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College English ENGL 180-25

Prof. Melissa Carr Kupfer

  September 23, 2008 8:00-9:30am

Guide for Finding Resources at the George T. Potter Library
By Madel Tisi
x7510
mtisi@ramapo.edu

• Library Homepage
• Find Books
• Reference Materials
• Find Articles (Databases)
• Interlibrary Loan/Journal Finder
• Bibliographies
• Websites

 I. Library Homepage

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

II. Finding Books at the Potter Library

• Catalog: use this to find books, journal 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.

• Search the catalog using Keywords related to your topics to find materials
  • For example: search for "Civil Rights Movement"to locate a broad range of material and look for ideas for your project

    Tips

1. Start with broad searches. It is much easier to discard too much rather than start with too little.
2. Use Advanced Search tab and Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT) to limit your searches and to have more control on the results.
   For Example: search for "Emmett Till" AND murder to retrieve books that deal with both keywords, "Emmett Till"and murder.

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III. Reference Materials

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

International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences (Various aspects of economics are discussed including "globalization")	Ref H41.I58 2001 vols. 6 & 9
Dictionary of the Social Sciences (Useful for an entry on "globalization")	Ref H41.D53 2002
Globalization: The key concepts (Useful for discussion of cross-disciplinary nature of globalization)	Ref JZ1318.G5645 2007
International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences (Provides an entry on "Civil Rights Movement")	Ref H40.A2I5 2008 v.1
Gale Encyclopedia of U.S. Economic History (Entry on "Civil Rights Movement" may be useful)	Ref HC102.G35 1999 v.1
Civil Liberties in America (Provides information on "Civil Rights Movement")	Ref H31.C76C58 2004

Tips

1. Use reference books to browse for project ideas and to get started on your research.
2. Use the Bibliographies at the end of encyclopedia entries to find more information on your topic.

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IV. Electronic Resources

• Some useful Databases for your projects:

1. Using the Advance Search page will give you more control over your results.
2. Always use Boolean Operators (AND, OR, NOT) when running a search.
   Examples:
   Globalization OR Outsourcing
   "Emmett Till" AND murder OR case
3. Always check your Spelling if the database results are Zero.

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V. Interlibrary Loan

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

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

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

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VI. Bibliographies

• Use Citing Sources for examples of "In-Text Citations" and "Works Cited"
• Use the Citing Websites and Print Sources to get call numbers for paper copies of syle manuals.

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VII. Web Sources

• Subject Resources

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

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