College English

Prof. Scheckner

October 9, 2007

Guide for finding sources at the George T. Potter Library
Leigh Keller

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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 to find material
- For example: search for shermans march to locate a broad range of material and look for ideas for your project

Tips

Start with broad searches. It is 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.
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:

Encyclopedia of the American Civil War: a political, social, and military history	Ref E468.E53 2000
Encyclopedia of Antislavery and abolition	Ref HT1031.E53 2007

Tips

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

IV. Electronic Resources

JSTOR	Comprised of the full-text of more than 500 academic journals.
America: History and Life	History of the United States and Canada from pre-history to the present. Links to JSTOR full-text and use Primary Catalog link to search our library holdings.
Expanded Academic	A multidisciplinary database that contains many full-text articles.
Oxford African American Studies Center	Searchable, full-text of major psychology journals
Academic Search Premier	AASC features the new, three-volume Encyclopedia of African American History 1619-1895, the three-volume Black Women in America, the highly acclaimed Africana, a five-volume history of the African and African American experience.
Historical NY Times	full-text of the entire NY Times from 1851-2002.
Historical Wall Street Journal	This database offers full-text and full-image articles for newspapers dating back to the 19th century.
Historical Washington Post	This database offers full-text and full-image articles for newspapers dating back to the 19th century. 1877-1989
Historical Christian Science Monitor	This database offers full-text and full-image articles for newspapers dating back to the early 20th century. 1908-1992

(Scholarly/Peer Reviewed/Refereed articles have been reviewed by a selected panel of experts in the discipline covered by that journal).

Tips

Always switch to the Advance Search page in a database. This will give you more control over your results.
Always use Boolean Operators-AND, OR, NOT when running a search. For Example: "civil war" and (hospital? or medical care)
Always check your Spelling if the database results are Zero.

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.

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.

VII. Web Sources

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

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

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

Please send your suggestions and comments to:
Liz Siecke