The Art of Writing

and Formal Research Techniques

(El arte de escribir y técnicas de

investigación formal)

LANG 433; Prof. Straile-Costa
Guide for finding sources at the George T. Potter Library

October 16, 2007

Susan B. Kurzmann

skurzman@ramapo.edu

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

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

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II. Find Books

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  • Catalog: use this to find books, periodical titles (NOT articles), government documents, reserve item, music,and movies owned by the Library. You may limit a search by language, year(s) of publication, type of material, etc. This may take a few seconds to load.

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  • In Basic Search, search the catalog using Keywords to find material, for example, search for latin american literature to locate a broad range of materials the library has on those keywords
     
    • search for Pablo Neruda as a keyword. This will get materials both authored by and about him.
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    • Use quotation marks around a multi-word phrase, e.g., "spanish literature" to ensure that the catalog will locate more focused results
     
    • Use the Subject Browse feature if you know the relevant Library of Congress (LC) subject heading, for example:
       
      • Neruda, Pablo, 1904-1973
      • Latin American literature
    • Click on to see scope notes

      Click on to see more information about the term you've entered, such as recommended narrower or broader terms

    • Search the catalog in Spanish. Choose More limits, then select Spanish and click on Set Limits. You can search the catalog in Spanish until you click on   to deselect limits.
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OR

 
    • Go to Advanced Search

      The Boolean search terms are built in for your use to enable the catalog to provide more focused results:

      • AND: you are directing the system to search for material that addresses both terms you've entered
      • OR: you are directing the system to search for material on either of the search terms you have entered
      • NOT: you are directing 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

Tips      

  1. Start with broad searches. It's much easier to discard too much rather than start with too little.
  2. If you don't know the Subject Heading, use the Subjects, etc... tab located on the top of a catalog record to get to the headings. This will help you focus in on more relevant material.
  3. You can "virtually" browse the shelves by clicking on the call number in a record and viewing the records for similar items.
 

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III. Reference Material

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  • The reference stacks are located on the 3rd floor (this is also the library's entrance).
  • Some useful materials for your projects:
    Notable Latino Writers Ref PS153 .H56 N68 2006
    Encyclopedia of Contemporary Spanish Culture Ref DP233.5.E63
    Sixteenth-Century Spanish Writers Ref PQ 6064.S59 2006
    Larousse gran diccionario: inglés-español, español-inglés Ref PC4640.L393
    Twentieth-Century Spanish Fiction Writers Ref PQ6144.T94

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IV. Find Articles (Databases)

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Some useful Databases for your projects:

JSTOR Comprised of the full-text of close to 600 academic journals.
Humanities Index Includes some of the best-known scholarly journals and numerous lesser-known but important specialized magazines

America: History & Life

History of the United States and Canada from pre-history to the present. Links to JSTOR full-text.Click on the   Primary Catalog link to see if the full text is available in our print collection or through another database.
Literature Resource Center Provides many full-text articles about authors and their works

MLA Bibliography

(MLA International Bibliography)

Premier database for searching authors, their works, and criticism. *This database is included in Literature Resource Center. Can search for Spanish articles
Academic Search Premier A multidisciplinary database that contains many full-text articles. May also limit to scholary (peer-reviewed) journals.
Gale Virtual Reference Library Search multidisciplinary reference sources in Spanish.

Scholarly/Peer Reviewed/Refereed articles have been reviewed by a selected panel of experts in the discipline covered by that journal.

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V. Journal Finder and Interlibrary Loan

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Both of these links can be found under Quick Links on the library's homepage.

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    Interlibrary Loan: allows students to borrow a book or article that ourlibrary does not own. There is also a link from the Journal Finder page.

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Journal Finder: locate the full text of articles in specific periodicals (journals, newspapers, magazines) to which we have access either in our print or microform collection or through a full-text database.

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VI. Bibliographies

 

Use Citing Websites and Print Resources for citation style guidance

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VII. Web Sources

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Search other local college catalogs for Spanish sources. You can request them through Inter-Library Loan:

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CCNY Libraries

Columbia University Libraries

TCNJ Library

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Comprehensive online Spanish-language dictionary and separate English-Spanish and Spanish-English dictionaries

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Database of Spanish-language publications

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Links to catalog information provided by the librarians at the Biblioteca Nacional.

Core components of the database include: I.Latin American Periodicals Tables of Contents (LAPTOC): provides article titles from the tables of contents over 800 periodicals published in Latin America and the Caribbean. They cover all fields and are searchable by article title keyword, author, journal title, country, and date.

CLASE is a social sciences and humanities database with citations to articles, essays, book reviews, statistics and other documents published in over 1,300 Latin American and Caribbean periodicals.

Bibliography of works on Latin America selected by scholars and edited by the Hispanic Division of the Library of Congress. The sources include books, journal articles, book chapters, and conference papers.

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

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Use QandA NJ.org, a 24/7 virtual chat service with a reference librarian

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