TSL 4240: Library Resources

Welcome to Library Resources to support your assignments in TSL4240: Issues in Second Language Acquisition!  Everything you need to support your library research for this class is available to you through UCF Libraries.  These resources include 325 databases, 24,000 online journals and more than 590,000 online eBooks.  Don't worrry, you won't need all of them for this class!

We'll start with becoming familiar with searching the library catlog which does not require a log-in to search.  Because use of eBooks and database journal articles is restricted to currently enrolled students, access to these e-resources requires authentication. This is explained a bit further down.  So let's get started!

The UCF Libraries homepage is the starting point to find print books, full-text online eBooks, and journal articles.  Let's start with looking for a print book.  From the Quick Search box in the middle of the page, select "Books/Catalog", it's the third tab.  An option to select "Advanced Search" now appears within that same black box.  Select "Advanced Search" and scroll further down for more...

After selecting "Advanced Search" how might you build a search that will show all of the library's print books on TESOL?  To begin exploring, let's use TESOL as a Keyword search.  Also, let's limit the "Format" selection to "Book", as shown in the illustration below.  The search results will automatically rank the order by "Relevance" but that can be changed.  If you would like the most recent books to appear first, select "Date Newest" instead of "Relevance" in that drop down box.  Searches can be further refined by adding additional search terms and limiting the publication date range so within the past five years.  Clicking the book title will provide additional information on the book.  Once you have found titles you're interested in, just make a note of the exact title of the book and the Call Number will allow you to easily locate books at the library.

Since this is a fully-online class, you may prefer to use online library resources to access full-text eBooks through the cataglog, and databases for research articles from academic journals.  We'll focus on how to locate those under the next tab!