Getting Started Finding Books Finding Articles   What is a Scholarly Article?   Web Site Searching And Evaluating Putting it all Together Getting Started I need background information on my topic -- where should I start? Electronic Reference Books Xreferplus - An online collection of 150 reference books covering many disciplines. Click here for a list of titles. Gale Virtual Reference Library - an online collection of reference books, including Countries and Their Cultures, Dictionary of American History, Encyclopedia of Sociology, Gale Encyclopedia of Everyday Law, among other titles. Britannica Online Online version of The New Encyclopaedia Britannica, also available in: Reference R031 B862N1991 ~ A good source of background information and bibliographies. Look up your topic in the index to get started. General Resources for the Research Paper The Encyclopedia of Civil Rights in America, Reference R 323.1196 E56 Encyclopedia of Crime and Justice, Reference R 364.03 E56 Encyclopedia oMarriage and the Family, Reference R 306.803 E56 Encyclopedia of Early Childhood Education, Reference R 372.2103 E56 The Encyclopedia of Multiculturalism, Reference R 306.4460973 E56 The Encyclopedia of American Immigration, Reference R 304.87303 E56 Encyclopedia of U.S. Foreign Relations, Reference R 327.73 E56F Harvard Encyclopedia of American Ethnic Groups, R 305.8 H339 Human Sexuality: An Encyclopedia, Reference R 306.703 H918 International Encyclopedia of Communications, Reference R 302.2 I61 International Encyclopedia of Population R 304.6 I61 Routledge International Encyclopedia of Women, Reference R 305.403 R869 St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture, Reference R 973.9 S143   How else can reference books help me? There are often bibliographies at the end of their articles; these bibliographies can lead you to other useful books and articles. How can I find more reference books on my topic? Try browsing the Reference section. Browse the shelves around a particular book you like; call numbers tend to keep books on like topics together. Search I-Share Online using your search term combined with the word "encyclopedia" or "dictionary." Statistics Statistical Abstract of the United States, Reference R 317.3 U58S A Statistical Portrait of the United States: Social Conditions and Trends, Reference R 306.0973 S797 Datapedia of the United States, 1790-2005: America Year by Year, Reference R 317.3 D96d 2001 Book Series Current Controversies Contemporary World Issues Opposing Viewpoints Taking Sides These books discuss the pros and cons of a topic.To find books in these series, simply do a search for the title of the series in I-Share Online. See below for more on I-Share Online. return to top Locating Books in the A.C. Buehler Library How do I find books on my topic? Use I-Share Online to find books held in the Elmhurst College library as well as books owned by 65 other Illinois libraries. Quick Searches A good way to start looking for books. You can either look for particular items (such as a particular title), or you can do keywords searching. Use the main words describing your topic. For example, to find books about phonics, type the word phonics (with or without capitals). The word phonics can be anywhere in the description of the item, like the name of the publisher. To do a more focused search on, say, phonics and whole language learning, select Boolean, and type in phonics and "whole learning Browse Subject Searches A more precise way of searching. I-Share Online uses Library of Congress Subject Headings (or LC subject headings) to arrange and organize information. Subject headings are very specific; you can guess what they might be, but you can't make them up. Some examples of subject headings: Tattooing Titanic (Steamship) Sex on television Chicago Cubs (Baseball team) -- History Dreams Tolkien, J. R. R. (John Ronald Reuel), 1892-1973 Guided Keyword Searches Allow you more flexibility. Click the appropriate tab, and fill in the blanks as desired. You can change your searching options to look for either some or all of the words you've typed in, and to look in different areas of the item's catalog record. For example, select all of these and type eating disorders treatment. Ordering books from other libraries ~ I-Share Online allows you to request books held by 65 other libraries in Illinois.  How do I get a book that is not available in the library? return to top  Locating Articles in Library Resources Which article databases are good starting places for my search? CQ Researcher ~ An excellent source for current hot topics. Each individual issue contains historical background, a timeline, current status, and potential future developments. The bibliographies are especially helpful in finding useful sources. Lexis-Nexis Statistical ~ Search the Statistical Abstract of the United States and other resources for statistics; also available online Academic Search Premiere ~ A good place to start. Includes references to scholarly as well as popular periodicals. Periodical Abstracts ~ Includes indexing, abstracting, and some full text for magazine and journal articles. WilsonSelectPlus ~ Includes indexing, abstracting, and full text for a variety of magazines and journals.   Where can I find newspaper articles? Wall Street Journal ~ full text from 1985 to present. New York Times ~ full text back to 1999. For older articles, try ProQuest Historical Newspapers: New York Times, full text articles back to 1851. Chicago Tribune ~ full text from 1985 to present Lexis-Nexis Academic ~ accesses a variety of news and business sources, many of which are full text. Newspaper Source ~ full text from more than 100 U.S. and international newspapers. Includes sources such as USA Today, the Philadelphia Inquirer, The (London) Times, and transcripts from NPR's Morning Edition. You can also call (630) 617-3173 or email the Reference Department to inquire about a specific title or ask a question. Use the button to help you look through our databases and catalog for an article. If you cannot find an article at Elmhurst, you can request it through our online Interlibrary Loan article request form. Inter library loan can take 7-10 days. return to top Scholarly and Popular Articles: What's the Difference? Scholarly publications publish journals. Popular press publications publish magazines. Journal articles and magazine articles are very different from each other. Some of the differences are apparant in the following areas: Audience: Who was the article written for? Author: What kind of job job does the author have? What are the author's credentials? Language: How does this article sound? What educational level is the article written for? Content: What is being written about? Does the author write with bias? References: Where does the author get his/her information? Is the information quoted easy to find on your own? Look at other factors like: publisher editorial process advertising content of publication overall look of the print version (if available) Read this to learn how to distinguish scholarly journals from other periodicals. If you really get stuck and can't figure out if a publication is scholarly or popular using the criteria listed above, you can use use one of the three techniques listed below: Look at the reference book like "Magazines for Libraries" located at the Reference Desk Look at the publisher's or journals web site in the "About Us" (or similar) section Ask a librarian at the Reference Desk (Warning! The reference librarians will employ one or both of the two techniques listed above if we are really stumped!) return to top Internet Resources Why should I evaluate web sites? Can't I just trust everyone's website? Dissing the King ~ a cautionary tale detailing how websites are not always what they seem The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly: Or, Why It's a Good Idea to Evaluate Web Sources What should I look for in a trustworthy web site? Evaluating Web Sites Bibliography on Evaluating Internet Resources ~ links to various on-line articles on web site evaluation Where can I go for trustworthy sites that have already been evaluated? Librarians' Internet Index The Scout Report The Best Information on the Net Digital Librarian Internet Public Library BUBL ~ a selection of "Internet resources covering all academic subject areas" How can I find other web sites? Use a search engine to find sites on your topic. Hotbot Google Dogpile ~ a metasearch engine, which searches multiple search engines simultaneously Others are listed on our Internet Resources page. Can't I just do all of my research on the Internet (I thought everything there was free and full-text)? Despite what some would have you believe, not everything is available for free on the Internet. Don't rely on the web as your only source of information. Choose web sites carefully. Use them to support your articles and books, not to replace them. return to top Putting it All Together I've found all this stuff -- now what? How to Evaluate the Information Sources You Find Who's going to help me write this paper? Writing Center at Elmhurst College How do I do the citations at the end of my paper? Elmhurst College Library MLA Style Guides Duke University Library A print version of the MLA Publication Manual, Sixth Edition, is available at the Reference Desk, R808.042 M685 2003. return to top   Created 20 October, 2003 by Ayanna Gaines, Assistant Reference Librarian Last revised 6 March, 2007 by Jennifer Paliatka, and Peg Cook Assistant Reference Librarians, A.C. Buehler Library, Elmhurst College