Ipl question 1 1/21/2010 Ready Reference Question

from:

confirm:

location: Accra -Ghana

area: Science

reason: assignment

school: Yes

sources_consulted: internet

Response:

Greetings from the IPL2! Thanks for your question about active transport. I was happy to research this question because I loved learning about cellular transportation in my biology classes. You didn’t list the sources you already consulted on the internet, so I tried to find a few authoritative and straightforward sources that will help answer your question.

The first source I found, titled “Transport in and out of cells,” comes from the website of the Estrella Mountain Community College. It includes a Table of Contents at the top, where you’ll find several of the subjects you inquired about: Active and Passive Transport, Carrier Assisted Transport, and Vesicle-mediated Transport (vesicular transport). You can find the site at the link below.

version for your convenience.

Further down the document, you’ll find a list of Terms, which includes another one of the terms you asked about—diffusion. You can find that definition below, and please feel free to browse the entire glossary for other terms that may be related to active transport:

This link is quite long and could break, so here is a shortened

version for your convenience.
http://tinyurl.com/y97xqn7

The second resource is a website called Biology-Online.org, which includes an entry for the other term you asked about, filtration. I have included the link to this term below, but the site includes definitions for your other terms of interest as well—just enter those terms in the search bar.

I will include the general link for Active Transport as well, since it may give you a clearer picture of the concept as well as some related terms:

I found the first source by searching Google:

to contact us again if you need more information, and thanks again for using the IPL2!

Amount of Time Spent on Question: 1 hour 20 minutes

Sources consulted and strategies used (beyond the one used for the answer): At first I consulted the IPL2’s resources by subject and browsed the Resources by Subject, Science & Technology section. I tried a few of the resources (such as Scholarpedia) but didn’t find anything helpful, but I did finally choose to go with Biology-Online.org as a reliable source (described in my answer above). I tried a variety of search statements via Google before settling on the one described in my answer above. Finally, I checked Wikipedia to see if I could find more sources, but the entries for passive transport (and related terms like filtration) didn’t include any citations.

Critique of question (including level of satisfaction with the answer I provided): Since the patron didn’t provide his age but did say it’s for school, I made sure to choose easy to understand sources (the first even had helpful animations and pictures). Although the question wasn’t stated in the form of a complete sentence, I think I answered the patron’s inquiry and provided useful, authoritative sources.

Anything I would do differently in the future: It would have helped if I knew about more general websites that offer reliable encyclopedia-like entries on scientific concepts. I had an idea in my head of the type of source I wanted to find (a Wikipedia entry with sources cited would have been a good start!) but I had to compromise. I found many PDF files that looked helpful and had .edu URLs, but because these didn’t cite sources, I neglected to include them. Other than becoming more familiar with a variety of free reference sources in the sciences, I think I answered this question adequately and in a helpful, encouraging manner.

Needed by: 2/11/2010

Question:

NJ colleges that offers a doctorate degree in child psychology?

And is this affordable or what is the requirements to get a

scholarship

name:

from:

confirm:

location: NJ

area: Psychology

reason: in career portifolio for english class

school: Yes

[My initial thoughts (not included in response to patron): The patron does not say if he has found any results, so my response may include schools he has already considered. I will try to find sources that offer detailed information on which schools in NJ offer this degree, and then search for both internal and external scholarship opportunities.]

Response:

Greetings from the IPL2! Thanks for your question about colleges in New Jersey that offer a doctorate degree in child psychology. I was glad to research this question because I went to college in New Jersey and am curious about what colleges in the area offer the program you’re searching for. I found a few helpful websites on schools that offer graduate programs in psychology; however, none specifically for child psychology. I hope the school I link to below is helpful in your search, and I’m including a few recommendations on sources for scholarships below.

The first source comes from Psychology.org:

The page includes a helpful list of accredited doctorate programs, so I chose two from that list to narrow down our search. One is available here:

This link is quite long and could break, so here is a shortened

version for your convenience.
http://tinyurl.com/ykr2crx

Berkeley’s page offers an option to search by state on the left-hand side, so I clicked on States K-N:

The list for New Jersey includes many M.A. programs, but also links to a few PsyD programs—specifically at Fairleigh Dickinson University and Rutgers University. I followed the link for Rutgers, but the website says no Ph.D. information is available. The link to Fairleigh Dickinson’s graduate programs is located here:

Some information about financial aid and scholarships for FDU can be found here:

Although I found many other helpful links on the Psychology.org homepage, I was unable to find other schools in New Jersey that offer Ph.D. programs in psychology, let alone child psychology specifically (even FDU doesn’t offer that exact program, but I recommend contacting the university to speak to them about their offerings).

I also recommend checking with your school’s guidance counselor about other scholarship opportunities. While the universities in New Jersey may offer a limited number (if any) scholarships for this type of degree, I encourage you to search for private scholarships and a guidance counselor would be able to offer more details on the availability of local scholarships.
I found the first two sources by searching Google:
http://www.google.com
I entered the following in the search bar: accredited doctorate programs child psychology. This led me to the Psychology.org page, where I continued my search by browsing through the links provided on the site I linked to above. I consider Psychology.org a trustworthy source based on its APA accreditation.
I found financial aid information from FDU by searching Google for Fairleigh Dickinson University and graduate scholarships. This is a reliable source for information because it comes from the university itself.
I hope you find these links helpful for your search. Good luck, and please don't hesitate

to contact us again if you need more information. Thanks again for using the IPL2!

Amount of Time Spent on Question: 1 hour 25 minutes

Sources consulted and strategies used (beyond the one used for the answer): I tried a Google search for “doctorate programs in ‘child psychology’ and ‘New Jersey’” and found a site called Education-Portal.com. The site seemed trustworthy (containing an ALA logo at the bottom and a status as an Accredited Business by the BBB), but the schools that this website suggested didn’t have what I was looking for. I also checked out several other links from Psychology.org, such as http://www.socialpsychology.org/ranking.htm, but the other New Jersey schools only had M.A. programs.

Critique of question (including level of satisfaction with the answer I provided): This was a seemingly easy question that proved to be much harder to answer than I thought. I found many schools in New Jersey that offer M.A. programs in psychology, a few Ph.D. programs, but none specifically in child psychology. I am confident that my search strategy returned several reliable sources, but none of these pointed to specific child psychology doctorate degrees in New Jersey colleges. Aside from copying and pasting the scholarship specifics for the school I found to be helpful for the patron (FDU), I was unsure of whether I should include more sources. Overall, I am happy with the answer I provided but probably just as frustrated as the patron to learn that there aren’t more programs available for him and his geographic location.

Anything I would do differently in the future: In the future, I may try other websites that are either general sources of information on graduate programs in colleges by state, or perhaps websites from the APA as that organization would be a trustworthy source of information. However, I am happy with the sites I found and think they answered the patron’s question without adding too much extra information that wouldn’t be useful in this case.

Needed by: no need by

Question:

What is a midlife crisis? Does it have a formal definition? Is

there enough information on this topic to write a definitional

argument paper for a Composition 2 class?

name:

from:

confirm:

location: Rhode Island

area: Education

reason: I teach English classes, and my students asked me these

questions, as part of choosing a topic for a writing assignment

school: Yes

sources_consulted: wikipedia

[My initial thoughts (not included in response to patron): The patron indicated that she already consulted Wikipedia, which might be a good starting point but I wonder if she checked any of the references on that page. I chose to begin at the IPL’s resources by subject and wanted to look for an official source, perhaps something by the APA.]

Response:

Greetings from the IPL2! Thanks for your question about the definition of a midlife crisis. I was curious about the answer myself, so I enjoyed searching for an answer. Below are a few links to websites that may help answer your question, and from the wealth of sources I found, I would say there is enough information to write a definitional argument paper.

The first source comes from Priory Medical Journals, and the definition itself comes from an article published in 1995 in Psychiatry On-line:

This site mentions that there are many definitions of mid-life crisis, and offers a helpful interpretation according to the Myers Briggs Type Indicator.

After checking the website of the American Psychological Association and the American Psychiatric Association for definitions of mid-life crisis and finding no results, I turned to the search aggregator Clusty:

http://www.clusty.com

I searched for “mid-life crisis” definition (quotes included) and found the following site (the top result from my search) to be very helpful, including several definitions from different dictionaries as well as links to scholarly sources:

Since you are an educator, I highly recommend checking with your school about getting access to some of the scholarly articles referenced on the page above. Those articles will give you more authoritative information, but Answers.com’s various definitions are a good starting point.

Finally, I turned to a site that I frequently turn to when searching for accessible but reliable medical information, WebMD. A search for “mid-life crisis” (in quotes) provided the following link among a list of results, and I think you will find the discussion critical to your question—Dan Jones, PhD, mentions that the term has never had a formal diagnostic definition but that it has garnered much attention from the medical community nonetheless:

http://www.webmd.com/healthy-aging/guide/midlife-crisis-opportunity

This link is quite long and could break, so here is a shortened

version for your convenience.
http://tinyurl.com/4nd8ub

I found the first source by searching the IPL’s Resources by Subject. I started at the home page:

Sources consulted and strategies used (beyond the one used for the answer): To make sure I addressed both parts of the patron’s question, I needed to know what she meant by “definitional argument.” I did a quick Google search for “definitional argument” and found a definition on a website provided by Kean University: http://www.kean.edu/~cnelson/classes/documents/definition.html. This gave me a better idea of what sort of sources I needed to look for—I would need to come across different definitions of midlife crisis or arguments against a certain definition. I also searched for definitions of mid-life crisis in a few DSM sites, found via a Google search for DSM disorders and then links from the Wikipedia page. These searches didn’t return any useful results. I found a few useful articles through a Google search for “mid-life” crisis definition (quotes where inserted) but wanted to make sure I wasn’t missing anything, so I turned to Clusty (and explained my reasons for choosing this search aggregator in my response to the patron).

Critique of question (including level of satisfaction with the answer I provided): I was surprised to find that there was no formal definition of mid-life crisis, but I think I found a variety of sources (and from a variety of search engines or resources) that are quite helpful in answering the patron’s question. I tried to include a few scholarly but accessible definitions, and was hesitant to include the link to Answers.com but in the end I was convinced that the links to scholarly articles and reliable websites make it a great source to include.

Anything I would do differently in the future: In this case, I don’t think I would have done much differently. Perhaps there is a better search engine or aggregator than Clusty, and I didn’t find many great results through a simple Google search. I wasn’t completely happy with the information I found on Priory, but wanted to include it based on its link from the IPL and the fact that the patron submitted a question to the IPL. However, I may need to get over this urge to turn to the IPL’s Resources by Subject first if I want to find the best, most comprehensive sources.

Many times throughout this project, I thought about how my interaction with the patron who submitted the question would differ through other mediums of communication. The opportunity for follow-up is an essential part of reference services, but difficult to achieve through e-mail. At several times during my overall experience, I wondered whether the patron was satisfied with my answer and I kept thinking about the questions even after I felt I provided a satisfactory answer (or list of potentially helpful sources). After answering seven questions, I feel I have a better idea of where e-mail reference fits into the future of all reference services, and I even thought of ideas to improve this type of service along the way.

According to the IPL’s guidelines, we (the library students providing answers through the IPL) are discouraged from frequently e-mailing the patron to clarify their question or to ask whether certain sources will be useful to them. Although there are fields available for the patron to fill in more information, such as whether the answer to their question is needed for school and what sources they have consulted up to this point, in many cases the patron left these areas blank. If I were helping the patron via online chat or in-person, I would feel more comfortable asking minor clarifications such as what other sources they have examined or for what purpose they need this information. From my own experiences as a library patron, I was always glad to be asked follow-up questions and found it a helpful part of the librarian’s process of guiding me through searches, sources and finally useful results.

Insight into how the patron felt about the sources I provided would have been helpful both during my search and after I provided an answer. This can be measured in more ways than just follow-up questions. If I were conducting a chat service, I may have access to tools that show the patron the steps I am taking throughout the search process. I view collaboration between librarians and patrons as a crucial aspect of providing reference service, since I consider it a primary goal to help the patron feel more comfortable and confident in conducting their own search after the reference experience has ended. Insight doesn’t necessarily have to be communicated through words—during an in-person reference interview, facial cues and the patron’s body language are indispensable to gauging the success of the interview.