Getting Started

I need background information on my topic -- where should I start?

• Reference Books
  • Reference books can give a general overview or introduction to a topic or help define terms. There are often bibliographies at the end of their articles; these bibliographies can lead you to other useful books and articles.
    
    
    
• A Sample of Reference Books
  • The New Encyclopaedia Britannica, Reference R031 B862N1991 ~ Look up your topic in the index to get started. Also available electronically.
  • Censorship, Reference R363.31 C396c
  • The Encyclopedia of Civil Rights in America, Reference R323.1196 E56
  • Encyclopedia of Crime and Justice, Reference R364.03 E56
  • Encyclopedia of Drugs and Alcohol, Reference R362.2903 E56D
  • The Encyclopedia of Multiculturalism, Reference R306.4460973 E56
  • The Encyclopedia of Popular Music, Reference R781.6403 E56 1998
  • The Encyclopedia of Religion, Reference R200.3 E56
  • Encyclopedia of Television, Reference R791.4503 E56
  • Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East, Reference R956.003 E56me
  • Encyclopedia of Terrorism, Reference R303.62503 K97e
  • Encyclopedia of U.S. Foreign Relations, Reference R327.73 E56F
  • International Encyclopedia of Communications, Reference R302.2 I61
  • Routledge International Encyclopedia of Women, Reference R305.403 R869
  • St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture, Reference R973.9 S143
  • Statistical Handbook on Violence in America. (1996) R 303.60973021 S797
  • Supreme Court Drama: Cases that Changed America. 2001 R 347.7326 B821s
    
    
  
  
• Electronic Reference Collections
  
  
  • 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.
    
    
  • Xreferplus - An online collection of 150 reference books covering many disciplines. Click here for a list of titles.
    
    
    
• 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
  • The Official Guide to the American Marketplace: The Real Facts About How Rich, Well-Educated, Healthy, Family-Oriented, Hard-Working, and Diverse We Are, Reference R 380.105 R961O
    • Statistics are great for tracking trends.
      
      
• Book Series
  • Current Controversies
  • Contemporary World Issues
  • Opposing Viewpoints
  • Taking Sides
    • These books discuss the pros and cons of a topic, and look at trends.
    • To find books in these series, simply do a search for the title of the series in Illinet Online. See below for more on Illinet Online.
      
      
      
      
• Some Useful Databases
  • CQ Researcher ~ An excellent source for current hot topics. Each individual issue contains historical background, a timeline, current status, trends, 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.
    
  
  

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• How do I find books on my topic?

  • Use Illinet Online to find books held in the Elmhurst College library as well as books owned by 65 Illinois college and university 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 Babylonia, type the word communication (with or without capitals).
      • The word communicationcan be anywhere in the description of the item, like the name of the publisher.
      • To do a more focused search on, say, gender differences in communication, select Boolean, and type in communication and gender.
        
        
• Browse Subject Searches
  • A more precise way of searching.
  • Illinet 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:
    • Sexual harassment -- Law and legislation -- United States
    • Violence -- United States -- Case studies
    • Television broadcasting -- Social aspects
    • Communication -- Sex differences
    • Freedom of speech -- United States
    • Children and violence
    • Youth -- United States -- Social conditions
    • Violence -- United States

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 Locating Articles in Library Resources

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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' Index to the Internet
  • 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 Tools and Sites 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.

Specific Resources for the Research Paper

What about some sources on our particular topics?

• Freedom of Speech
  • Exploring Constitutional Conflicts ~ from the University of Missouri-Kansas City Law School
  • Freespeech TV
  • Censorship: A World Encyclopedia. (2001) R 363.31 C396w
  • Free Speech. (1994) 323.443 F853
  • The Supreme Court A to Z. (1998) R 347.732603 S959 1998
    
    
• Cross-Gender Communication
  • ComAbstracts ~ Contains abstracts of articles published in the field of Communications.
  • Gendered Lives: Communication, Gender, and Culture. (1997) 305.3 W876G1997
  • Exploring GenderSpeak: Personal Effectiveness in Gender Communication. (1994) 305.3 I96E
  • Talking from 9 to 5: How Women's and Men's Conversational Styles Affect Who Gets Heard, Who Gets Credit, and What Gets Done at Work. (1995) 651.7 T1666T
    
    
• Youth Violence
  • National Criminal Justice Reference Service ~ Abstracts from 160,000 plus criminal justice publications including books and journals. Also offers crime statistics.
  • Bureau of Justice Statistics
  • America's Youth: Opposing Viewpoints. (2003) 305.2350973 A512
  • Serious & Violent Juvenile Offenders: Risk Factors and Successful Interventions. (1998) 364.4 S485
  • Youth Violence. (1998) 364.36 Y83v
    
    
• Reality Television
  • The Encyclopedia of Television ~ from the Museum of Broadcast Communications; also in print (call number R 791.4503 E56)
  • ComAbstracts ~ Contains abstracts of articles published in the field of Communications.
  • Virtualities: Television, Media Art, and Cyberculture. (1998) 302.23 V819m
  • Strange TV: The Modern, Postmodern, and American Television. (2002) 302.2345 B724s

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Writing, Citing and Evaluating Resources

• I've found all this stuff -- now what?

  • Elmhurst College: Writing and Citing Assistance: MLA

  • Duke University Library "Citing Sources"

    MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, 6th ed., 2003. Elmhurst College Library Reference R 808.042 M685Lp 2003. Ask for this at the Reference and Information Services Desk in the library.
    

• 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?

  • Writing and Citing Assistance: MLA at Elmhurst College

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