Composition II

English 106

Spring 2007

Professor Kazan

 

Getting Started Finding Books Finding Articles Searching the Web
Chapter-Specific Resources Evaluating Resources Annotated Bibliography Off-Campus Access

Getting Started

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

  • Helpful Reference Books
    • The New Encyclopaedia Britannica, R031 B862N1991 ~ Look up your topic in the index to get started. Also available electronically.
    • Encyclopedia of Crime and Justice, R364.03 E56
    • Eating Disorders Sourcebook, R616.8526E14d
    • Encyclopedia of the American Judicial System, R349.7303E56
    • Encyclopedia of New Media: An Essential Reference to Communication and Technology, R 302.23403 E56
    • Encyclopedia of Advertising, R659.1A244
    • The Oxford Companion to Fairy Tales, R398.22J14e
    • The Film Encyclopedia, 2nd ed. R 791.43 K19F1994
    • St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture, R973.9 S143
    • Gale Virtual Reference Library - a way to search several encyclopedias at once, includes Dictionary of American History, Encyclopedia of Sociology, Gale Encyclopedia of Everyday Law, among other titles.

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.

Some Useful General 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.

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

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 I-Share. See below for more on I-Share.

Back to the Top

Finding Books

How do I find books on my topic?

Use I-Share to find books held in the Elmhurst College library as well as books owned by 64 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 u se the main words describing your topic.
    • For example, to find books about divorce, type the word divorce (with or without capitals).
    • The word divorce can be anywhere in the description of the item, like the name of the publisher.
    • To do a more focused search on, say, the effects of divorce on children, select Boolean, and type in divorce and children.
  • Browse Subject Searches
    • A more precise way of searching. I-Share 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.
  • Guided Keyword Searches
    • Allow you to searchmore than one concpet at a time, like Obesity and Children.
    • 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 violence media.
  • Ordering books from other libraries ~ I-Share Online allows you to request books held by 64 other libraries in Illinois. 
  • How do I get a book that is not available in the library?

 

Back to the Top

Locating Articles in Library Resources

Which article databases are good starting places for my search?

  • 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
  • All Databases by Topic ~ this Library page has lists of databases that are subject-specific.


You can also call (630) 617-3173 or email the Reference Department to inquire about a specific title or ask a question.

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.

Where can I find newspaper articles?


Use the Find It! button 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.

 

How do I know whether an article is useful to me?
Learn how to critically analyzing information sources.

Is this a scholarly article or a popular article?
How to distinguish between the two.

 

Back to the Top

Internet Resources

Why should I evaluate web sites? Can't I just trust everyone's website?


What should I look for in a trustworthy web site?

Where can I go for trustworthy sites that have already been evaluated?

How can I find other web sites? Use a search engine to find sites on your topic.

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.

Back to the Top

Chapter-Specific Resources

  • What about some sources on our particular topics?

    • Fairy Tales: A Closer Look at Cinderella
      • The vanishing hitchhiker: American urban legends and their meanings, 398.209173 B899V
      • From my people: 400 years of African American folklore, 398.208996 F931
      • Cinderella, a folklore casebook, 398.21 C574
      • Urban Legends Reference Pages ~ our modern day folklore is the urban legend that your uncle's cousin's friends swear by (so it must be true)
      • American Folklore ~ maintained by a librarian and freelance author
      • The SurLaLune Fairy Tales Site ~ created by a scholar, this site features annoted fairy tales with discussion of their history and information on similar tales


    • New and Improved: Six Decades of Advertising
      • The moral dimension of marketing: essays on business ethics, 174.4 D252m
      • Advertising: opposing viewpoints, 659.1 A244o
      • Advertising progress : American business and the rise of consumer marketing, 659.10973 L188A
      • Adbusters ~ "concerned about the erosion of our physical and cultural environments by commercial forces."
      • Product Placements ~ Includes film and TV titles with product placement, and articles and Web resources on product placement and marketing.

       

    • You, the Jury: The American Legal System

Back to the Top

Writing, Citing and Evaluating Resources

How do I write an annotated bibliography?

 

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

 

Who's going to help me write this paper?

How do I do the citations at the end of my paper?

 

 

Back to the Top

Created 27 February, 2003 by Ayanna Gaines, Assistant Reference Librarian
Revised 06 March, 2007 by Peg Cook, Assistant Reference Librarian
A.C. Buehler Library, Elmhurst College