American Legal History

HIST 233; Professors M. Howenstein and T. Dunn
Guide for finding sources at the George T. Potter Library
 

October 10, 2006

Susan B. Kurzmann

skurzman@ramapo.edu

 

I. Library Homepage: http://library.ramapo.edu

  • Provides access to the catalog (OPAC), databases, interlibrary loan forms, etc.

II. www.constitution.org  Identifying the chronology of the pro- and anti-Federalist Papers

III. Find Articles in Databases (Electronic Resources)

Some useful Databases for your projects:

JSTOR Complete Full-text of more than 500 academic journals

LexisNexis Academic

and

Westlaw

Legal coverage incudes federal and state court opinions, federal and state statutes, federal regulations, and law reviews in addition to news.

Scholarly/Peer Reviewed/Refereed articles have been reviewed by a selected panel of experts in the discipline covered by that journal. Many of the databases allow you to limit your search to these articles.

Tips

  1. Use the Advanced Search page in a database. This will give you more control over your results
  2. Use Boolean Operators (AND, OR, NOT) when running a search, fir example: federalist AND hamilton
    1. AND: you are commanding the system to search for material that addresses both terms you've entered
    2. OR: you are commanding the system to search for material on either of the search terms you have entered
    3. NOT: you are commanding the system to search for material on the first term you have entered and to exclude any material on the second term you have entered .
  3. Use quotation marks when running a search, for example: "federalist papers" and constitution
  4. Always check your spelling if the database results are zero
  5. Use the Subject Terms or Thesaurus link if available to find the best terms to use in a particular database

IV. Journal Finder / Interlibrary Loan

 
  • Journal Finder: this provides information about where to find the full text of articles when available in the George T. Potter Library in print, microform, or through a full-text database. This feature also appears in many of our databases.
 
  • Interlibrary Loan: allows you to borrow a book or article that the George T. Potter library does not own. There is a link from the Journal Finder screen.
 

Both of these links can be found under QUICK LINKS on the library's homepage.

     

V. Find Books at the George T. Potter Library::

Use the Catalog to find books, periodical titles (NOT articles ), government documents, reserve items, music, and movies owned by the Library. You may limit a search by language, year(s) of publication, type of material, etc. The catalog takes a short while to load.

  • Searching the catalog:
    • In Basic Search, use the keyword default setting for a basic search to find material, for example:
      • search for "federalist papers " or antifederalists to locate a broad range of materials the library has on these keywords
    • Results will be ranked by relevance; you may then re-sort them by title, author, publish [=publication] date, or publish date descending
    • When you find an appropriate title, click on the Related Records tab located at the top of a catalog record to see which Library of Congress subject headings are discussed in that particular book/DVD/periodical

      OR

    • Use the Subject Browse feature if you know the relevant Library of Congress (LC) subject heading, for example:
      • Federalist
      • Constitutional history--United States
      • United States--Politics and government--History--1783-1789

    OR

      • Go to Advanced Search
        • The Boolean search terms are built in for your use
        • The catalog system will provide more focused results 

Tips

Start with broad searches. It is much easier to discard too much rather than start with too little.

    1. If you don't know the Subject Heading, use the Related Records tab located on the top of a catalog record to get to the headings. This will help you focus in on more relevant material.
    2. Can "virtually" browse the shelves by clicking on the call number in a record.

VI. Reference Material

  • The reference stacks are located on the 3rd floor (this is also the library's entrance).
  • Useful reference materials for your projects:
    Primary Sources
    Annals of America Ref E173 .A793 2003
    Documents of American History Ref E173.D59 1988
    The State of the Union Messages of the Presidents: 1790-1966 Ref J81 .C66
    Secondary Sources  
    Dictionary of American Biography

    Ref E176 .D56
    History of American Presidential Elections, 1789-1968 Ref E183 .S28
    Harvard Guide to American History Ref Z1236 .F77 1974

VII. Internet Searching and Websites:

      See the following Subject Resources:

Tip:

For Web searching, consult Evaluating Websites to determine if the site is authoritative enough to use in your paper

Some useful websites for your projects:

American Experience and many other PBS programs are good sources of information

VIII. Bibliographies

Use Citing Sources for guidance in preparing "In-Text Citations" and "Works Cited"

     

Need more help? Visit or call the Reference Desk: 201.684.7574

Use QandA NJ: a 24/7 virtual chat with a reference librarian.


 
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