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Cahill Center

and the

Career Achievement Program

Guide for finding sources at the George T. Potter Library
Fall 2007

Susan B. Kurzmann

skurzman@ramapo.edu

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• Library Homepage
• Cahill Center Resources
• Finding Books
• Information on Careers
• Information on Industries and Companies
• Databases
• Journal Finder
• Bibliographies

 

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I. Library Homepage

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

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II. Cahill Center Resources

The Cahill Center's website provides access to information about services and programs designed to enhance your academic, personal, and professional goals. You'll also find information about Career Services, Cooperative Education, Service-Learning, Employers, etc.

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III. Finding Books

• 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 internships or jobs 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 Related Records tab located at the top of a catalog record to see which Library of Congress subject headings are covered in that particular book/periodical/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:
  • Occupations
• subheadings:

  --New Jersey--Forecasting

  --Statistics

• Vocational guidance

  subheadings:

  • --Handbooks, manuals, etc.
  • --United States
  • --Databases

• Industries--New Jersey

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 meaterial 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 morre focused results

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IV. Information on Careers

Useful reference materials for your research:

*The reference collection is on the third (entry level) floor

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V. Information on Industries and Companies

Reference material:

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VI. Some useful Databases for your research:

Tips

1. Switch to the Advanced Search  page in databases. This will give you more control over your results.
2. Use Boolean operators: AND, Or, Not and quotation marks when running a search to narrow or broaden that search.
3. Always check your spelling if the database results are zero.
4. Use the Subject Terms or Thesaurus link if available to find the terms to use in a particular database.

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VII. Journal Finder

This lets you know if a journal is available full-text online, in print in the library, or available on microfilm. A link can be found under QUICK LINKS on the library's homepage.

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VIII. Bibliographies

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

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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.

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