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

• 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 to find material
  • For example: search for latin american culture or mexico culture or mexico exploration to locate a broad range of material and look for ideas for your project
• Use the Related Records link in the record to located the subject headings and find more topic specific material

  OR

  Search the catalog using Subject Browse feature ONLY if you know the Library of Congress Subject Headings

• This is a great search for country names
• For example:

Mexico

Chile

Argentina

Tips

1. Start with broad searches. It is much easier to discard too much rather than start with too little.
2. If you don't know the Subject Heading, use the Related Records 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. Use Subject Browse for the country names.
4. 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 Latin American History and Culture	Ref F1406.E53 1996
Encyclopedia of Contemporary Latin American and Caribbean Cultures	Ref F1406.E515 2000
Latin America and the Caribbean	Ref F1408.Z99
A History of Latin America	Ref F1410.B175 2000
Mexico: an Encyclopedia of Contemporary Culture and History	Ref F1234.C67 2004
The History of Chile	Ref F3081.R43 2003

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.

IV. Electronic Resources

• Some useful Databases for your projects:

1. Always switch to the Advance Search page in a database. This will give you more control over your results.
2. Always use Boolean Operators-AND, OR, NOT when running a search. For Example: mexico and culture
3. Always check your Spelling if the database results are Zero.

V. Bibliographies

• Use the Citing Websites and Print Sources for citation style guidance.

VI. Web Sources

HLAS: Handbook of Latin American Studies: Bibliography of works on Latin America selected by scholars and edited by the Hispanic Division of the Library of Congress. The sources include books, journal articles, book chapters, and conference papers

CLASE: Citas Latinoamericanas en Ciencias Sociales y Humanidades: CLASE is a social sciences and humanities database created in 1975 at the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico (UNAM). It contains more than 200,000 citations to articles, essays, book reviews, statistics and other documents published in over 1,300 Latin American and Caribbean periodicals. ARL Latin Americanist Research Resources: Core components of the database include: I.Latin American Periodicals Tables of Contents (LAPTOC): provides article titles from the tables of contents over 800 periodicals published in Latin America and the Caribbean. They cover all fields and are searchable by article title keyword, author, journal title, country, and date.