indexes and databases.


"I have to write a paper for my Nursing class and I'm lost."

Currently, there are two main nursing classes that require research papers: NURS 1000 - a career paper and NURS 2501 - a disease paper. Sources you will or might use include books, journal articles, and websites. Always check your assignment to see what is required.

You can find books in the library catalog. The best way to search for journal articles in nursing or allied health is to use "CINAHL Plus with Full Text" which is a database from EBSCO (see the Finding Journals page for more information and a link to EBSCO). For websites, your professor may give you a list of suggestions or there is a post on the Library Blog that gives other good websites and more may be added (see the Library Blog or the First Nursing post).

Also check out the Finding E-Books page for e-books, the Searching Basics page for step-by-step guides to many library tools, and the Citation Station for help with the APA style.


What's My User Name and Password or PIN?

When you're on-campus, you won't need to log-in to any of the library resources, with one exception: CALI or Computer Assisted Legal Instruction.

If you are off-campus, you will need to log-in in order to have access to articles or e-books. There are two different types of online resources at LSU Eunice, and they use slightly different log-ins.

  • Any resources that the library gets from the state group LOUIS: you will use your user name, which is your student ID number, and your library PIN which is changeme (all lower-case). LOUIS sources are mostly for indexes and databases.
  • Any resources that LSU Eunice orders directly (i.e.: ebrary, Netlibrary, Credo, Salem History/Health): you will use your user name, which is your full student email address (such as "55555@mail.lsue.edu" or just "xprof" for faculty and staff), and your password which is your LSU Eunice email password.

The easiest way to tell them apart is to count the boxes: if there are 3 boxes (ID, PIN, and School), then use your ID number and "changeme"; if there are only 2 boxes (Username and Password), then use your student email and your email password.


How to Print Multiple Slides per Page in PowerPoint

Most PowerPoint slideshows are set up to print one slide per page. This can be changed to save you paper.

  • Tell the file to print.
  • In PowerPoint 2003 or older, click on "File" and then "Print" OR
    In PowerPoint 2007, click on the 4-squares icon in the top left corner, then click on "Print".
  • A window will pop up.
  • At the bottom left side of the page, there will be a "Print what" option with a drop-down box. It starts off at "Slides" which is one per page.
  • Change that to "Handouts" and then to the right, you can choose how many per page: 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, or 9.
  • Three (3) is very popular because it will give you 3 slides on the left-hand side with lines to the right to take notes.
  • Then click "OK", and if you're in the lab, type in a name in the next little box to send your file to the lab printer.
(Linked PDF with step-by-step pictures: For 2003/XP Version or For 2007 Version.)

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