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Career Achievement Program

Guide for finding sources at the George T. Potter Library
November 12, 2008

Irene Kuchta

ikuchta@ramapo.edu

x7577

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I.  Library Homepage

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

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II.  Finding Books in the George T. Potter Library

• Catalog: use this to find books, periodical titles (newspapers, magazines, and journals)--NOT ARTICLES, government documents, and reserve items 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.

• Search the catalog using Keywords to find material
  • For example: search for "vocational guidance" or "occupations" to locate a broad range of material and look for ideas for your project
  • Use quotation marks around multi-word phrases, eg., "job hunting"

  Tips

  1. Start with broad searches. It is much easier to discard too much rather than start with too little.
  2. When you find an appropriate title, click on the Subjects etc. tab located at the top of a catalog record to see which Library of Congress subject headings are covered in that particular book, periodical, or database. 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.

                                                                                OR

• Search the catalog using the Subject Browse feature if you know the relevant Library of Congress subject heading, for example:                     

Industries -- New Jersey

Occupations

Vocational Guidance

                                                         OR

• Go to Advanced Search

The Boolean search terms are built in for your use:

• AND: you are commanding the system to search for material on both terms you've entered
• OR: you are commanding the system to search for material on either of the search terms you have entered
• 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

The catalog system will provide more focused results

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III. Information on Careers

 

Encyclopedia of Careers and Vocational Guidance	HF5381.E52 2000
Industry Surveys (Latest edition behind the Reference Desk)	HC106.6 .S74
Graduate & Professional Programs	L901 .P46 2006
College Blue Book	LA226 .C685 2006
Encyclopedia of Associations.	HS17 .G334

Occupational Outlook Handbook

http://online.onetcenter.org/

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IV. Information on Companies

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V. Selected WebSites

Use the following web links to locate supplemental information on your career

• Career One Stop - Offers information on writing resumes, job interviews, interview follow-up, getting and keeping a job etc.
• Syms Educated Consumers:Dress to Achieve -  Provides the basics of proper dress and other tips to help college seniors present their best selves during job interviews.

• Wages by Area and Occupation (U.S. Department of Labor) - Supplies national, regional, state, and metropolitan data on earnings, occupations, industries, gender and more.

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VI. Developing Bibliographies

• Use the Citing Websites and Print Sources for citation style guidance.

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VII. Other resources

Journal Finder:  this provides information regarding if a journal is available full-text online, in print in the library, or available on microfilm.

Interlibrary Loan: allows studens to borrow a book or article that the Potter library does not own. There is a link from the Journal Finder page.

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

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

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