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Library Research
Ramapo College Visit:
Walter T. Bergen Middle School
Mrs. Reese
January 16, 2008
Guide for finding sources at the George T. Potter Library
Susan B. Kurzmann
(video)
- Library Homepage
- Avoiding Plagiarism
- Find Books
- Find Articles (Database Searching)
- Suggested Reference Material
- Internet searching
I. Library homepage: http://library.ramapo.edu
Provides access to the catalog, databases, class guides, and general library information
- Library Research in a Nutshell Brief guide to beginning your research
- Q&A NJ.org Reference assistance 24/7
II. Avoiding Plagiarism: Giving credit where credit is due
- How to Avoid Plagiarism Penn State University
- Giving Credit The University of Maine at Farmington
- Academic Integrity Ramapo College
- Use Citing Sources
(Print copies of the style handbooks are located at the circulation desk)
Various style guides with examples of citing sources either within your papers or compiling a works cited list (bibliography)
Find books, newspaper, magazine, and journal titles (NOT the articles themselves), government documents, music, and movies in our collection.
- You may limit a search by
- language
- year(s) of publication
- type of material, such as reference titles, online materials, or videos/DVDs
- Search the catalog using Keywords to find material
- For example: search for education or poverty or addiction to locate a broad range of material and look for ideas for your project
- If your search term consists of two or more words, use quotation marks around all the words you would like to include.
- For example: search for "illegal aliens" or
"animal experimentation" or "death penalty"
- PALS Plus: Catalog of the Passaic County Libraries
TIPS
- Start with broad searches. It's much easier to discard too much rather than start with too little.
- 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.
- In the PALS Plus system, click on the Catalog Record tab to see which subject headings are included in the item.
- The subject headings are all hyperlinks, so you may click on any of them to see all the material held by the library on that subject.
- In the college catalog, you can "virtually" browse the shelves by clicking on the call number in a record. (You can't do this in the PALS Plus system.)
OR
- Search the catalog using the Subject Browse feature if you know the relevant subject heading. (In the PALS Plus system, select "Subject".) Our library uses Library of Congress (LC) subject headings that might be slightly different than the subject headings used in your school or public libraries. Many subject headings will, however, be the same.
- Global warming
- Emigration and immigration law
- Think of alternative terms for your search:
For example, search for Animal experimentation OR
Laboratory animals
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Useful Databases to find articles for your topics:
| The following databases are available to you only on the Ramapo College campus: | |
A general database that contains both full-text articles and citations. NOTE: When only a citation is included, click on the "Check availability at Ramapo" link to see if the full text of the article is available in our collection. |
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| Provides analysis of the most current major and controversial issues of the day. Full-text | |
| A full-text database of the newspapers, magazines and journals of the ethnic, minority, and native press | |
| The complete newspaper from 1851 through 2003. Includes editorials and classified advertisements. | |
The following databases are available to you through the Bloomingdale Free Public Library: |
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Business Source Premier provides full-text articles from the top scholarly business journals |
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Newspapers Online includes full-text articles from The Bergen Record, Newark Star-Ledger, The New York Times, Times of London, and The Los Angeles Times. Contemporary Authors provides complete biographical and bibliographical information and references on more than 120,000 American. and international authors |
- Journal Finder : check to see if a journal is available full-text online in a database, in print, or on microform [microfilm or microfiche] in the library
- The reference stacks are located on the 3rd floor (this is also the library's entrance).
- Our library uses a Library of Congress classification system that is different from the Dewey Decimal System used by your school and public libraries. Call numbers begin with a letter.
- Our collection also includes United States government documents, which follow another call number scheme. Items in this collection are identified in the catalog as "U.S. government documents", and are on the third floor.
| At Issue series | Ref H31 .O62 ... |
| Contemporary World Issues series | Ref H31 .C76... |
| Current Controversies series | Ref H31 .C97 ... |
| Opposing Viewpoints series | Ref H31 .O62 ... |
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Includes access to online reference sources:
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Online access |
| Encyclopedia of Science, Technology, and Ethics | Online or print: Ref Q 175.35 .E53 2005 |
| Encyclopedia of Social Welfare History in North America | Online or print: Ref HV12 .E497 2005 |
| St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture | Online or print: Ref Ref E169.1.S764 2000 |
VI. Internet searching: Websites
- From the library's homepage, go to Subject Resources to find websites on your topic.
- When doing your own Internet searching, use Evaluating Websites.
Go through the chart and check the criteria to determine how credible and reliable the website actually is.
Walter T. Bergen Middle School
Need more help? Visit the Reference Desk
OR
Use QandA NJ.org, a 24/7 virtual chat with a reference librarian.
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| George T. Potter Library | | 505 Ramapo Valley Road, Mahwah NJ 07430 | (201) 684-7575 | Design by Tibor Csokasi and Jon Jon Chua; Sketch Provided by Jon Jon Chua |
Please send your suggestions and comments to: Liz Siecke |