Off-campus users must go through the library's main web page to access the library's resources.
Accessing Library Resources from Off-Campus
The following are selected resources available in the library and on the Internet.
It is often useful to gather background information on your topic. For example, if you're writing about gun control, you might want to find information on the Second Amendment, get more insight into gun control advocacy, or learn the history of the NRA. Statistics on the number of gun owners in the United States can also be helpful. The sources below can help you get started. The electronic resources can also be found under the Reference Sources button on the library home page. Here's how you can access these databases from off campus.
Also look in subject encyclopedias for information. These encyclopedia focus
specifically on topics. Some examples include
Encyclopedias are especially useful because they often have bibliographies at the end of their articles; these bibliographies can lead you to other useful books and articles.
There are some great book series that focus on the different angles of a number of topics. Looking at some of these works may help you solidify your arguement and support your claims:
To find books in these series, simply do a search for the title of the series in I-Share (formerly Illinet Online). See below for more on I-Share.
I-Share (formerly Illinet Online) allows you to request books held by 65 academic libraries in Illinois by using the "Request" and "My Account" buttons.
Journals
Academic Search Premier~ 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.
Newspapers
Proquest
Historical New York Times - Search the New York Times all the way back
to 1852.
Academic Universe
(Lexis-Nexis) ~ clicking the News link accesses a variety of newspapers. The
"General News" link has stories from the early 1970's.
Chicago
Tribune - Both the current, full-text Chicago Tribune (1985 to the present)
and Chicago Tribune Historical Archive (front pages from 1900-1984) are available
on campus. The Chicago Tribune is also available on microfilm from 1972 to the
present.
Use I-Share (formerly Illinet Online) to determine if the library owns the journal in print or microfilm, and check Journals and Magazines Available Online for electronic access to journals.
Inter-Library Loan ~ You can request a copy of an article provided that it is unavailable at the library.
Below are listed only a few web sites for the following subject areas. Use a search engine or a web site index to find more web sites on your topic.
Indices
About.com - search by topic
Librarian's Internet Index - search by topic
Web Sites
"Today in History"
History Channel - search
any day of the year for historical highlights
New York Times
Library of Congress, American Memory Division
Yahoo
Collection of "This Day in History" Links
"What's in a Name?"
Behind the Name - Etymology and
history of first names
Connect with Surnames - Research
your surname
Genealogy
FamilySearch Internet Genealogy Service
- The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints' genealogical site
RootsWeb.com - The Oldest & Largest Free
Genealogy Site
Documenting the information you use in your assignments is very important. Please check with your professors regarding the preferred citation style for your class. The librarians can help you locate a citation style guide at the library. Further writing assistance is available from the Writing Center located in the Learning Center.
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Jennifer C. Paliatka, Assistant
Librarian, Elmhurst College
This page was created 02/04/2001 and was last modified 02/08/2006