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Social Issues

November 8, 2007

 I. Library Homepage

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 item, 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.

• In Basic Search, search the catalog using Keywords to find material, for example:

   

  • Search for civil rights to locate a broad range of material and look for ideas for your project.

   

  • Use quotation marks around a multi-word phrase, e.g., "United States" AND immigration AND laws to ensure that the catalog will locate more focused results.

 

OR

• Use the Subject Browse feature if you know the relevant Library of Congress (LC) subject heading, for example:

Civil Rights--United States Ethnicity--United States United States--Race Relations

 

OR

• When searching the Catalog for Primary Sources. Use the Command Line/Boolean. This feature lets you put terms in that will insure your results will be primary. For example, search for letters AND"world war II"

What are Primary Sources?

• Primary Sources enable the researchers to get as close as possible to what actually happened during an historical event or time period. The information and ideas were either created during the time period or created later by a participant or observer of the event being studied.

               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 and viewing the records for similar items.

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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:

Annals  of America	Ref E 173 .A793 2003
Harvard Encyclopedia of American Ethnic Groups	Ref  E184 .A1 H35 1980
American Immigrant Cultures: Builders of a Nation	Ref E 184 .A1 A63448 1997
Encyclopedia of Southern Culture	Ref F 209 .E53 1989
The Family in America: An encyclopedia	Ref HQ 536 .H365 2001
Dictionary of Race and Ethnic Relations	Ref GN 496 .C37
Beacham's Encyclopedia of Social Change:  America in the twentieth century	Ref HN 59.2 .B43 2001
The Color of Words: an encyclopedic dictionary of ethnic bias in the United States	Ref 184 .A1 H466 2001
Social Issues in American: An encyclopedia	Ref HN 57 .S624 2006
Contemporary Ethnic Geographies in America	Ref E 184 .A1 .C5975 2007
Encyclopedia of Modern Ethnic Conflicts	Ref GN 496 .E56 2003
Immigration in America Today: an encyclopedia	Ref JV 6465 .I4754 2006
Making It in America: A sourcebook on Eminent Ethnic Americans	Ref E 184 .A1 M263 2001

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:

    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 when running a search. For Example:  "United States" OR America AND "ethnic groups" NOT Irish
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.  Web Sources

• Use the following  Subject Resources under History to locate supplemental information on your projects.

• American Memory
• Making of America

VII. Other Web Site

• New York Public Library

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

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VIII.  Bibliographies

• Use the Citing Websites and Print Sources to get APA style guidance.