Research Assistant--for Research Assistance and Help

Research Assistant
Shortcuts:

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IHCC Library Web Site

IHCC Research QuickStart

AskALibrarian@
inverhills.edu

Library@inverhills.edu

IHCC Writing Center

IHCC WC's "Quick Question"

Increase your information skills with Search Path tutorial.

Proper Manuscript Typing

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Search Engine

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Minneapolis Public Library:
Ask a Research Question

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OnlineGrammar.org

Research & Bibliography

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CollegeWriting.info

How To Research

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NoodleTools
IHCC Bibliography Maker

New 2nd-Time Direct

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Citation

Machine

Free Bibliography Maker

Direct

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Database Citation Systems (good only when finding sources in the database): see right-hand column or click below.

EbscoHost Databases
Citation System

ProQuest Citation System

CQ Researcher
Citation System

English & Reading Departments

RESEARCH ASSISTANT

Welcome to the English and Reading Depts.' Research Assistant. It will help you with research. See the links on the left. To instantly use the simple bibliography maker Citation Machine, see the right column. To sign up free for the more sophisticated bibliography maker NoodleTools, see below. Other IHCC-sponsored database bibliography makers also are listed in the right column. For general research help at IHCC, the Inver Hills College Library has an excellent set of helpful pages, including online methods of accessing books at the College Library, libraries throughout the state and nation, and a number of local, regional, and national databases--all free to IHCC students. For the College Library Web site, go to IHCC Library.

BIBLIOGRAPHY MAKERS

There are two online Web sites you can use easily to generate proper citations (bibliography entries) for a bibliography in your research paper. The first--in the right column--is easier but less reliable: Citation Machine. The second, more reliable but slower to use, is below: NoodleTools. Which should you choose? Citation Machine is good for just a few simple entries. However, for fully accurate, longer, or more complex entries, NoodleTools is better.

NoodleTools

Bibliography Maker

Direct

A subscription now exists, available to all of IHCC, to NoodleTools, a Web tool for making MLA, APA, or other types of bibliographies. Once you have signed up individually (it's free to all IHCC people), all you have to do is enter the parts of a bibliography entry (i.e., the author's name, the title, the publisher, etc.). Then NoodleTools will properly order and punctuate the result for you, creating a bibliography entry you can copy and paste into your own research paper.

Please note: you may use this tool only if you are a current or former student or employee of Inver Hills College. If you are, you must get the initial password from a teacher or by email from English Department member Richard Jewell. Send your IHCC student ID (or dates of attendance) if you are not a student of his. Then use the following instructions.

Instructions for New Users (Print these instructions or create a second browser window.)

Go to IHCC NoodleTools Login (http://www.noodletools.com/
login.php?group=2940&code=2105). (If you have your own computer, you may want to bookmark this site.)
You'll see the "Inver Hills Community College Personal Folder Login." If you are a new user, do not try to write a personal login and password. Instead, go to the bottom of the box and click on "New User? Create a new folder."
Next, you'll see the "New user registration" page. You will then see that the "School/Library Username" is Inver Hills and that the "School/Library Password" is blank. You must get this "Password" from a teacher or from English Dept. member Richard Jewell directly. No one is allowed to place this password on the Web.
Once you have the password, type it into the "Password" blank field. Then click on the small "login" box.
Next, simply fill out the new-registration page, providing your own secret username and identity for logging in in the future. (Be sure to write down your new Username and Password somewhere!)
You may then try out NoodleTools instantly by logging in. To write a bibliography, most people choose "Advanced MLA," as that is what almost all English students use. (However, if you need to use APA or other styles, you may choose one of them.)

NoodleTools: Instructions for 2nd-time (Returning) Users

Go to http://www.noodletools.com/login.php?group=
2940&code=2105. (If you have your own computer, you may want to bookmark this site.)
You'll come to the "Inver Hills Community College Personal Folder Login." Simply type in your own secret Username and Password (not the initial college password that you received from a teacher). Then use NoodleTools. If you have forgotten your old Username and Password, you may use the system NoodleTools provides for remembering it, or you may invent a new Username and Password--by starting over with the instructions above for "New Users." (Be sure to write down your new Username and Password somewhere!)
You may then try out NoodleTools instantly by logging in. To write a bibliography, most people choose "Advanced MLA," as that is what almost all English students use. (However, if you need to use APA or other styles, you may choose one of them.)

WARNING: Click here for serious problem in saving MS Word 2007 files.

Citation

Machine

Bibliography Maker Direct

If you would like to use Citation Machine, simply go to http://citationmachine.net and start. If you would like to use NoodleTools, see the middle column of this page.

Click here for "Typing with MS Word

IHCC-
Accessible Databases

If you are using the library databases EbscoHost, ProQuest, or CQ Researcher, you may save your sources in any one of several different citation systems (MLA, APA, et al.). To access them on campus, go to the IHCC Library's Web site. To access them off campus or on non-Library Web pages, use the following off-campus links:

EbscoHost Databases:

Find your source. Then, on the screen that displays the full-text article or article citation, click on the Save icon. On the next screen you have the choice to save the "Citation format" in one of 6 citation styles, (MLA is included). You can print out or save the citation to disk.

ProQuest:

Find your source. Then, on either the Results List or article citation screen, click on the checkbox next to "Mark Document." Then click on the "My Research" folder (on the green tab near the top of the screen). Then "Create your bibliography," and choose your citation style (MLA is included). Click on the buttons at bottom of screen to email, print or save the citation.

CQ Researcher:

Find your source. Then, from the Full Report, click on the "CiteNow!" button (below the grey navigation bar at the top of the report). You can then choose the citation style, and click on "Save the style to the document" to add the formatted citation to the text of the report.