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College English

Prof. P. Pickens
Guide for finding sources at the George T. Potter Library
 

Summer 2008

Susan B. Kurzmann

skurzman@ramapo.edu

 

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

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

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

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II. Find Books

• 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 gender and equality or women and business 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, for example "glass ceiling"
  • 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

OR

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

• Women
  • see subheadings
• Men
  • see subheadings
• Women in literature
• Language and languages--sex differences
• Man-woman relationships

 

• Click on to see scope note and suggestions for further searching in the catalog

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

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.

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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:

*The Modern Critical Interpretations series, edited by Harold Bloom, are useful sources of critical information about many authors and their works. You'll find an essay about Mary Shelley, "Shelley Disfigured," by P. De Man, in Bloom's Deconstruction and Criticism (a circulating book, PN94.D4 1980).

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IV. Journal Finder and Interlibrary LoanI

• Journal Finder: Lets you know whether or not you have access to the full text of articles in particular periodicals through our library in print, microform, or via a full-text database. This feature also appears in many of our databases.

  For example, enter Women's Studies . You'll see the following results:

  • Women's studies		ISSN: 0049-7878
    available in Print Holdings	Library Catalog	Print: 1977 - 1998 (v5 - v27 ) Location: Open Stacks
    available from EBSCO Host in EBSCO Academic Search Premier	find periodical	Full Text: 1972-12-01 - 12 months ago
    available in Expanded Academic ASAP - Gale Group	find periodical	Full Text: 1993-03 - 1998-02

  In this case, issues from 1977 through 1998 are in the Open Stacks Periodicals area (2nd floor). You also have online access to articles through two databases: from December 1972 through 12 months ago via Academic Search Premier, and from March 1993 through February 1998 in Expanded Academic ASAP. Articles from the past 12 months are only available through Interlibrary Loan.

 

• Interlibrary Loan: allows you to borrow a book or article that the George T. Potter library does not own. There's a link from the Journal Finder page.

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

 

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V. Find Articles (Databases)

Useful Databases for your projects:

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.
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. Websites

• Subject Resources

• Suggested websites:

• International Gender Studies Resources (University of California at Berkeley)

• WSSLINKS: Women and Gender Studies (Women’s Studies Section, ACRL [Association of College and Research Libraries])

• Voice of the Shuttle – Gender and Sexuality Studies (University of California at Santa Barbara)

• PBS: American Experience American Experience and many other PBS programs are good sources of information

 

Tip

When doing Internet searching, use Evaluating Websites to determine if the site is authoritative enough to use in your paper.

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VII. Bibliographies

• Use the Citing Websites and Print Sources for "Works Cited" citation style guidance
  • Follow the examples given for the MLA citation style

   

• Help with the MLA Citation Style and examples

• The Open Handbook Online / Ann Raimes with Maria Jerskey

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

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