The UCI Libraries' Research Consultation Service
Helping novice and experienced researchers identify pertinent databases, search terms, and search strategies is one of the services the UCI Librarians delight in providing. At our Libraries we have developed a flexible Research Consultation Service which is primarily used by undergraduates who are beginning to learn research skills and how to navigate through the vast amount of information available to them from the UC Libraries.
"The appointment was so useful! My librarian...helped me understand/use a variety of different search engines for finding resources. He ended up directing me to a ton of useful books and e-mailing me online articles that would help me with my paper. Absolutely great!"
"I am very pleased with the Research Consultation Service NOW, because I was able to receive help in searching for credible articles through the library's databases with the librarian... I would recommend this service to my other fellow classmates who may need help in searching for credible sources since this service is made available for free and there are no down sides in taking this opportunity."
During a research consultation a librarian works one-on-one with a student, helping to identify useful resources and effective search strategies to retrieve relevant journal articles, statistics, and other resources. Working individually with a librarian, students can save valuable time by quickly discovering how much (or how little) has been written about a topic, how to determine if a journal article is scholarly, if a website is credible, and how to locate alternative positions or viewpoints.
With our Research Consultation Service form, students can quickly see what times a librarian is available at either the Ayala Science Library or the Langson Library to work one-on-one with them for approximately 30 minutes. If the available times do not match the student's schedule, he or she can submit a request to set up an appointment at a different time in the following couple of days.
Some of the topics we have provided research help with include:
- Corruption and extortion in the Mexican Drug War in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon
- The effects of overusing antimicrobial products in the home
- 17th century dentistry
Please encourage your students to make use of our Research Consultation Services. Consider recommending this service to your students to help them find relevant facts, secondary sources, and primary sources. Students taking advantage of working with a librarian can save time by quickly learning the ins-and-outs of a variety of databases and can retrieve a large array of research and data upon which to base their own hypotheses.
For more information, please contact Cynthia A. Johnson, Head of Reference and Acting Head of Grunigen Medical Library (x40081 or cynthiaj@uci.edu).