English 106 ~ Spring 2005

Linda Burke

Getting Started

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

  • Helpful Reference Works
    • 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.
      
      
      
    • The New Encyclopaedia Britannica, Reference R031 B862N1991 ~ A good source of background information and bibliographies. 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
    • Encyclopedia of Early Childhood Education, Reference R 372.2103 E56
    • 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 Sleep and Dreaming, R 154.603 E56
    • Encyclopedia of Television, Reference R791.4503 E56
    • Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East, Reference R956.003 E56me
    • Encyclopedia of U.S. Foreign Relations, Reference R327.73 E56F
    • Human Sexuality: An Encyclopedia, Reference R 306.703 H918
    • 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
      • 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
      • 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 Illinet Online using your search term combined with the word "encyclopedia: or "dictionary."
          
          
    • Some Useful Databases
      • 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
        
        
    • 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 Illinet Online. See below for more on Illinet Online.

return to top

• 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 55 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.
  • 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:
    • 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 ~ Illinet Online allows you to request books held by 55 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

• Where can I find newspaper articles?

  • Wall Street Journal ~ full text from 1985 to present.
  • New York Times ~ full text back to 1999, with indexing available back to 1990. For older articles, try ProQuest Historical Newspapers: New York Times, which has full text articles back to 1851. On campus access only.
  • 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.
    
    
    

• 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.

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' 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.

Writing, Citing and Evaluating Resources

• 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?

  • Writing and Citing Assistance: MLA at Elmhurst College

return to top

Created 20 October, 2003 by Ayanna Gaines, Assistant Reference Librarian
Last revised 11 March, 2005 by Jennifer Paliatka, Assistant Reference Librarian
A.C. Buehler Library, Elmhurst College