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Latin American Culture and Society

LANG 331-01

Prof. I. Lopez

  February 1, 2007

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

lkeller1@ramapo.edu

x7316

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

 I. Library Homepage

• 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

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. 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:

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 topics.

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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: conquest and south america
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. 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.

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VII. Web Sources

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

Latin American Studies Websites

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