Plagiarism involves the use of someone else’s words as if they were your own - accidentally or intentionally. HCC considers plagiarism to be a form of scholastic dishonesty, and “possible punishments for academic dishonesty may include a grade of ‘0′ or ‘F’ on the particular assignment, failure in the course, and/or recommendation for probation or dismissal from the College System.”

To avoid plagiarism you must document direct quotations, paraphrases (when you rephrase someone else’s writing), and original ideas that are not your own. This is called “citing” your sources. In order to cite your sources properly, you’ll need to know which citation style your instructor requires (for example: ALA, MLA, or Chicago).

The two types of citations that you’ll deal with most often will be in-text and bibliographic citations. In-text citations are brief, and occur within the text of your research paper. Bibliographic citations offer more details, and come in the form of a list at the end of your paper (this would be your bibliography, “works cited,” or “references” page).

For examples showing how to prepare in-text and bibliographic citations for many types of sources in several different styles, visit this website.

For more explanation and examples, visit OWL, Purdue University’s “Online Writing Lab” or take a look at this great tutorial created by Acadia University.

Are you required to create an annotated bibliography? Have a look at these tips, also from Purdue University’s Online Writing Lab.

Though not all articles from HCC library databases are available in full text (complete electronic versions), many are. You may browse a complete list of HCC databases, or view databases organized by subject.

Remember: many of these databases require you to log in for off campus use. If you are having trouble with that, see these instructions or ask a librarian for help.

If you’d like a brief introduction to database searching, check out our tutorial! Or, view the database tutorials here.

Not all of the information available on the World Wide Web goes through this careful selection process, however. Anyone can publish on The Web. Imagine using a website chock full of talk of alien abductions for an art history paper! Think it can’t happen to you? Read on!

Google is great, but it often just doesn’t return the best info on a topic. The first hit that Google gives you on a search for “sumerian art” is a page that at first glance seems legit. Look closer, though, and you’ll find that our author suggests that Sumerian art was influenced by visitors from outer space - and she goes on to tell us more about the different kinds of aliens, too! A fine opinion - but a valid resource for a college research paper? Probably not!

You will have to be the judge of whether the information you find using your favorite search engine is reliable, and whether it is appropriate to use for a research paper or other class project. Take a look at this page to get an idea of the questions you should be asking of any website you use for research.

It may be helpful to visit websites on various subjects that have been reviewed and recommended by HCC Librarians, or Librarians’ Index to the Internet, a subject index linking users to hundreds of librarian-approved sites.

Ever found a strange website while doing a legit search for a research paper? Or have questions or suggestions about evaluating the sites you find? Take a second to leave us a comment below and share your ideas or questions!

As an HCC student, you have access to over 30,000 ebooks (with more being added on a regular basis). You may have come across an ebook while searching the HCC library catalog. In the catalog, the titles of ebooks are followed by the designation “electronic resource” and the detailed description offers a link allowing you to “access this book via the World Wide Web.” You may follow those links that you find in the catalog to ebooks, or you could go directly to the Netlibrary database in order to search for ebooks. If you’re off campus, you’ll need to log in.

Having problems accessing ebooks? Try clicking on the “Demos and Quickstarts” on the NetLibrary help page.

Still having trouble? Ask a librarian for help.

• Bartleby.com: imagine having an entire shelf of reference books at your fingertips! Choose from dictionaries, thesauri, encyclopedias, books of quotations and more from the “select reference” drop-down menu!
• Merriam-Webster OnLine: search the electronic version of the Merriam-Webster dictionary and thesaurus.
• tons of other free online sources!

These resources are just the tip of the iceberg! Use StatRef! to look up information about drugs & medical disorders, find a brief biography about your favorite artist in the Grove Dictionary of Art, or use Contemporary Authors to find information about the life and works of an author. Find information about a particular company, a historical event, or get facts from the Texas Almanac. All these and many more resources are available to you! Note: if you are off campus, you may be required to login in order to access some of these resources.

First, use the HCC library catalog to find out where books on your topic are located. Our enhanced online catalog gives you more information than ever - you may see Tables of Contents and book Summaries or even be linked to the Google Books copy to preview the book online! If the book is available (the status column will say “check shelf” if this is the case), then you may either pick up the book at the campus library where it is kept or request to have it sent to the campus library closest to you. Before going to pick the book up, you may want to call ahead just to make sure it’s actually there, since things do occasionally go missing.

Other things you might need to know:

• You may have up to 5 items checked out at one time.
• The loan period is two weeks.
• If you need more time, you may use the renew feature on the library homepage.
• Normally it will take 2-3 days for a book to be delivered from one campus to another.

Need a hand? Ask a librarian for help.

Read any good books lately? Leave a note in the comment section if you’ve found any of our books particularly useful for a certain class, or if you’d just like to recommend a favorite read!

• Instant Messenger (we’re hccslibrarian at hotmail, AIM, GoogleTalk and Yahoo!)
• Live Chat
• Email
• Phone
• And Introducing — TextALibrarian!

Here’s how to text us using your cell phone!

• Initiate a new text message
• Type hccslibrarian: then your question
• HINT - Don’t forget to include the colon between your question and our name!
• Send to 265010
• NOTE - Your normal texting fees apply!
• The librarian covering AskALibrarian will receive your message and send an answer back to your cell phone.
• This service is best used for short, uncomplicated questions.

You can see more here - just click on Phone/Text

In addition to contacting us by using the Meebo chat window embedded here or in the sidebar on the right side of this page, you can use Yahoo Messenger, MSN Messenger, GoogleTalk, and AIM (screen name: “hccslibrarian” for AIM, GoogleTalk and Yahoo, “hccslibrarian@hotmail.com” for MSN).

So, if you need to chat with a librarian online, we’re here for you Monday-Thursday from 10AM-8PM (7pm on Wednesdays), and Sunday from 8pm til midnight, so drop in and chat with us!

What kind of things can a librarian help you with? Here are just a few:

• finding sources of information for a paper or presentation
• citing your sources properly so that you don’t plagiarize accidentally
• finding excellent articles by using the HCC Library databases from home
• much, much, more!

Ever use the Ask a Librarian service? Leave a comment and let us know what you think if you have used it, or why you don’t if you don’t!

• off-campus access to electronic books (ebooks)

• off-campus access to our subscription databases of journal, magazine, and newspaper articles

• renewing your books from our online catalog

• requesting books from any HCC library from the library online catalog

If you are an enrolled HCC student, you already have a library barcode number assigned to you. The number is located in your online student account, under the “Demographic” section link. Check this page for all the details! You can also stop by your HCC library for more information or contact us at AskALibrarian.

If you need to check out books or other items from the HCC libraries, you will need an HCC photo ID card. These are made at various campuses, generally at the campus welcome center or security office. Just check with the HCC location nearest you for details. If you already have a photo ID or a gray library card, these barcode numbers may still be valid for remote access, but a photo ID will be required for item check-out beginning in September of 2009.

Welcome to HCC! And welcome to LibLine, the HCC libraries’ resource for distance education students, staff, and faculty.

Here at the HCC libraries, we’re excited about this semester! Online class enrollment is booming! We’ll be bringing you lots of info here at LibLine to help you find the best information possible to help you succeed in all your classes this semester.

We’ll cover :

• How to get your library questions answered
• Getting your library barcode
• Finding books and articles to help you with your research
• How to cite those sources

And more!

Stay tuned - and thanks for reading!

Have anything in particular you’d like to see us cover this semester? Leave a note in the comments section below, and and we’ll make sure to cover it!