Online Library Research Tutorials

MSU Library Tutorials

The MSU Library offers the following tutorials to help students begin the research process. Each tutorial will guide you through a step in the research process from deciding on a topic to reading scholarly research articles. These tutorials are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

Select a tutorial by clicking on the images below. Each tutorial will open in a new tab and will begin automatically. You can pause the tutorial using the seek bar at the bottom of the player. Audio and video transcripts are available in the notes section of the tutorials. More information for instructors can be found at the bottom of the page.

Refining Your Research Topic

This short overview of topic selection will walk you through how to choose a topic for a research assignment, how to expand your topic if you aren't finding enough information,  and how to narrow your topic if you're finding too much information. 

 Identifying Keywords

 Identifying keywords to use when searching the library databases will save you time   and frustration in the long run.

 This tutorial will show you how to identify the main concepts of your research and turn   them into searchable keywords.

CatSearch Basics in less than 60 seconds

This one-minute overview of CatSearch shows how to start searching with keywords, and how to use the filters to narrow to peer-reviewed articles, by subject, by date, and more. 

Searching the Databases 101

This tutorial will show you the best way to get started in the databases and give you some tips on how to avoid frustration when searching. Unlike Google, the library databases do not provide the best results when an entire research question is entered into the search box. Because of this, it can often feel overwhelming when beginning your research.

Spotting Fake News

Have you been wondering what fake news is or how it impacts your life? Are you unsure of how to spot fake news or articles designed to sway your opinions?

This module will walk you through different types of fake and misleading news stories and give you tips on how to evaluate these stories for accuracy, integrity, and truthfulness.

Understanding Scholarly Research, Part 1

Identifying and locating scholarly articles can be intimidating, but it doesn’t have to be! This tutorial will go over tips to make identifying and finding articles more manageable and show you how to identify different types of scholarly research, what the different parts of a scholarly article are, and how to find these articles in the library databases.

Understanding Scholarly Research, Part 2

Sometimes reading a scholarly article can feel like a lost cause.

This module covers the different parts of a scholarly article and ways to read each part quickly and efficiently. Then, it shows a few ways to keep track of what you learn so you can use that information in your research assignment. 

Business Research Tutorial

For business specific searching, this is the tutorial for you! This module focuses on resources helpful for business majors, including identifying keywords and how to search databases like Business Source Complete.

Additional Research Tutorials 

MSU Library subscribes to Credo Information Literacy - CORE  multimedia content. The videos, interactive tutorials, and quizzesuse innovative technology and proven pedagogy to build essential research, information literacy and critical-thinking skills that will help students thrive in their academic careers and beyond.

Please review the content below and ifyou would like to embed one or more module into Brightspace,contact one of  our instruction librarians.

Tutorial Sections

Embed Online Research Tutorials in Brighstpace

Both MSU Library tutorials and CREDO Information Literacy tutorials can be embedded into your Brightspace course and added to the gradebook.

Instructions for Embedding MSU Library Tutorials into Brightspace

1. Download the tutorials you wish to add to Brightspace from the MSU Tutorials Box folder. These files are SCORM files - do not unzip the files after download.
2. In the course navbar, click the gear icon on the far right side. 
3. Click the Import / Export / Copy Components tool link. 
4. Select the Import Components radio button, and then click Start. 
5. In the Import Course Package window, click Upload. 
6. Upload the SCORM zipped file to the window. 
7. Click the Advanced Options button. Don't click Import All Components, since it will skip important steps in the process. 
8. After the package is read, click Continue. 
9. On the next screen, select the Select All Components checkbox to select the Content items.
10. Important: Under the Advanced Options, enter a name for the folder under IMPORT FILE TO. By placing the SCORM object in its own folder, it will prevent it from overriding the other SCORM objects in the course. 
11. Click Continue to move to the next screen. 
12. On the next screen, click Continue. 
13. On the last screen, click View Content to see the SCORM file. It will be in its own module in the Content area of the course, but you can move it to any module you want, rename it, and add a grade item.

Video Instructions