Ashford University Library: What does the library have to offer? Essay

Research is one of the most important parts of an individual’s academic life and proof that they have developed their academic skills and knowledge in their area of study. Ashford University Library is an amazing place where one is able to access all the materials that is needed in carrying out a research in any field of study. Conducting any kind of research requires full access to various sources that are considered to be scholarly sources that are reliable for information and data that will help in making the research credible. Using Ashford University Library for research and to access data and information from reliable sources offers an opportunity for s credible research since the library has scholarly sources as well as popular sources that can easily be accessed (Ashford University, 2013). Ashford University Library: What does the library have to offer?                The benefits of using Ashford University Library are that a researcher is able to access all data and information within the library without having to engage the services of outside sources (Gasparyan, Ayvazyan, Gorin, & Kitas, 2014). The materials and sources which are included in the portfolio of Ashford University Library are credible and reliable sources which are easy to access through the simplest search tools of the library (Ashford University, 2013). This helps in saving a lot of time when carrying out a research since all information and data is within research by simply using the search tools which include the university’s database and the Find@AU search tool that are simple and easy to use. Ashford University Library has sources which are considered scholarly and sources which are considered popular (Calkins, 2007). Scholarly sources within the library simply refers to sources which that have been published by recognized scholarly organizati ons or institutions such as universities and sources which have been sent out to other scholarly peers for an anonymous review. The sources always include journals and even books which have been published by scholarly groups, colleges or universities (Gasparyan, Ayvazyan, Gorin, & Kitas, 2014). Furthermore, in scholarly sources, the original research have been published in books and even journals, written by people who are experts in that field of study, has citations and are usually longer, having about 10 to 30 pages of research (Calkins, 2007). Popular sources on the other hand are considered to contain interesting stories, which may refer to research but do not necessarily contain the original research that was conducted. In addition, they are written by general public, they lack citations in most occasions, not peer-reviewed and they tend to be much shorter, having about 200 words to some few pages of writing (Gasparyan, Ayvazyan, Gorin, & Kitas, 2014). To make proper use of the library’s database and to know effectively and efficiently what you need for your research, it would be important to know what your research entails and what you hope to achieve with the final completed research (Ashford University, 2013). This means the thesis and the problem question to be answered by the research must be identified and clearly understood after which one will be able to know what materials to look for in the library (Calkins, 2007). The resources that fit the need for the research can be identified through the problem question and the thesis statement which will help in knowing whether the research will require use of scholarly sources or any other sources which can help in providing data for the research. Conclusion                Conducting a complete research that is satisfactory and one that can be relied on requires the use of data and information sources which are reliable. Ashford University Library provides great opportunity for conducting research since it offers a wide range of scholarly sources that can be relied on for research in any field of study. The benefits that one gets from using Ashford University Library are numerous since the sources available within the university are considered to be scholarly hence the reliability of the resources. References Ashford University, (2013), Library Services viewed from http://www.ashford.edu/student_services/library_resources.htm on 9th August 2014. Ashford University, (2013), Writing Services, viewed from https://awc.ashford.edu/research-papers-intro-to-the-online-library.html on 9th August 2014. Calkins, S. R. (2007). Evaluating Internet and Scholarly Sources Across the Disciplines: Two Case Studies. College Teaching, 55(4), 151-156. Gasparyan, A., Ayvazyan, L., Gorin, S. V., & Kitas, G. D. (2014). Upgrading instructions for authors of scholarly journals. Croatian Medical Journal, 55(3), 271-280. doi:10.3325/cmj.2014.55.271 Source document