Ashford University Library Experience Paper Example

Introduction

Research is one of the primary parts of the academic excellence of any person. Also, it acts as a proof for development of the required theoretical knowledge and skills in a certain field of study. One can conduct effective research when study resources are readily available. One of my general education courses required that I utilize the Ashford University Library to get the scholarly sources. I watched the video which the instructor had provided concerning the ways of conducting research using the Ashford university sources.

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I had to be keen to avoid missing any steps in the procedure on how to use the online library for searching the resources. It is always advisable to start with the keywords for the research topic. However, I prefer using the database search by subject because other searchers may end up requesting for a list of keywords which would direct me to other databases. Therefore, I learned that following the instruction is very crucial as far as utilizing the Ashford Library is concerned. I also used the URL whereby I had to click it on the description page, but sometimes I found it hard to get the full article. However, the problem would easily be solved if I downloaded the entire PDF file.

What the Library Offers

Ashford University Library offers such an amazing place where all the study resources are available The Library contains reliable scholarly sources when it comes to data and information required for any credible research (Ashford & Kroll, 2009).Any favorite, as well as academic sources of information can be found in Ashford University Library. At Ashford University Library, a researcher can easily access all the information without engaging any other outside sources. In fact, the library offers various reliable and credible sources which can be obtained easily through the utilization of search tools. Therefore, by using the Ashford University library, a researcher can save a lot of time because one can find data through the search tools like Find@AU and the library database which is simple to use.

Some of the sources located in this library include Journal and books which various individuals, groups, colleges, and universities have published. In fact, the authors of these scholarly journals and books are all experts on the fried, making the materials more reliable. Also, most of the journals found in Ashford University Library are longer, have citations and contain between 10 to 30 pages of researched work.

The fact that Ashford University has embraced technology through digitalization is another advantage to the researchers. Variety of online resources where the researcher can access materials through online format is availed. The electronic resources for any researcher are provided in this library. Most of the publications that can be found online in this library include government publications, newspaper articles, various legal documents, magazines, scholarly journals, and e-books (Ashford University Library, 2016).

Ashford University Library offers other services to the researcher other than resources. There are sufficient number of librarians who are ready and willing to assist and give services to the researchers. The online library page contains contact numbers to these librarians. The online library page also has instruction tutorials as well as interlibrary loan services. The students can access this library page through their portals. The Ashford University has a handy database for enhancing coverage of research materials. These databases include EBSCOhost, ProjectMUSE, ProQuest, and JSTOR (Ashford University Library, 2016). Above all, ProQuest EBSCOHost can provide information about any subject because they are a multidisciplinary collection of databases.

How Using the Ashford University Library Has Improved My Experience in Conducting Research

The Ashford University Library has enhanced my experience to a great extent when it comes to doing research. I am now able to utilize the library for any information required for handling the assignments. Also, the knowledge I have acquired from it will be helpful when doing my final exams. Unlike in the past, I have now noted that I can search for information from any title based on the topic. Also, I can easily utilize the library to find the scholarly sources to back any research claims. The Library has also taught me how to collect, analyze, test and interpret the data to come up with a specific conclusion. However, I have also learned that I have to be keen and follow steps required in conducting the online research. I also need to remain keen when using scholarly articles because they are detailed and a bit confusing in some cases.

References

Ashford University Library. (2016). Databases by Subject. Retrieved from: http://library.ashford.edu/databases_subject.aspx

Ashford, J., & Kroll, M. (2009). College, university, and special libraries of the Pacific

Northwest. Seattle: Univ. of Washington Press.