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October 18, 2007

Shirley Knight                                            Trudi Van Dyke, Professor

sknight@ramapo.edu, x7315                     ENGLISH 180-26

 I. The George T. Potter Library Homepage

• Provides access to the catalog (OPAC), databases, course reserves, interlibrary loan forms, and more.

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II. Finding Books at the Potter Library

• Catalog: use this 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. This may take a few seconds to load.

• Use the Basic Search to find material using Keywords
  • For example: search for "Music" or "Jazz" to locate a broad range of materials the library has on these keywords
  • Use quotation marks around a multi-word phrase so that the catalog system will treat it as a single word
  • 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 discussed in that particular book/DVD/periodical to get to more titles that deal with that subject.
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                                                              OR

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

• Tips

1. Start with broad searches. It is 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.

III. Reference Material

• The reference stacks are located on the 3rd floor (this is also the library's entrance).
• Some useful materials for your projects:

IV.  Electronic Resources

• Some useful Databases for your projects:

• Interlibrary Loan: allows students to borrow a book or article that the
• George T. 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.

Tips

1. Switch to the Advanced Search page in a database. This will give you more control over your results.
2. Use Boolean Operators--AND, OR, NOT and Quotation Marks when running a search. For Example: "interracial marriages" OR "racially mixed people" NOT "native americans"
3. Always check your Spelling if the database results are zero.
4. Use the Subject Terms or Thesaurus link, if available, to find the best terms to use in a database.

VI. Web Sources

• Use Subject Resources to locate supplemental information and supportive data on your topics.

• Use Evaluating Websites to determine if the site is authoritative enough to use in your paper.

VII. Bibliography

• Academic Integrity:   Avoid plagiarism. Give credit where credit is due.  

• The Open Handbook

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

• Course Reserve: need either Ramapo ID (R#) or bar code (provided by the library)

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

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