NARRATOR：

Listen to part of a conversation between a student and a librarian.

FEMALE STUDENT：

Hi, um... I really hope you can help me.

MALE LIBRARIAN：

That's why I'm here. What can I do for you?

FEMALE STUDENT：

I'm supposed to do a literature review for my psychology course, but I'm havin’ a hard time finding articles.

I don't even know where to start looking. [frustrated]

MALE LIBRARIAN：

You said this is for your psychology course, right? So your focus is on... [anticipating interruption]

FEMALE STUDENT：

Dream Interpretation.

MALE LIBRARIAN：

Well, you have a focus, so that's already a good start.

Hmmm... well, there're a few things... oh wait... have you checked to see if your professor put any materials for you to look at on reserve?

FEMALE STUDENT：

Uh-huh. [ yes] That’s one thing I did know to do. I just copied an article, but I still need three more on my topic from three different journals.

MALE LIBRARIAN：

Let’s get you goin’ on looking for those, then.

We have printed versions of 20 or so psychology journals in the reference section—these are ones published within the last year.

Now that I think about it... there's a journal named Sleep and Dreams...

FEMALE STUDENT：

Yeah [overlap], the article I just copied is from that journal, so I’ve gotta look in other sources.

MALE LIBRARIAN：

OK. Actually, most of our material’s available electronically now.

You can access psychology databases or electronic journals and articles through the library's computers.

And if you wanted to search by title with the word “dream” for example, just type it in and all the articles with “dream” in the title will come up on the screen.

FEMALE STUDENT：

Cool. That’s great. Too bad I can’t do this from home. [slightly under the breath]

MALE LIBRARIAN：

But you can. All of the library's databases and electronic sources can be accessed through any computer connected to the university network.

FEMALE STUDENT：

Really?! I can't believe I didn't know that.

It still sounds like it’s gonna take a while though, you know, going through all of that information--all of those sources.

MALE LIBRARIAN：

Maybe, but you already narrowed your search down to articles on dream interpretation, so it shouldn’t be too bad.

And, you probably noticed that there’s an abstract--or summary--at the top of the first page of the article you copied.

When you do go into the databases and electronic sources, you have the option to display the abstracts on the computer screen. Skimming those to decide whether or not you wanna read the whole article should cut down some time.

FEMALE STUDENT：

Right…abstracts. They will definitely make the project more doable.

I guess I should try out the electronic search while I'm still here, then. Ya know, just in case…

MALE LIBRARIAN：

Sure. Uh…that computer’s free over there. And I’ll be here ‘til five this afternoon.

FEMALE STUDENT：

Thanks, I feel a lot better about this assignment now.